According to Horricks (2004), how have perceptions of comics as a media changed?
Horricks starts off by saying how comics were treated in the past. They were campaigned and protested against, people believed they were influencing young readers for the worse.
Since then however the perceptions of comics has changed immensely. They are now viewed as literature, and often go by the name of 'graphic novels'. They are reviewed like normal literature, and they win awards. There are university level courses that teach students how to create graphic novels on a professional level (Horricks, 2004.)
That old public perception of comics being 'bad' is now more or less forgotten, the critics have rapidly moved over many other genres.
Now graphic novels are almost seen in a scientific light, and there are many books that claim comics do just that. One book called 'Understanding Comics; The invisible Art' written by Scott McCloud claims heavily that comics have a scientific structure to them that helps the readers eye travel across the page in the way that the cartoonist wants it to. McCloud created the formula for comics, SPACE = TIME. At first this may be hard to understand, but comics are basically a 'spatial medium' meaning they operate in and out of frames/boxes. The way these are arranged and used helps the reader flow through the page.
Now graphic novels are seen in a much better light by the average reader, and they don't hold comics responsible for the crime rate. They are viewed as a cleaver way to portray a story or idea, and now are much more widely accepted.
Horricks, D. (2004) The Perfect Planet: Comics, Games and World Building. in Williams M (ed.) Writing at the edge of the Universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury Press.
Haha we picked the same question again. Once again, i completely agree with you, however i found that the idea "That old public perception of comics being 'bad' is now more or less forgotten, the critics have rapidly moved over many other genres." is more complex. The only suggestion i would have in regards to your post would have been to elaborate on this fact. For example, video games etc would have been perfect. I say this because its the most obvious moral panic that doesn't necessarily adhere to all the usual characteristics of a moral panic (clothes, behavior etc). Also, comics were more about the expression than rebelling (moral panic 101) and thus was practically invisible to those who it did not directly affect (As opposed to the more mainstream panics of today).
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