I'm taking S.E.'s side on this, and I will tell you why.

My very first design job was working in the comic book industry back in the Eighties. I worked on Lone Wolf and Cub when it first came to the States. I went to parties and sat next to Stan Lee. I got to know EVERYONE. https://twitter.com/se4realhinton/status/1316197957394477058

I switched gears, then spent the next 20+ years designing textbooks in the educational industry. My specialty are the "at risk" students and those learners were are not neurotypical. The ENTIRE TIME I was pitching graphic novels into textbooks to get work to my friends. 2/

Educational publishing is just like any other real of publishing in the United States - it is for profit. So when I as a designer would say "hey, we should tell this narrative as a graphic novel" I would get MAJOR pushback. The big reason is "rigor." The argument is this: 3/

The quote I would get back from stakeholders and state school boards: "Teaching w/graphic novels only teaches kids how to read graphic novels. We need to get students prepared for reading the volumes of pages that college requires." -Not- "we need to teach that READiNG IS FUN" 4/

We all know this is wrong yes. Graphic novels do teach that reading is fun and hopefully kids start reading for pleasure. -But- The Outsiders is one of those books that gets students used to the "grind" of plowing their way through reams of text. So I can agree w/Hinton, but 5/

I don't think this is an all or nothing discussion. Pair reading "The Outsiders" with reading "Love and Rockets" and discuss them in contrast with each other. Pair "The Fade Out" (Brubaker/Phillips) against some Raymond Chandler. The GN format is very specific. 6/

Students do have to learn how to parse big walloping tomes. Students have to build up that endurance. They don't need to graphic novel "The Outsiders" because it is already accessible, and in the world of narrative fiction, it's really skiing a bunny hill. 7/

And I just remembered that I worked on "Classics Illustrated" too. Those looked great, but WAY too small. 8/