Comic Sans

The next generation of comic books has distinctly literary roots

HE FACT THAT COMICS — and their more distinguished relative, the graphic novel — are technically for everyone, including and especially august readers of literature, has been an accepted truth since before Art Spiegelman won a Pulitzer for Maus. Aside from the fact that every major blockbuster is based on superheroes, most people understand the cultural significance of the form. Michael Chabon won his Pulitzer for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a novel about two comic book creators in the 1940s. He went on to write some comic books for DC, too (Mr. Terrific), and Dark Horse published a series based on The Escapist from Kavalier and Clay. In the past few years, other established authors have entered the game, including Jodi Picoult (Wonder Woman), Jonathan Lethem (Omega the Unknown), and Ta-nehisi Coates, who last spring took over writing duties for Black Panther. They’re not just writing literary graphic novels, like Margaret Atwood is this month or Ethan Hawke did in the summer (with Indeh). These are straightup comic books, with superheroes and superpowers, and villains, and, you know, action-packed plots.

But somehow, whenever one of these highbrow writers takes up the form, it’s shocking — and that betrays the fact that we all accept comics as a major driving force of pop culture. So, while they aren’t left outside the cultural conversation like they used to be, if you aren’t reading comic books this fall, you might not be a nerd, but you’re certainly not as cool as you could be.

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