In this week's discussion on graphic fiction, Rachel Cooke, evangelist and judge of the Observer/Cape prize for graphic short stories, explains how you can still be a literary snob and love graphic fiction, and Ned Beauman talks about why Batman remains, for him, a "constant inspiration and a moral anchor".
Julian Hanshaw, winner of the Observer/Cape prize in 2008 and author of a graphic novel, The Art of Pho, to be published next month, met up with Richard Lea, and talked to him about Robert Crumb's crosshatching, Vietnamese cooking and the reason behind his autumnal palette.
Reading list
The Art of Pho by Julian Hanshaw (Cape)
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (Titan Books)
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Cape)
Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel (Cape)
Maus by Art Spiegelman (Penguin)
Black Hole by Charles Burn (Cape)
Runaways by Brian K Vaughan (Marvel Comics)
Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
