English discourse is quite informal, the regular speech of everyday people is full of idioms and colloquialisms. As living in a non-English speaking country, the option to hear and use spoken English is very limited. By using authentic materials such as comics we provide our students with examples of language used in real life as opposed to some structures found in EFL textbooks. It helps to increase their interest. Single comic strips are usually humorous and structured to lead towards a punch line at the end. Cartoon characters use a lot of idioms and colloquial speech. And some comics also try to capture the actual phonetic sound of spoken English. Choosing the right materials for the lessons motivates the students and helps to develop their reading and writing skills. The theoretical part of this thesis will analyse the genre of comics and gothic novel and its general appeal to the teenagers . The empirical part is divided into two parts. The first part will introduce results of the research exploring usage of comics as a teaching tool in general as well as the student familiarity with particular comics. The second part will analyse the pupils progress of learning vocabulary and reading skills by using comics on regular basis in secondary classes over one school term. An illustration of used lesson plans based on comics will be enclosed.