DUBAI: Comic creators Jamie Smart, John Patrick Green and Mo Abedin joined the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai this week to discuss the growing role of comics in classrooms and how graphic novels are reshaping children’s relationship with reading.
Smart is the author of the bestselling “Bunny vs. Monkey” series, Green is known for his popular “The InvestiGators” books about crime-solving alligators, and Abedin is the UAE-based creator of the sci-fi graphic novel “Solarblader."
A key point shared by all three speakers was that comics should be valued as a complete art form rather than a stepping stone to prose. Abedin described comics as “a very high art form,” explaining that the medium taught readers how to process complex ideas such as emotion, empathy and culture through visual storytelling.
He added that comics allowed readers to slow down and engage on their own terms because “the reader is also able to control the pace of the narrative.”
For Smart, the power of comics lies in the emotional connection they create. He spoke about how the word “comics” immediately takes him back to childhood, recalling being “eight years old and going down the newsagent” and spending hours reading. That sense of joy, he said, is what many reluctant readers respond to. He noted that parents often tell him, “My child would not read a book, a single book … until they picked up a comic,” adding that comics inform readers even when they are simply entertaining. “They can just be an emotional, heartfelt story,” he said.
Green focused on how comics function as a visual language that readers learn over time. He described them as “almost a separate language,” noting that some adults struggle at first because they are unsure how to read a page — whether to follow images or text. But that flexibility is what gives comics their strength, allowing readers to choose how they experience a story and giving them more agency than prose or film.
The panel also discussed re-reading as a powerful part of the comics experience. Children often race through a book for the plot, then return to notice visual details, background jokes and character expressions, building deeper comprehension with each reading.
By the end of the session, all three agreed that comics should be studied and respected as their own form of literature — one that welcomes readers of all levels, builds confidence and makes reading feel like discovery rather than obligation.
