DRAWING FRANCE FRENCH COMICS & REPUBLIC HC

(W) Joel E. Vessels In France, Belgium, and other Francophone countries, comic strips, called bande dessinee or 'BD' in French, have long been considered a major art form capable of addressing a host of contemporary issues. Among French-speaking intelligentsia, graphic narratives were deemed worthy of canonization and critical study decades before the academy and the press in the United States embraced comics. Author Joel E. Vessels examines the trek of BD from it being considered a fomenter of rebellion, to a medium suitable only for semi-literates, to an impediment to education, and most recently to an art capable of addressing social concerns.