Categorizing Comics

It just occurred to me that eBay lists comics under "Collectibles" rather than under "Books." In fact, when I was first searching for graphic novels/collections, I kept wanting to search in "books." I mean, comics are things to read. Those people who seal them in mylar bags and never read them for fear of getting a fingerprint on the cover or a wrinkle in a page are just weird. Which isn't to say I treat my books badly. I'm actually known as being rather anal about books, and I don't let people borrow mine unless I know I'll get them back in the same condition they left the house. I chide people for putting paperbacks down pages-down and open (cracks the spine). I've been known to pointedly offer bookmarks. Sometimes I ask people if their hands are clean before handing them a volume (sometimes also pointedly). But comics aren't collectibles. Not in my house. They're books. (And that whole comics-as-collectibles mindset almost destroyed the industry not so long ago, anyway.)