Superhero comics are fine for adolescents and young adults, but they overshadow the image of comics as a whole. Youngblood, Rob Liefeld, Image

Comics isn't a genre, it's a medium. Beyond superheroes there are many fantastic comics for adults. Love and Rockets, Jaime Hernandez, Fantagraphics/Titan

(The words used to illustrate the rain are from an Arabic poem about rain) Habibi, Craig Thompson, Faber and Faber

There are many diverse styles, from the Arabic calligraphy & design of Craig Thompson's Habibi to the faux-woodcuts used by Andre Diniz. L: Habibi R: Picture A Favela, Andre Diniz, Self Made Hero

Cartoony styles to give sympathy to difficult topics; Joe Matt's autobiographical porn addiction, Jason's misanthropic animals. L: Spent, Joe Matt, Drawn & Quarterly R: Athos in America, Jason, Fantagraphics

Art as meta-narrative. Two opposing styles, angular & sketchy, combine to make a whole when the relationship starts. Asterios Polyp, David Mazzucchelli, Alfred A. Knopf

Comics have a practically unlimited budget. Imagination can make rich fantasy scenes. Epileptic, David B, Jonathan Cape

Comics allow you to linger in a way film & books don't. A lot of time can pass in a single frame. Like narrating over a photo. Footnotes in Gaza, Joe Sacco, Jonathan Cape

Gives good creators scope to try clever things. Chris Ware's work incorporates information design. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Boy on Earth, Chris Ware, Jonathan Cape

Things which are impossible in other media, like this infinite loop. Characters can hear themselves elsewhere on the loop. Promethea, Alan Moore & JH Williams III, America's Best Comics/Wildstorm/Titan

Although not all creators use it, sound can be vital to comics. Sound treated as a visual. Love & Rockets is up there with the great modern literary works IMHO. Love & Rockets

Sound can be used for comic effect, or tragic; a disdainful laugh becomes a physical thing in a failing relationship. L: Double Barrel, Kevin Cannon, Top Shelf R:: Mister Wonderful, Daniel Clowes, Jonathan Cape

Word balloons also tell a story, like here where marital status is shown in a state of uncertainty. The Italian name for comics is 'fumetti', meaning 'little puffs of smoke', named after word and thought balloons. Asterios Polyp

In this sequence the speech balloon is shown coming from somewhere else, from somewhere dark and elsewhere beyond the body. City of Glass, adap. of Paul Auster by Paul Karasik & David Mazzucchelli, Faber and Faber

That sequence also leads us to talk about panels. Panels can be cleverly used like here where they are the bars of a cell, or on the right where toilet pipes indicate panels. Brazilians call comics 'historias in quadrinhos', or stories in little panels. L: City of Glass R: Alan's War, Emmanuel Guibert, First Second

Having the panels also allows you to break them, deconstructing the grid to show a mental breakdown, or removing them entirely to suggest more quiet, easy times. L: City of Glass R: The Little Man, Chester Brown, Drawn & Quarterly

Unique to comics, panel size can vary to signify time and speed. Here a long series of events are compressed into a short sequence, using repetition to convey the story. ACME Novelty Library #19, Chris Ware, Drawn & Quarterly

Panel size shows detail as well as time, used to amazing effect in these exploded action views, like bullet time for comics. We3, Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely, Vertigo

And large panels have the opposite effect, slowing things down and letting you linger again, acting as punctuation at the end of a sequence. Pyongyang, Guy DeLisle, Jonathan Cape.

To understand the language of comics as a unique medium, this is the place to start. Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud, HarperCollins.