week one [rhian]

How and why are comics becoming more accepted as an art form? Can/should they be regarded as a literary genre?

Comics are mainly an art form. The reason they differ from more common literary forms such as novels and short stories is due to their illustrations. Comics differ from even that of a picture book as the illustrations in a picture book do not mark the passing of time and cannot stand on their own as a form of communication, unlike a comic illustration. The pictures in a comic not only accompanies the words, but also holds their own in the flow of the story. In fact, the pictures are the most important part of it, not just for their art but also as a way of telling the story through language, "when an image is combined with words as in a comic strip, the words become secondary, but the language of images remains primary." Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C.(2001).
Due to the importance of the pictures, people view comics are works of art, and sometimes disregard their literary potential. Where does the art stop and the literacy begin?
I believe that comics are interesting creations as they manage to uphold both forms of creativity and create an excellent example of each. I think that they should be considered as both an art form and as a literary genre as they both showcase artistic tendencies and tell a story through literary means.

References
Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). (2001). The Language of Comics: word and image. Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.