Yes, I know they are a combination of both words AND pictures, you fucking idiot. I understand that without the art, these would just be a collection of short stories, and without words, these would just be art books. The reason I had that question mark was in hopes of engaging in some sort of discussion over what’s more important to anyone who might be reading this. I think that no matter how much you enjoy the medium, and how much admiration you have for both the writer and artist, I think somewhere deep down inside all of us, there’s something that more typically draws us in to read a book. I don’t think I’m wrong to assume that what draws you over to even pick up a book is the cover, so I’m going to completely ignore the cover. Well come on! It’s not fair! Typically, the cover is intended to catch your attention and make a promise to you that what happens on the inside is just as exciting as what’s on the cover. Let’s think for a moment about what’s on the cover…that’s right, you get to see the name of the series, typically the main characters in some exciting pose, and the names of the writers and artists. You can’t really just say the cover is the one thing that causes you to buy a book because there’s tons of shit crammed on there. Also, to try to say that the art on the cover is what draws you in isn’t really fair because the cover artist isn’t always the same person who does the interior art. For me, it’s no contest that the first thing that draws me in is the character(s) involved, but after that, the writer is what draws me in. I’ve realized that as a read comic books, I can go from panel to panel without noticing every intricacy of the artwork the way some others might, and feel as though I am missing out on something. Not at all to discredit any artist, at ALL, but the story is what really drives things for me. There have been a few instances where the writers and artists collaborate, like Ed Brubaker and Alex Maleev on Daredevil or Joss Whedon and John Cassaday on Astonishing X-Men, and I can’t imagine those stories being told in a different way or illustrated in any other way. I feel like if I like a character enough, let’s take Daredevil as an example, I don’t necessarily have to read his books to be able to find artwork featuring him that I like, whereas I can’t really just hop onto Google and type in “cool Daredevil stories” and find something as entertaining as what Brubaker did. I feel like I’ve made my point when it comes to my thoughts on the matter, but am just going to put this out there in hopes of getting some comments that might offer up a different point of view.