Comics are often criticised for having simplistic or unrealistic storylines possessing little or no literary merit. As for the drawings in comics, they are considered low class. While it cannot be disputed that such criticisms are valid for some comics, a well-informed critic would be aware that comics have evolved from being merely comic strips relating to some comic incident or exploits of some super-hero with unrealistic powers seeking to save the world from some villain. Comics now comprise a wide range of genres created in different formats (i.e. comic strips, comic books and graphic novels) for different purposes and audiences. With the award of the Pulitzer Prize to Art Spiegelman for “Maus” in 1992, critics had to concede that comics could successfully be used to address serious matters as effectively and as artistically as books. Indeed, a well-informed critic would now have to acknowledge that comics can and do deal with mature themes, and that there has been a growing trend to use comics as an effective tool of communication, particularly for the illiterate or semi-literate and the young and as an educational tool to engage students in an interesting and highly enjoyable manner, and he should therefore set aside any recurring prejudice which he may have and embrace the use of comics as a tool for communication and education.

This is not to say that all comics are good. As is the case with books, there would always be comics of exceedingly poor taste and quality