The Freak (Comix Scholars List | Ted Rall Online)
Comments(3) 
[From Beth Davies. The elite attitude portrayed in this comic strip is not exclusive to comics as art, but also comics as a valid subject for academic study, which is a struggle all of us wade through. Navigating the minefield is difficult, as I remember last semester, when I was talking to a professor and received negative feedback when I declared comics as an area of research. Although I became extremely upset, I forgot one important lesson that Jason Tondro taught me, which is the “…and Comics” approach. We talked about this on a few occasions and I realized that I had yet to fill in the first part of that statement. I will always say that I am “Rhetoric, Theory, and Comics” but sometimes comics becomes the subject and not the declaration. BK]
category: Comics, Popular Culture
It just means that you will be one of the visionaries when history looks back to trace the foundations of “Comics in the Academy.”
Josh, I never wanted to get into academics to become a legend or to get rich. If it happens, though, great! Last year, at the National Popular Culture Association’s conference in San Diego, many professors declared that we no longer need to justify comics because of its decade of existence as an area. I disagree and finally realize that comics is sellable as long as its got the right pitch. A difficult lesson to learn.
Apparently I interpreted this strip wrong. The scholars on the list are saying that this is a dialogue between Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware. I did pick up on the Spiegelman, but not Ware, since I lack a strong graphic novel library.