Friday essay: is there a great Australian graphic novel?

The graphic novel Cannon by Lee Lai was awarded this year’s A$60,000 Stella Prize, establishing historic firsts in more than one area. Cannon is the first graphic novel, and Lai the first non-binary author, to win this major literary prize. The same weekend, Lai was named a Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist, the prize’s first awarding to a comics maker in its 30-year history. Does that make Cannon Australia’s great graphic novel? Is there such a thing? Australia’s tight-knit…