Graphic Novel Version: Why?

For a change of scenery, I stopped in the other day at one of my two local Books-a-Million stores to use their cafe as a study site.  I've used this place a lot in the past and probably would have continued to do so had they run it in a more costumer-friendly manner.  Not that the employees aren't friendly...they are as nice as nice can be.  But there's usually only one of them attending the coffee bar, meaning that I have to wait until everyone in line in front of me is completely finished having their often involved orders prepared and served before I can get my simple cup of already-brewed coffee.  And, oh, sometimes there is nobody at all there. The store hours also have been cut back and the flavored coffee they always used to have is either unavailable or unbrewed.  But critiquing this company isn't what I set out to do here.  It was a book I saw on display as I entered...

Eoin Colfer is the author of the children's series Artemis Fowl.  I have taken to it myself because he is a very good storyteller, creating memorable, compelling characters as well as an alternative universe full of vivid imagery.  I am on the fourth book in this series.  On display was to be the final book in the series, with a substitute graphic novel edition available as well.  Graphic novel?

I enjoy creating my own images of what Artemis Fowl, Butler, Holly, Mulch Diggums, Opal Koboi, and the others look like, as well as the exotic settings of the series.  The last thing I want is to see is someone else's representations, even if they were with the author's blessings. Yet, apparently there are people who either have no imagination or don't want to use it and will jump at the graphic novel option.  Many of these no doubt skipped reading literary delights like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings (and soon-to-be The Hobbit) until the movie versions came out.  

I think Artemis Fowl would make a great movie series, not just some graphic novel versions.  But it's the reading that you want to immerse yourself in.  I read the Potter books as well as Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia before seeing their cinematic counterparts.  And I must say that you're missing an awful lot of these stories if you bypass the books.  This probably also applies to graphic novel versions. Sure, with them you're still reading, but they are co-opting much of your thinking...