An Argument for Graphic Novels and Comic Books

Graphic novels are comics. As much as DC comics and Marvel want to persuade you otherwise, graphic novels are just a marketers' ploy to make more money.

Why? Well, for some reason, society has labeled comic books as 'young adult' literature. Comics are shunned to a 2nd tier rating, for lack of a better term, under the "real talented arts" of books and movies.

I remember, I was on a break at work one day and I pulled out a JLA comic book and started reading. One of my co-workers asked, "Why are you reading such nonsense? It's something my child would read."

I looked over at her and she had a magazine sprawled out in front of her. I half laughed.

My response, "I think my comic is a hell of lot more interesting than that People's Magazine you've got stashed over there. How’s Lindsay Lohan doing these days anyway?"

See the irony there? Where freakin People Magazine is more socially acceptable than a comic? Are you kidding me? It’s a place where authors talk about crappy celebrities and their latest boyfriend/girlfriend squabbles. Doesn't that make you sick?

Apparently, the majority of people think of comics as a simple 1940's Superman flick, where the superhero fights the villain and saves the girl. They think that graphic novels are for geeks and nerds who sit around and play dungeons and dragons all day.

I'm here to say that's not what comic books are about. It's not what graphic novels represent. In the world of comics, there are all sorts of stories out there ranging from simple to complex, shallow to deep, awful to brilliant. Graphic novels can inspire you one minute and turn you off the next. It's like any other form of entertainment or art.

"It's a marketing term that I never had any sympathy with. The term 'comic' does just as well for me. The problem is that 'graphic novel' just came to mean 'expensive comic book' and so what you'd get is people like DC Comics or Marvel Comics — because 'graphic novels' were getting some attention, they'd stick six issues of whatever worthless piece of crap they happened to be publishing lately under a glossy cover and call it The She-Hulk Graphic Novel."

~ Alan Moore (author and co-creator of Watchmen)...quote provided by wikipedia.org

To say motion pictures and books are better than graphic novels is completely ridiculous. Is it because of the 'geeky' stigma comic books have? Well, let me ask you this...Isn't watching movies kind of nerdy? I mean, you sit around and watch a fantasy world filled with dazzling special effects and make-believe characters.

Take the movie Avatar for instance. It just surpassed Titanic as the largest grossed movie of all time. We were all awed by 'the 3D experience' of some distant fairytale land about dragons and blue aliens, right? I don't know about you but that sounds pretty nerdy to me. How about books? Isn't there a term for people who read a lot? I think there is...a bookworm perhaps? It's usually associated with nerdyness, is it not?

As for the "Comics are for children" argument, let me lay this to rest once and for all. That assumption is wrong, and is an insult to the entire comic book family. Comic books aren't competing with Disney or Warner Brothers. Just like books and movies, graphic novels are geared toward any age group and every genre. Comics are even geared towards women! The are plenty of female superheroes out there and their stories are just as compelling as the typical dominant male heroes.

In fact, even the so called 'kids' comics such as Batman, Superman, Spiderman series contain a lot of adult themes. Regardless, there are loads and loads of graphic novels out there that are specifically geared for adults and would have a 'R' rating if it were a movie.

In my opinion, comics provide the best of both worlds. Movies are limited because the audience can't hear the 'inner' voice of the character. Books are limited because the reader cannot physically see what the writer envisions.

In a comic book you have the storyteller, the writer, who can provide depth and inner thought for every character. Then there is the artist who can provide the scenery and special effects. The quality of the comic book rests on the shoulders of both the writer and the artist.

Graphic novels are intellectually stimulating, visually captivating, and cheap. To sum it up, comics provide the best quality entertainment that money can buy. So the next time you are in a bookstore and you see the comic book section don't "look down" on them as if they are geeky or the next Curious George book. Take a peek. I promise you there is something in there that will spark your interest. Who knows, you may even run my new comic book series, Lunar Works' Wulvern.