I live in Hong Kong, and at least from my observation, light novel and comic are quite different things in Asia. MAL is an English site though. Are light novel and comic seen as similar things in English speaking area? Or is there any special reason that MAL decide to put light novel and comic under the same type?

P.S. I just found that this StackExchange site is named "Anime & Manga", but there is a light-novel-production tag..... seems like this is the place to discuss light novel, but like MAL, the site put light novel under manga category?

I live in Hong Kong, and at least from my observation, light novels and comics are quite different things in Asia. However it seems that on sites like MAL, which is not of the Asian origin, they categorize light novels and comics as one. 

Are light novel and comic seen as similar things in English speaking area? Or is there any special reason for services such as MAL to decide light novel and comic should fall under the same type?

I also noticed that this site is named "Anime & Manga", but also contains a light-novel-production tag. Hence the same categorization seems to happen here as well.