Comic Books have long been misunderstood and overlooked. Comic books are a form of "Fine Art" to be appreciated, studied, and remembered like the other forms of "fine art." Creators such as Gaiman, Moore, and Kirby should be held in the same regard as Hawthorne, Poe, and Michangelo.
People have not understood what a comic book really is. Society as a whole holds comic books to be "crude, poorly drawn, semiliterate, cheap, disposable, kiddie fare," and it is accepted for children to use both words and pictures simultaneously to communicate, as long as they eventually grow out of it. Traditional thinking believes that pictures and writing can only be "fine art" when they are kept far apart from each other. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The formal definition of "art" is: "&ldots;both skill and creative imagination that might be aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, or a combination of these qualities." Why can a comic book not fit this definition? Most people only think of superheroes, such as Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man, when they think of comic books, but "the world of comics is huge and varied." Think of the comic's medium as a container that can hold any idea or form. "The plutonic (used here as the simple, sometimes childish, relationship between writing and art work) ideal of the comic book may seem to omit much of the ambiguity and complex characterization which are the hallmarks of modern literature, leaving them suitable only for children," but a simple style does not mean a simple story or idea.
There are similarities between comic books and other forms of accepted "fine art." Lines are very important to establish mood, emotion, and attitude. Often a jagged line is used to convey stress or anxiety, while a curvy line can express relaxation. In the case of classic literature, it is "possible to effectively use metaphor, irony, foreshadowing and flashbacks in a comic book." Truly "good" comic books are more than the sum of their parts, they are a harmonious combination of words and pictures where the reader is aware of neither the words nor the pictures, just the story.
A formal definition of comic books is "Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce aesthetic response in the viewer," but in most cases, sequential art defines comic books just fine. Despite the complex definition or the simple one, comic books are very magical works of art that can do things as no other form of "fine art" can. Comic books use cartoons and detailed pictures to draw a person into the story. Cartoons are icons that let us identify with a character, this is why main characters are often "cartoony" and supporting character, most often the antagonist, have more visual detail. People mask themselves in cartoony, iconic, characters, this is why backgrounds are generally more detailed because no one will "identify with a brick wall." Portraying time in comic books can not happen in any traditional way. Time is determined by any noise (sound effects and/or dialogue) as well as the size and shape of a panel. Panels are the building blocks of comic books, but the true magic happens between the panels, in a mental process called closure.
Closure is the true nature and the true magic of comic books. Look at the illustration below.
In the illustration, did the man with the ax kill the other man? The answer is shocking. No. If a murder happened, you, the reader, committed it. Your mind makes an educated guess from all your experience to form what probably happened. The same concept applies to the old game of "peak-a-boo." Small children do not realize what they cannot see is still there. The next panel of this comic may show the ax man laying on his own ax because he tripped. Closure is crucial to every comic book and may determine a "good" comic from a bad one.
Despite the magic of comic books or their similarity to other art forms, comics did have a brief, but liberating, dark period. In the 1950's a psychologist, Frederick Wertham, did a superficial study on the harmful effect of comics on children. He stated that Superman caused kids to jump off buildings and cliffs and that Robin influenced little boys to be homosexual. His study eventually came before a senate sub-committee. The Comics Code Authority was born, and, for 40 odd years, only code-approved comics were available to a large audience. As a result of the comic's code, many horror and "alternative" comics went underground or changed their format to magazine size where they no longer fell under the Comic Code Authority's prowess. This lasted until the mid-eighties, when mainstream comic books found themselves "grown-up." This was a result of the creator's, both writer and artist, interest to explore the more complex areas of the medium, trying to elevate comic books to their fullest potentials.
The Sandman series, created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dreinberg, is one of the most worthy comic books to use as an example of the art form. Harlan Ellison stated, "Neil (Gaiman) has created compelling&ldots;stories&ldots;(and) does it so splendidly that it raises" the whole comics medium. One of the highest points in comic book history (as pertained to the larger world), is the story "A Midsummer Night's Dream," in issue # 19 of The Sandman (by Neil Gaiman and Charless Vess). This issue won a World Fantasy Award for best short story of the year. After winning the award, the rules were changed so no comic book could win an award this high again. Neil Gaiman put it best, "There is a saying, 'Close the stable door after the horse has gone.' In this case it was, 'Closing the stable door after the horse has not only gone, but won the Kentucky Derby.'"
Comic books have all the same qualities as classic art, but despite this, comics are misunderstood as simple entertainment for children and even, at times, accused of harming children. The last word on the subject is simple. "Comics have become firmly identified with the art of Storytelling."