Graphic Anthem, or Pulpy Anthem?

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This entry was posted at
xx:xx GMT on 4 August 2003

Craig Ceely linked to a fascinating artifact the other day, up at The Atlas Society's site. It's a cover for a 1953 printing of Ayn Rand's Anthem in "Fantastic Thrilling Stories," but I'm afraid both the TAS site and Craig give some misinformation about it. Or so it appears to me.

They both state that this is the cover to a graphic novel of Anthem. This simply cannot be the case.

To start with, the term "graphic novel" was coined in the 1980s to refer to a certain type of comic book — a mature themed, limited story with a definite end (unlike a continuing comic series, which goes on until sales cannot support it any further). It was also a fairly transparent attempt to avoid the stigma of reading comic books.

But is this the cover to a comic book adaptation of Anthem? No way.

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