Douglas Wolk usually writes books about music, but now he’s gone and taken on comics. There’s an excerpt in today’s Salon:

Comics fans, grow up!

With the rise of the graphic novel, comics have hit the big time. It’s time for fans to quit whining and celebrate their favorite art.

June 23, 2007 | It’s frustrating to love comics, because there’s so much cultural baggage that goes along with loving them. The blessing and curse of comics as a medium is that there is such a thing as “comics culture.” The core audience of comics is really into them: we know that Wednesdays are the day when new issues appear in the stores, we populate endless Web sites and message boards, we preserve our comics with some degree of care even if we think of ourselves as “readers” rather than “collectors.” A few times a year, we congregate at conventions of one kind or another. (The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival — which is happening this weekend in New York City — is one of our Sundances, where small-press and independent publishers display their wares; Wizard World Chicago is where the superhero buffs go; Comic-Con International, held in San Diego at the end of July, is where everybody goes.) More on Salon.com

–Fred