Reddit mentions of Comics & Sequential Art

You should give her a copy of Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, both by Will Eisner. Actually, it might be easier to read them yourself so you can augment your own understanding of the difference between comics and illustrated books. They're prose for the most part (as opposed to Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud), with examples interspersed. Eisner lays down all the reasons why comics, graphic novels and sequential art in all its forms has been, and should continue to be, a serious medium for the dissemination of ideas and stories.

Okay, I'll give a quick sumuppance. Comics and graphic novels rely on images and words working simultaneously to achieve a visual narrative much like a film. If you want to you can consider them the middle ground between books and movies. I suggest those books because Eisner gives a much more thorough explanation than I will. One of the fascinating points he brings up is the use of cave paintings and hieroglyphs as a means of communication (before or, even, as written language) as well as the difference between logographic languages, like Chinese, and phonographic languages, like English (and most other written languages).

Okay, I'm rambling and I'm not even sure I've cleared up what the real difference between illustrated books and comics or graphic novels is. Really, since you're in the business of safeguarding and sharing information, you should read those books, as well as Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud so you can gain a greater understanding of why you like comics and why they should be included in the information which is preserved for everyone.

edit: Gawd, I misspelled achieve.

Nice of sharing this information. When I dabbled in comic books I read Will Eisner's Comics & Sequential Art. A very comprehensive book by one of the greats.

Also the books by Scott McCloud are taking the medium beyond just print and to the web itself.