On the surface, the relationship between comics and the ‘high’ arts once seemed simple; comic books and strips could be mined for inspiration, but were not themselves considered legitimate art objects. Though this traditional distinction has begun to erode, the worlds of comics and art continue to occupy vastly different social spaces.

Comics Versus Art examines the relationship between comics and the most important institutions of the art world; including museums, auction houses, and the art press. Bart Beaty's analysis centres around two questions: why were comics excluded from the history of art for most of the twentieth century, and what does it mean that comics production is now more closely aligned with the art world? Approaching this relationship for the first time through the lens of the sociology of culture, Beaty advances a completely novel approach to the comics form.

Bart Beaty is associate professor of communication and culture at the University of Calgary. His work has been published in the Comics Journal, International Journal of Comic Art, Canadian Journal of Communication, Essays in Canadian Writing, and Canadian Review of American Studies.

Bart Beaty's profile page

“Comics Versus Art is an intriguing text for readers of comics, and an illuminating look at the theoretical underpinnings of what we call – and refuse to call – art.”

Quill and Quire

‘This solid, sound, intriguing book will set the discourse on art and comics for a considerable time. Essential. All readers.’

Choice Magazine vol 50:07:2013

‘Excellent investigation of the world of comics… In writing a history of ways the comic world has been taken up during modern era and beyond through sociology of art perspective, Beaty has made a valuable new contribution to the study of comic form.

Canadian Literature 219, winter 2013