I just ordered the book, so will let you know what I think of it. As far as Werther is concerned, the comics book code was a death knell for the industry, until the 80s came along (remember Age of Apocolypse) and that era went swell until a combination of Marvel deciding to draw their characters Manga, and the consolidation of vendors who sold the comics, hurt the indie industry.....

As for Chabon, who is he again? It's a great topic, and I will try to input as it progresses.

Understanding comics is a great read.

10 Cent Plague listening to it on audio. (audibles.com)

I'm really into mini-comics and have the McSweeney's collection, Best of Mini-Comics collection, Harvey Pekar, ed. and the Chris Ware ed. recent one. There are more.

Reading the threads from this article. Superheroes are not the end all be all of Comic Novels. Eisner who coined the term "graphic novel" did so in order to distinguish it from the Superhero genre. But there have been some great Superhero Novels. Vaughn is the god of writing for mainstream comics. Neil Gaiman did a great Superman going to Hell early in his career that was originally DLO by the publishers, but resurrected after he became famous. The Age of Apocolypse is my all time favorite. And who can't say that they don't have a great Manga or Comic book memory somewhere, even if it is in comic strips.