A Student from the School of Visual Arts(SVA) art college in NYC speaks about his cirriculum and the current state of flux that comics are in.

"1st there are people who truly believe that a comic should be done in a certain way. They should be based on the establishment of those who have created comics/cartoons in the early years. Now is this wrong for people to harbor that opinon? And to go further people do not want comics to evolve in ways others do. They have an opinon that Batman should always be the Batman of Bob Kane, that there shouldnt be an issue spider-man all devoted to Aunt May.

Now obviously there are people who see the evolution of comics and graphic medium continuing and growing. That lines are being blurred between Fine Art, Graphic Design, Film, Animation and Cartooning/Sequeintal Art.

Now I attend the School of Visual Arts(SVA) art college in NYC. Its probably best known in the Comic book World as where Will Eisner taught, Klaus Jansen know teaches, where Jessica Abel teaches and where Joe Quesada went. It is also very, very, respectable in the fields of illustration, fine art, graphic design and film. While I am an Illustration major I have taken my share of Cartooning/Sequiental Art Classes. What they teach about comics is very different then most of you would think. We do not study the latest issue of Flash or X-Men. Instructors teach us the broad world of fine arts, illustrators, writers etc. We study why Manet started to rebel against Art Institutions that have been established, Why Warhol created paintings with his urine, and that foundations are built only to be torn down and again and again.

And when we when they do Bring up comic creators its many times not who you think. The first thing they assigned to me was to read study and breathe Understanding Comics by Scott Mcloud and Instead of showing us why Jim Lee's X-Men is the greatest, They go on an introduce the words of Roger Crumb, Daniel Clowes, Moebius, and so on a so forth. Not even just American stuff, the world of French Sequeintal art is visted as well as the ever popular manga and underground japanese comics. Obviously these guys are totally different in mindset of creating comics then your average joe that works for DC.

And it is also interesting that while SVA is known to respect the Comics field most Art Colleges do not. Parsons, Cooper Union, Otis, etc do not have a Cartooning major or classes. 2 years ago I showed Cooper Union (they give full scholarships to everyone thats accepted) my portfolio which had a few cartooning stuff and the reviewer just laughed in my face. "We're a fine arts school buddy" was his words of wisdom after I zipped up the portfolio.

So whats the point im trying to make? Most people in the art field beleive that comics have no real importance compared to Fine Art, Design, and hell even web design. But if we have to create comics where boundries and rules are set then I agree with them.

Which is why I loved Mack's Daredevil and the fact that perhaps mainstream comics is really starting to evolve and change which makes actually makes me excited on Wednesdays."