Superhero stories have characters who use their extraordinary powers -- intellectual or supernatural -- to save the day from evil villains who often have comparable abilities. Superheroes usually have some sort of mask or costume that they wear to protect themselves, their significant others and their identity from the outside world in addition to a variety of weapons and cool gadgets they use in their adventures.
Human interest stories focus on the human aspect of a story, presenting the problems, concerns or achievements of the characters in a way that provokes interest or sympathy from readers. This type of story can be the main theme of a graphic novel or the underlying story behind the story.
Manga is a Japanese comic style often serialized in magazines, graphic novels, comic books and other graphic literature. The graphics in manga tend to be distinctive with pen and ink drawings, clean lines and highly expressive characters -- aspects that contribute to the genre's popularity in Japan and growing popularity in other parts of the world.
Satire is used in graphic novels as a platform to provide constructive criticism about sociological and political issues using humor and wit. Since it is indirect, this type of criticism avoids the societal and political repercussions that would normally accompany another style of presentation.
From time to time, well-known characters from classic literature, film or popular culture are adapted into graphic literature form. Libraries are starting to use these spinoffs and other types of graphic novels to reach out to a new generation of readers. According to librarian Allison Lee from the Emanuel School in Sydney, Australia, young readers today have learned to "associate images with storytelling . . . and understand a story visually rather than textually."
Like traditional nonfiction books, nonfiction graphic works can be autobiographical, historical or journalistic styled narratives, but told in pictorial form rather than traditional text format.