Comics have gotten a bad rap. From their onset, they’ve been condemned as harmful to minors who may read them, much in the same way video games have been blamed for violence in youth. They’ve been cast aside as something that only outcasts would bother reading until relatively recently, and even with the increasing popularization and acceptance of the medium by more people in large part due to the introduction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe presenting superheroes to a vast mainstream audience, comics have struggled to be taken seriously. Many still see them as simple entertainment meant for kids, or for adults to glance over and then toss away.

I think this treatment of comics is a major mischaracterization of the medium and one that does a great injustice to a number of influential and intellectually compelling literary works in popular culture, but also in the wider conscience of society. Graphic novels, in particular, being hardcover collections of several issues of comics or otherwise standalone stories in comic form, cover a variety of themes explored in traditional novels: revenge, justice, duality, politics, violence, racism, sexism and more have all been critiqued in various comic volumes through the combination of written word and visual arts.

Even something as ostensibly goofy as a man who dresses up like a bat fighting an evil clown can be, (and has been) valuable to society at large when read with the degree of closeness and seriousness that it deserves. "The Dark Knight Returns," by Frank Miller of "300" and "Sin City" fame, is a work of artistic genius that has permanently left its mark on not just the superhero genre, but fictional narratives as a whole.

Through the use of the Batman, Miller managed to comment on human psychology, corruption in American politics, preconceived gender roles and the effect that mass media has on its broad audience. Along with "Watchmen," by Alan Moore, Miller’s "Batman" helped to elevate comics and make them relevant in dialogues concerning the lives of men and women worldwide. The graphic novel has often been cited not just as one of the best comics of all time, but more recently by some as one of the greatest works of literature in American history.

So, hey, homework time--next time you find yourself in a library or a book store, consider picking up a graphic novel. Not for me, but for yourself. They're relatively cheap, and they just might open up your mind to a whole new world of thought.