Must-reads from the comic-book catalogue

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GRAPHIC NOVELS

The term was coined by Will Eisner in 1978, when he was discussing the idea for his next book with his agent and wanted to avoid referring to it as a "comic".

Interestingly, however, many of the finest writers in the genre (Art Spiegelman, for instance) dislike the term, believing that it kowtows to the guardians of High Art and tries to bestow a faux-legitimacy on the comic form.

Spiegelman's Maus, about the experiences of his parents in a concentration camp during WWII, became the first comic to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Alan Moore's Watchmen, about a group of superheroes who have been affected by real-world issues, was recently named one of Time magazine's 100 Best English Novels Since 1923.