Comic books vs. books

[Heteronym]

Comic books have a more specialized style than books. My guess is that readers of comic books are generally younger and much more male than female and so it fits more of a niche audience. I appreciate how they can introduce people to reading but they are just not as powerful or versatile as something that forces you to use your imagination from beginning to end.

This is an unfortunate list of misconceptions. In Europe and Japan people of all ages, of both genders, and from all social classes, read comics. The moribund American industry is hardly a portrait of the way comics are perceived in the world. And they not only foster reading (in my case I even owe them the discovery of Flann O'Brien, Tove Janson, Robert Anton Wilson and other great writers), but in many cases are better, richer reads than many novels.

If you really think comics leave nothing to imagination because they have pictures, then I'll wager you just don't read comics to know what you're talking about.

 

[nightwish]

For me the books is better than comics, but I love both of them.

 

[The Mythwriter]

I think that, in general, written books are superior in content depth than most comic books. But I don't look down on them, simply because depth doesn't necessarily make a book good. A good book for one person may be bilge for another. The point of literature isn't to fill pages with so much analysis and metaphor and depth that you bewilder the geniuses of the times. The point has been, since the beginning, to tell stories, and we, as readers, get what we want to get from them. From that angle, I don't see why graphic novels should be considered any less of a book. Pros and cons from each camp.

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

I find it interesting that most people here seem to view comics as a gateway to youths who are reluctant to reading rather than a legitimate literary form all in its own. While I know plenty of people who would not be able to read without comics (my little brother included), I personally read equal amounts of graphic works as well as traditional written works. I consider them of the same medium, simply with different styles of story telling. If it walks like a book and talks like a book, isn't it still a book? Comics can carry equally as much depth as the printed word and with as much variety. To the doubters, may I suggest any of Osamu Tezuka's or Yoshihiro Tatsumi's works. Or the American comic Blankets. I have read comics that are as much of a mind f**k as Pynchon and comics that are as poetic as Shakespeare. Sometimes I feel that comics may even be more apt to telling stories. Often, it's hard to find the words to describe exactly the way a certain feeling, well, feels. That is the challenge of the written word. With comics, you can portray emotions in a single panel that you may not be able to convey in pages of discourse. Comics are paintings with literature attached. In my opinion, the best of two already amazing worlds. My life would be incomplete without many of the books I have read. Literary books. And comic books.

 

[Russell Brooks]

A lot of people say that comic books are of a lesser value than a "real" books; that comic strips belong to a culture of pictures, so are good enough for those who spend their free time watching TV or surfing the Net. It is widely belief that comic books are an obstacle on the way to reading something more serious; that they are mostly aimed at children, and adults, who are wise enough to appreciate literature shouldn't waste time on them.

Is this opinion true? Or rather: is it a rule? Can one person be a bookworm and a comic books fan?

Excellent question.

The truth is that times are changing and with a rapidly evolving book industry, publishers are finding new ways to entice people to read. I spoke to my local librarian about graphic novels and she told me that they are increasing in popularity each year. Even Shakespear is now being turned into graphic novels. "How else can you get a 13-year-old to appreciate such a fine work?" she asked me rhetorically.

I've mostly read novels but I've bought two Justice League graphic novels. Although they don't hold the prestige as novels nor are the plots as engaging as for example, what James Patterson would write, they're still enjoyable. Everyone has their tastes. And there will always be a market for both.