"I would say that the academic study of comics right now is where the academic study of film was in the '60s," he says.

"Scholarship on film in the '60s tended to focus on certain things like genre and character, largely to the exclusion of visual elements." The arrival of acclaimed directors like Fellini, Bergman and Godard sparked more appreciation for film's more visual aspects, such as cinematography.

"With comics, a lot of the work that's going on takes place in literature departments," notes Dr. Beaty. Yet comics are usually produced by a writer and an artist working as a team. The best comics writers, creators like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman, he notes, are respected in academic circles, "but we don't hear about the artists."

And while comics might be garnering more attention from academe, the same isn't always true for society at large. Dr. Beaty has written books on both television and comics, but at a party, "no one wants to talk to me about comic books," he says. "People are happy to get my take on Oprah or The Apprentice. That gets more respect than comics do."

Labels: Alberta, British Columbia, Calgary, comics scholarship, Quebec