Graphic novels and reader literacy

Will increased interest and consumption of graphic novels increasing reading among America’s youths? From The Kansas City Star:

The school’s Graphic Novels Club more than doubled its members in less than four years.

Link.

I remember when comic books were considered adolescent porn. For all I know they may still be perceived that way. I wonder if the increased interest in graphic novels includes the old Illustrated Classics?

When I was in grade school, my father occasionally bought copies of of the Illustrated Classics. My favorite books were Sherlock Holmes and the case of the hound Of the Baskervilles, Ivanhoe, and The Last of the Mohicans. During high school I started reading an collecting comic books, but not graphic novels. As I recall, graphic novels began appearing with more regularity in the 1990s as a way of propping up poor comic book sales. The first graphic novels I read were collected comic book serials like Frank Miller’s Ronin and Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes. Reading comic books did not deter me from reading novels, poetry or literature in general. So, again, I wonder if graphic novels will increase reading among America’s youth.