Do comics have as much to merrit than Books?

[Jeikobu San]

Konichiwas Friends,

I was reading my comics the other day, as I do most everyday, and my girlfriend, who has read and liked only two comics, those being V for Vendetta and Batman: The Dark Knight returns, said to me I should read more books. Now I read maybe about 4 to 5 novels a year, and 10 to 12 Philosophy, Martial Arts and other Misc. books. She read two to three times that much. We argue over weather comics, have just as much value, as novels, I say yes, and she says no way. She has not yet read Usagi, Hellboy, Batman monthlies, and a ton of other graphic novels. What do you guys think on the subject?

[estee]

Depends on the comic, I guess.

But that's the same for any novel...I mean what has more literary value a Grishom novel of James Joyce?

What comic has more merit...Youngblood or Watchmen?

Its all depends on perception.

[MikeM]

My fiance read in bed every night before we go to sleep. She reads her novels and I tend to read comics. (I'm really behind in my comic reading).

The only time she has mentioned that I should read more novels is when I complain about the novels I have on my shelf that I havent read yet.

But why is a novel better than a comic? There are great comics (graphic novels, sequential art, whatever) and there is crap. V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns are great. (Obviously so is Usagi) but there are some bad ones too. But just like novels there are some bad novels that are just as badly written as some comics.

[Steve Hubbell]

That is a very loaded question. There are so many ways to look at the question, and to say one is better or worse than the other just degrades both.

Ask your girlfriend whether an artist or a writer deserves more respect, or why something written by one person has more value than something written and drawn by another person.

Then you can look at the solo creator or writer vs the group or team creative force. Is a story, picture, or song better or worse if it is created by a single mind or by several minds working together? Books and paintings tend to be very personal and individualistic, while comics, music, and films are group efforts for the most part.

Neither is neccessarily better or worse, just two sides of the creative process, and both methods, in all their various forms, should be appreciated and enjoyed equally.

And one thing books definitely come in second to comics is in collectability. You can collect books, but it is nowhere near as fun or interesting as comics!

[BonsaiSamurai]

That is a very loaded question. There are so many ways to look at the question, and to say one is better or worse than the other just degrades both.

Sorry to be a nit-picker, but:

It's not a loaded question at all. A loaded question is one where you presuppose something to be true without having proven it. If I post the question "Why do you like comics better than books?", then I'm presupposing that everyone here does in fact like comics better than books. Or if Coke did a survey and asked people "Why do you like Coke better than Pepsi?", they'd be presupposing that people do prefer Coke. It's a bad form of questioning because it doesn't really give people who prefer Pepsi the chance to have a say (which is probably what you'd want if you were a shifty marketing exec!).

Asking Stan Sakai, "Why did you create such a horrible comic like Usagi Yojimbo?" is a loaded question because it presupposes that Usagi Yojimbo is horrible, without providing sufficient evidence. Of course, we all know that Usagi Yojimbo is bloody fantastic and anyone asking such stupid questions deserves to have their ears twisted off!

Jeikobu San's question isn't loaded because it isn't presupposing anything. It's just asking us to compare x with y. If he asked "Why do comics have as much merit as books?" then it would have been a loaded question.

It is, however, a very open question because there is so many ways to interpret it.

Objectively, it is pretty hard to say whether books are better than comics. You'd need to come up with some criteria. Book and comic sales wouldn't work because tastes change over time. Are we talking about all books and all comics? Comic A might be better than Book B, while Book C might be better than Comic D. Objectively trying to measure something like this is pretty difficult, probably impossible.

Maybe we could measure people's brain activity and chemistry while reading a variety of books and comics and compare the results...

Lab assistant: Whoa! These results are off the charts! I've never seen such levels of excitement and happiness in the human brain. What is test subject 6539 reading, professor?

Prof: Um, "Usagi Yojimbo"

Lab assitant: Ah, that explains it then...

Subjectively, it is just a matter of taste. I'm almost fantatical about Bob Dylan's music but other people can't stand him.

I take a stance between the two. I'm pretty confident that the Mona Lisa is a true work of art but I don't really like it. William Shakespeare's writing is indeed classic literature but I find it to be really boring. Some of the movies and books I read are absolute trash but I still enjoy watching and reading them.

Sorry if I've gone on a bit about this question. I think it's a great question, mostly because it's so hard to answer. We're trying to assign objective values to something that doesn't easily lend itself to objective values. It goes back to the question "What is true art?" or "What makes something beautiful?" It's a question of aesthetics.

[Steve Hubbell]

I'll change the statement then:
"That is a simple question"

[KairiYojimbo]

When I was about 8-10 years old, it was all about the novels..

But now it's about the comics...

Hehe! Comics are more entertaining, and especially when the drawings are good.

Well, I usually read manga, but still..... I would prefer comics over novels.

I do write a lot of novels, cause I'm not skilled enough to draw comics.

* Actually it's 4 years since I tried....*

Well..... Comics are just more fun to read.

My opinion.

[Jeikobu San]

I to find comics, for the most part, more intertaining than books. Sure I have the books that I just love, Redwall, The Green Mile, Mushashi, and a few others, but It all came to comics for me with one character, Batman. Many people pan main stream charcters but Batman, to me is just the best, here is a man who has everything that a man could want, and at the same time has lost everything that a man needs. He is one of the most interesting characters in comics, or outside of them, in my opinion. I love Usagi. But Batman was the one who started it all for me. If I had to to take to comics books with an island, one would be Usagi the other would be Batman, because I cant get tired of either.

[Dr5trange]

I've ALWAYS liked spiderman... even before I could read I had loads of spiderman toys and such.

mainstream or not, the themes in spiderman are still as relavent as they've always been, what with power and responsibility and whatnot.

the one mainstream superhero I dont like though is superman... he's just too... super.

that's actually how I discovered doctor strange, through one of his many cameos in spiderman, and he instantly became a favorite of mine.

[MikeM]

I love Superman.
I even have the Superman symbol as a tattoo on my arm.

A guy with the powers of a god, and he chooses to do the right thing no matter how hard? That's just cool.

MikeM

[Jeikobu San]

I to love Superman, but for a diffrent reason. When I grew up we had Superman the Motion Picture. Chris Reeve was Superman to me. I mean I didnt even think Chris Reeve I though Superman. Thats why I started to love Superman. Batman I loved through the comics. I hated the movies, I hated the live action TV show. Then Batman Begins came along. Christian Bale did to Batman what Chris Reeve did to Superman, He brought him to life. But Superman can be really goody goody, which sometimes can get irritating, but that is also what makes him who he is. He is that guy. He just does the right thing, he doesnt even have to think about it. Thats who Clark Kent is and Superman is just a reflection of that. See Batman is the opposite. Bruce Wayne died that day with his parents, on that day Batman was born. He pretends to be Bruce, but really he is a creature, not a man, he is a wraith, and if you should do something wrong in his city, then may god have mercy on you, because he wont. Thats what makes Batman awsome, he doesnt kill, what he does is worse, he takes away your pride and replaces it with fear.