Physical properties

It's actually not that hard to tell you're holding a comic rather than a traditional book.  Just let the book fall naturally open to a page, any page, and you'll know.

Comics are sold in monthly issues, in pages stapled together like a magazine.  After a number of months, usually after a plot arc or two (depending on length), the issues are gathered together and sold as a paperback 'trade volume'.  The pages are simply glued to the spine in these volumes.  If the series is popular enough, two or three of the trade volumes will be repackaged into a hardcover 'deluxe edition'.  These books feature the cord binding process.

Graphic novels are self-contained stories, and depending on if you purchase the paperback or the hardcover, it will share physical characteristics with the trade or the deluxe volumes.

An issue, a trade volume, and a deluxe edition

The title page becomes the title pages in comics/graphic novels, simply because it usually requires a large team to put one together so recognizing everyone takes two pages!  There is the writer and artist(s), then the guest cover artist.  There are the colorists, and the inkers...and all the editors.  Like early books, the title page

Illustrations in books have a long history, from woodcuts to intalgio to planographic.  Comics started out with the "4 Color Process", or 4CP.  The illustrations were printed using light-sensitive chemicals to produce dots of four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).  This was a relatively inexpensive method by which to print, and it was printed on cheap paper as well.  While giving comics their own aesthetic, it made coloring difficult.  However, today comics are printed directly onto heavier, bleed-free paper, allowing for sharper color and design.  Check out John Hilgart's ode to 4CP "In Defense of Dots", to see examples and side-by-side comparisons.

Pagination is often foregone, or sporadically included, depending on the page layout and illustrations.

References

• Hilgart, John.  (2010)  "In Defense of Dots: The Lost Art of Comic Books."  4CP- Four Color Process Gallery, accessed online at http://4cp.posthaven.com/in-defense-of-dots-the-lost-art-of-comic-book