An interesting debate took place over at the San Diego comic book convention over whether comic books should be perceived as literature/art. It's unfortunate that this medium has long suffered while other mediums have flourished and are now considered as artistic and worthy of analysis and critique, such as popular music and cinema. Still, it also must be said that comic books are not nearly as profitable as most other forms of entertainment.
I think it's likely that video games will be seen as art before comic books, despite the fact that video games been around for a significantly shorter period of time. This raises the interesting question of whether or not profits (and therefore, to a large degree, interest on the part of the general public) has a drastic effect on the speed at which a new entertainment medium becomes accepted as "art." And thinking about that makes my head hurt a little bit.
