Do you think comics are a legitimate form of literature?

I'd say yes for the most part. Not every comic or manga or whatever is a masterpiece, but I do consider them to be valid forms of literature, sometimes with really amazing narratives. Unfortunately, the medium doesn't always get the respect it may deserve due to being in animated form -- usually considered for children. That's how I look at it I guess.

The medium is often undervalued in the public eye but considering you've got writers legitimate writers e.g. Gaiman (a well renowned author of conventional literature) in the field id say it is

Have you read Maus?

By the broadest definition, yeah.

Obviously.

They are written stories. Isn't that the definition of literature?

Yes

Being a giant book worm and a massive fan of classical literature...I can honestly say that in Genreal comics should not be considered literture, And instead a separate form of art all together...Books carry the reader through a wonderous journey of words presented in a narrative structure.And because lituture just relies on words you have to create mental images in your head and design what everything might look like in your head... Whereas comics carry the reader through a journey of pictures and drawings with some dialogue presented in a narrative structure, the need to fill in the gaps isn't nessary since there are pictures..And why would you consider comics and lituture to be the same? When your brain treats the two activaties completely different.....But Story and Pros(Writing)wise I suppose that you can consider the very best among the comic book genre like Watchmen,V for Vendetta, Sandman,Red Son etc...To be brilliantly written works of art in the same breath as great literture but in Genreal Comics are just a dffifferent art forum...Like you don't consider a great Tv series Like Game of Thrones to be A cinematic masterpiece like Seven Samurai...Their both great but trying to compare them under one umbrella is like comparing Apples and Onions.

Absolutely. I see no reason why comic books/graphic novels should not be taken as a serious form of literature.

Watchmen appeared on Time Magazine's list of the 100 greatest novels of all time. If that's not proof, what is?

They certainly could be at times. Superman battled the KKK in the 1950s, Wonder Woman contributed women's equality (and loosened stigma against a beautiful women being sexy; put bondage in comics), and X-Men put a focus on racial discrimination; and, there had to be other prominent social issues.

Of course

No, but manga is.

Of course. Why wouldn't they be?

There is an argument to be made that the average manga is better than the average western comic book, even though I think separating the two is dumb.

>wah but muh colors and reading order

Wow, what a great difference.

Yes.

It's a legitimate form of something.

It should be taken seriously, for sure, but I don't know if it should be classified under literature.

Just as a film is much more than its screenplay, a comic is much more than its plot and dialogue.

I tend to think of it as art but also...

...this too.

Technically yes. As a respected form, no and with rare exception, that is how it should be. Comparing the latest Willy Wonka teen drama adventure of the X-Men to Ulysses is frankly, absurd.

I see them as two very different mediums. Most comparisons are frivolous. Literature is literature and comics are comics. People who say the latter is artistically equal to the former are usually looking for validation.

Also, most of the people on this site don't read actual literature, so their opinions are moot.

Depends on how you define literature. If the question is can comics achieve the same features and status attributed to literature, then yes.

Well some Graphic Novel have none to almost no text, so how can comics in general be considered a serious form of literature ?

To be technicall, Graphic Novels and Comics are a different category from Novel. If you look at the internationaly accepted arts classification:

1. Architecture and Industrial art
2. Sculpture
3. Painting / Drawing (and now Street art)
4. Music
5. Poetry and Litterature
6. Performing arts (theatre, dance, mime, circus, puppet, magic)
7. Cinema
8. Media art (Photography, Radio, Television)
9. Comics and Graphic Novels
10. Numeric arts
11. Others: not "official" art forms (Gardening, Gastronomy, Divination, Modelling, Caligraphy, Perfuming, Design, Video Games, Role play, Origami)

Yeah, but I couldn't really care less about what they're considered. They're awesome either way.

By the way for people asking why the hell i'm asking i'm doing this for a school project

That is a broad statement. You said literature but what I hear is classic literature. Which may be assumption on my part but you aren't defining literature. So by this open standard Dr Seuss is on board with Stephen King and H.G. Wells. But that opens a new can of worms. Is Sr Seuss literature above, say, Captain Underpants? Is Goosebumps literature? Not saying you're wrong per se. Just trying to find the cutoff here.

Well.....yeah? Just because it has illustrations in it doesn't put up a question of it being legit literature or not.......

Well you're asking this question on a site where almost 100% of the people read comics, so the general consensus will obviously be yes...

Yes definitely. The themes and stories have become part of popular culture. Even people who have not read the comics will make references to the characters.

I'd even go as far to say that Stan Lee is one of the most important writers of the past 100 years. Think of the money his characters have made from movies, toys and book sales. Sure comics are not listed on the NYT bestseller list, but who hasn't heard of Batman, Superman, or the Avengers?

Of courshe!

It seems to me, that people are answering the question with deferring definitions of the word "literature".

Literature doesn`t have to be good to be considered literature.

That being said, yes, there are even such oddities superhero comics that are great literature.
In my opinion, Detective comics 787, for example.

bump

Well for my part I disagree. Like I mentionned before, comics and literature are 2 different things ! It's like saying Magasins, Newspaper and Novels are the same thing.

But I would say that writting wise, some comics can easily compete with novels.

when i was in grade 4 I used to bring Comics to school for 'silent reading time' and my teacher told me I wasnt allowed to anymore, she also called my mom and said I brought a book that offered her and objectified women (Wonder Woman was in one of the comics I brought to school lol)

What an asshole.

was a Woman...can women be assholes? LOOL but for real! after that i really had to convince my mom (years of convincing) to let me buy comics again.

Just as much as movies are a legitimate art form. Film gave us Citizen Kane and The Godfather, but also Adam Sandler movies and Plan 9 from Outer Space, so comics and graphic novels can give us great art and ridiculous crap. If it's bad it can still be art, in fact art can literally be pile of crap.

Very few, and honestly, none of the comics that would be considered "literature" would have anything to do with superheroes with the exception of one or two. X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman... sorry, but none of them warrant being literature.

The only ones that I can call literature with a straight face are:

• Maus
• V for Vendetta
• The Sandman
• Persepolis
• Watchmen (heavily debatable. Watchmen's significance is its contributions to comics, not in general)
• Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth (possibly)

Yes, Watchmen proved that.

@jedixman:

I don't see why Homer's Illiad for instance has a plot much more complicated than many X-Men stories?

Achilleus is kind of the first superhero story.

I' say the Dark Phoenix saga is great literature. I'm still not over it :)

Homer gets credit for being the first and essentially establishing the Hero's Journey, which would be retold in countless future fictions - including almost every comic superhero.

Is the Iliad great by itself? Not really. It's great because of its significance and influence.

PS: I prefer the Odyssey, personally.

A hard truth that I'm just going to throw out there:

Too many fans want comic books to be considered literature in order to legitimize their hobby.

Anyone that has an asshole can be an asshole. Wait...then that doesn't make any sense for all of the other insults I use....Forget that last part.

I'd say many people here would have a hard time giving an unbiased response. I don't think this this is a good population sample to get an accurate/mainstream consensus about your question.

exactly why i chose this place

Yes, but it depends on the comic. Watchmen IMO qualifies, but not every comic is up to par.