/entertainment/

Click me the comics

Cartoon art museums find homes on the Web

by Eric Griffith

A panel from the Words & Pictures Museum's 'Elektra: Assassin' exhibit.

During the '80s, the comic book industry enjoyed a renaissance—comics were loved in the press and sold better than they had since the '50s. Industry insiders had the funds to build museums in honor of graphical storytelling.

One such museum was the Words & Pictures Museum, dedicated to the "collection, preservation, study, interpretation and presentation of fine graphic narrative and fantasy illustration," which opened its doors in 1992 in Northampton, Mass. But recent years haven't been as kind to the comic industry, nor to galleries celebrating this art form. Says the museum's curator Fiona Russell, "We felt (the museum required) a high standard of presentation and design, but we simply weren't able to continue at the level we felt it deserved." The Words & Pictures Museum shut its doors in late 1999, but with an idea in place "to reach a broader and broader audience."

The proceeds from selling the location were used to build a Web site for digital exhibits. "We're receiving far more virtual visitors than we did physical visitors, around 40,000 every month, and it's growing daily," Russell says.

The Words & Pictures Museum isn't alone online. The International Museum of Cartoon Art in Boca Raton, Fla., offers displays from its collection of comic book and comic strip art. San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum—home of the Sparky Awards, named for "Peanuts" creator and museum benefactor Charles "Sparky" Schulz—is more informational than pictorial in nature.

By contrast, the Comic Art & Graffix Gallery is an online gallery based on the collection of Richard Halegua, who has collected comics since 1962. Though not as professionally presented, this site's historical information and artwork qualify it as a valuable resource.

The online version of the Words & Pictures Museum was designed to be a resource for those who couldn't visit the original museum, Russell says. "In a different fashion we're fulfilling our mission to a much broader audience."

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Words & Pictures Museum
www.wordsandpictures.org

International Museum of Cartoon Art
www.cartoon.org

Cartoon Art Museum
www.cartoonart.org

Comic Art & Graffix Gallery
www.comic-art.com