ABSTRACT
What are comics doing as a topic in a scholarly introduction to the field of philosophical aesthetics? Although they are sometimes referred to as le neuvième art (the ninth art) in francophone countries, and the American critic Gilbert Seldes counted them among the seven “lively arts” (Seldes 1924), comics have rarely been considered one of the individual arts worthy of philosophical attention. Surely some of this has to do with skepticism about the existence of distinctive philosophical problems raised by comics (Meskin 2011). I suspect that there is also lingering doubt about the status of comics as an individual art; that is, rather than as a form of entertainment, kitsch or mere popular/mass culture. And even those who grudgingly acknowledge comics to be a distinct art form may still believe it to be a minor art or, at least, one of lower value than painting, poetry, sculpture and the other fine or high arts. In this chapter, I shall focus on these latter two issues first – the question of comics’ status as an art form and the value of comics – before providing a brief overview of the wide range of philosophical problems the category raises.
