Special Topics Paper

The Power of Graphic Novels: A Defense and a Gateway for Literature 

They say a picture paints a thousand words. To some, that might seem like a cheap way out of writing a proper book by doodling someone speaking instead of bothering with the articles, pronouns, and prepositions.

A good story is made better by how it is presented. Its style, verbiage, and overall delivery into execution compels us to love its characters, cry for their failures, and cheer on their accomplishments. We come to odds with ourselves over their own dilemmas, at times questioning their morality, and even questioning our own. When dealing with such complex emotions and intricately designed situations and hardships, what novels come to mind?

Do any of these novels happen to be told through images as well as text?

Graphic novels are often considered fun, quick reads - sometimes only appealing to children. “Real reading” is reserved for titles that appear too serious for pictures, yet we make movies out of them.

Visual storytelling is as valid a form of reading as their no-image counterparts. They are composed using the same methods of standard literature, simply forgoing their obvious structure in favor of one that is meant to not only appeal to our emotions and intellect, but our keenness to aesthetic, style, and perception of symbolism, metaphors, and simply the human face’s reactions. Used in educational settings, graphic novels are able to entice children into reading where they might have previously felt uncomfortable, encouraged those who struggle to read in long-form, and attended to those that found difficulty associating themselves with the stories.

Graphic novels are a gateway into literature - and are a literature all on their own. .