We’ve asked you to guess both literary fiction and fantasy novels based on their first lines. Now we’re giving you the chance to test your graphic novel knowledge. In the quiz below, I’ll provide the first line or two of a famous comic, and you need to guess which book it came from. (No fair checking the Amazon previews!)
With prose books, a first line is vitally important. It can either draw a reader in or compel them to close the book forever. With comics, while the first line is certainly important, the first image does just as much — if not more — of the heavy lifting. It can strengthen the impact of an emotional introduction, or it can add humor by completely contradicting what the first line tells you. Or they can work together to set a mood or a tone that carries you through the entire story. In this quiz, I’m just giving you the lines: no visual cues to help you along.
The comics I sample here are among the most celebrated of the past half-century. They span numerous genres, from fantasy to memoir to action/adventure. Most are American comics, but I did add a couple of notable manga series as well. So if you’re a big comics reader and think you’re ready to tackle a quiz about the first lines of famous graphic novels, just scroll a little farther and get started!
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Did you ace the quiz, or do you need to brush up on your comics knowledge? Either way, you might enjoy these posts about the best comics ever and the best shōjo manga!