Comic books are for life... not just conventions!

Comic books and graphic novels have a lot of stigma attached - the idea that they're read by people who still live in their parents' basement without a job, that they're just about superheroes from the 80's and that they are exclusively read by boys with oversized glasses and acne still pervades.

The one that upsets me the most, I think, is the idea that graphic novels and comic books are inferior storytelling.

I openly admit to having come to comic books very late in life - in fact, only in the past 6 months! Partly due to being held back by this very same idea - that they were grossly inferior to the books that I was reading.

I will never claim that they tell the story in the same way as a book - there is and always will be a beauty in visualising an entire story and a world for yourself - but I have definitely been cured of the belief that they tell the story in a lesser way.

As a bookseller I have the good fortune of being able to see a huge range of graphic novels and my introduction to them was definitely helter skelter at best! I started out with V for Vendetta - definitely a classic - then jumped to some indie comics, back to Fables, back to indie comics again and most recently on to Brian K. Vaughan's The Runaways.

What immediately humbled me was the sophistication of the storytelling. So many people assume that when words are paired with pictures, a story becomes simple and loses some of its nuance. I completely disagree - images add an extra layer of meaning... more can be concealed within them; hidden subtleties for the reader to notice and enjoy. Graphic novels tell personal stories, political stories... they illustrate the realities of war, the pitfalls of growing up, the intimacies of relationships...

For me, at least, the comic book/graphic novel is a beautifully unique way of spinning a tale or sharing an experience. Visual imagery is so important, and using it to tell a story is both more memorable and more involving. So many of the indie comic book creators I have met come from all walks of life and their work deals with vastly differing topics ranging from depression and suicide to lost animals to fighting hordes of the undead - there is literally something for everyone, and at every possible level! Graphic novels and comic books have just as much of a range as normal books do - even more so, when you count webcomics.

My own personal mission is to try and get parents to understand that comic books and graphic novels are right up there when it comes to fantastic ways to a] get your child to read and b] help them to learn another language. I spend a lot of time with parents, trying to help them to pick something that their child will really enjoy. Many of them care so much about what their children read, and want to much to nourish a love of books and reading. Some are looking to help their child to learn English; many of whom are already at too advanced an age for the basic English readers that we sell.

I always, always take them to the graphic novels section. Be it Shakespeare or Conan Doyle or Moore or Satrapi, these works create a world that is both undaunting and enjoyable for the unseasoned reader to wander. A comic book might still get you punched in the playground, but it is less likely to do so than reading about Humphrey the hamster when you're 12.

The thought of any child being ashamed of their reading level or too scared to seek out books that they can read for fear of being laughed at just breaks my heart; which is why, for as long as I do what I do, I will champion the graphic novel to the very last.

While the average person may continue to believe that it takes a 'certain type' to create or enjoy a graphic novel, I know those of us out there doing just that are on to something special - and when I share a look with the young girl across from me on the tube reading Batman, I know that we're on the winning team.