Fortunately, saner points of view prevailed, and comic books and their graphic novel cousins have gone on to great critical, commercial, and cultural success. Art Spiegelman’s Maus became the first comic book nominated by The National Book Critics Circle in 1986 (it would receive a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992). Alan Moore’s Watchmen (1986) was the only comic book included on Time’s list of “the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.” And countless comic books and graphic novels have been turned into successful television shows and films, including many that do not feature protagonists with superpowers, such as the motion pictures Road to Perdition, A History of Violence, and American Splendor.

Yet comics have turned out to be even more than cool, cathartic, and in some cases, profitable. The format is now seen as an invaluable tool in helping communicators, entertainers, and educators of all stripes. In addition to this relatively recent embrace of comics as a means to some other end (i.e. a comic book serving as the storyboard/script for a movie director), old-fashioned ink and paper comics remain powerful pieces of art and expression in their own right.

Visiting professor Ryan Claytor has brought his love for and lessons from the world of comic books to the UM-Flint campus for the past two years with his Art 301 class, “Advanced Comics Studio.” Claytor said he had been a heavy comic reader until his early teens, but put them aside until after he graduated from college. After art school he rediscovered them in a big way, challenging himself to create one comic each day for days on end. That was the start of what would be a series of autobiographical books entitled And Then One Day.

You won’t hear lectures or receive instruction on how to create superheroes like Spider-Man and Super Woman in Claytor’s class – although he acknowledges the contributions of such archetypical characters to humanity’s understanding of itself. Superheroes and super villains are a modern addition to the long tradition of folk legends, tales of titans, gods, and godesses, and various mythical representations of humankind at its best and worst. Still, Claytor has always been more drawn to the truths revealed through extraordinary interpretations of more ordinary human experiences.

Claytor says there is a growing demand for comics, graphic novels, and for his course. He said, “Some of my students from my first class last year [Intro to Studio Art] have created their own comic books, and have turned them into a commercial venture.”

One of those students is Chris Reed. Reed has been making comics for nearly 30 years, since his boyhood. Despite his decades of experience, Reed said he learned a lot about his craft through the class. “Mr. Claytor encouraged us to explain why we create our art and what it means to us. This wasn’t something I’d spent much time thinking about. But when I did, I realized that many of my past experiences helped to shape me as an artist, and I was able to pinpoint what those experiences were and what effect they have on my art. It was a very enlightening experience.”

Reed also said the class has made him more thoughtful about the process and technique of storytelling. He said, “Storytelling is the foundation for comics, the same way it is the foundation for movies, novels, television shows, and the like. If you want the reader (or viewer) to care about your characters, then you must create a compelling story. Pacing is also very important. You want to keep the story moving, keep the suspense building. If you cannot create a compelling story with characters that your audience can relate to and cheer for, then you risk losing your audience.”

With the meteoric rise in the number and variety of digital media platforms, many in the comic world have expressed concern that compelling storytelling is not enough to keep audiences reading traditional print comics. However, unlike many other genres, comic enthusiasts place an extremely high value on not only knowing the history of the genre, but on still being able to experience that history the same way as previous generations. For many, that means frequenting brick and mortar comic shops – not virtual ones.

This sensibility explains why Professor Claytor’s students gave their final “Comics and Visual Narrative” class presentations at the Vault of Midnight comic shop in Ann Arbor.

So what’s the future of comics? Given their proven adaptability to every new form of mass communication since radio, and new mediums’ near total reliance on all manner of visual content, comics are likely to have a very strong presence in our society for a very long time. But as far as traditional comic books… “that’s harder to say,” says Chris Reed. “Unfortunately, with the way many publishing companies are turning towards e-books, I fear that someday comics might go the same route, which would be sad. For me, there is nothing like holding a comic in my hand, feeling the pages, smelling the paper. You can’t get that by looking at a computer screen. But the good news is there will always be artists making handmade comics, and the more prevalent the electronic market becomes, the more appreciated the underground comics movement will be.”