> But in France, at least, comic books were taken seriously as an art form, Peeters said. “When I was a young author I came from a more literary world,” he said. “People said, ‘What are you doing with comics? You are a clever person. You should work with movies or literature.’ Now, nobody would say that.”

Contrast this with a petition initiated and signed by a collective of authors, including Benoît Peeters: https://collectifartistesauteurs.tumblr.com/post/17004407655...

Maybe the art form is taken seriously, yet over half of the comic books, authors cannot make a decent living off this profession in France today.