The Harvey Awards and A Respectful Proposal

What is going on, comics industry? For a medium that desires to be recognized more as a true art form you seem to be doing a shabby job of convincing us.

In order for a medium to be recognized as an art form two things need to happen:

1. The audience needs to acknowledge it as a serious art form.
2. The creators/publishers themselves need to take it seriously.

One would think that #2 would be a given. Judging by this year's Harvey Awards turnout, it certainly is not the case.

For those of you not familiar with them, the Harveys are one of the most respected awards given in the comics industry. Their name comes from Harvey Kurtzman, a comics writer and editor most known as the founder of MAD Magazine. The awards are given out every year during a ceremony held at a comics convention (the Baltimore Comic-Con as of 2005). Sadly, as reported by Scott Kurtz in his weblog, there was a shamefully low turnout of actual award recipients at this year's ceremony. Apparently, D.C. Comics (despite the fact that some of their own publications were nominated) even scheduled a dinner that coincided with the event.

How can the comics industry expect any measure of respect from their potential audience and their fine arts peers when they do not respect their own institutions? The Harveys are not selected by a committee. They are nominated and subsequently voted on by the comics creators and publishers themselves. I ask, what is the point of giving those of a group who have done exceptional work a pat on the back if they will not be there to feel it? I understand that the lives of those who work in the comics industry can be hectic. I understand that not everyone that is even nominated can necessarily afford on their own the travel expenses. However, publishers should plan ahead for something like this. There should be money set aside in the budget somewhere to ship your nominated employees out to accept their awards. They did all of that hard work and they've earned it. At the very least those who have been nominated can find a way to be there either to accept their award or to congradulate peers that they very likely voted for. These things do not work well unless everyone is willing to follow through.

The ceremony is not just about the nominees, either. It is also about paying respect to a pioneer in the field. It is about acknowledging the past that built the industry that these nominees all work in today. How many of the overall comics readership really have a good handle on exactly who Harvey Kurtzman was? Or E.C.? Or Bill Gaines?

Which brings me to my next point: Something needs to be done about the past.

History is the thing. One cannot truly understand the present unless they first learn from the past. There is something that has been going on with film courses in recent years. More and more professors are making an effort to teach students about the history of film. Not just that it happened but why and how it relates to cinema as we see it in the new millenium. Comparing and contrasting old movies that originated genres with their modern successors. Really studying the very guts of film, not just "how can I be the next Spielberg?" A lesson should be taken from this.

There are very few university programs in this country that study comic books and sequential art. Most just pass over it briefly as they move on to "real" art. What we need is one good solid program at one university to get the ball rolling. A program that teaches more than just the mechanics of how to draw in a panel to panel format. We need a Comic books and Sequential Art degree within a mass communications or fine arts program that covers the ins and outs of both the art and the writing. The program could have three possible concentrations to choose from: Writing, Drawing/Painting, and Comics Analysis and Criticism. There would be elements of Comics Studies and history of the industry required for the overall degree. Most importantly, a reference library needs to be put together with an extensive archive. There are woefully few serious scholarly books about comics out there and even fewer that are actually decent. The existence of the library could encourage the writing of dissertations on any number of comics-related topics. Grant funding awarded to certain scholars could also encourage this denser study of the comics field.

Something like that could start comics on their path to being recognized as the great art form that they are. It is already beginning to help film, why not comics?

Respect yourselves, comics industry. Make an effort and you will see how far it can take you.

~April B.