Behind the scenes: The Oregonian talks with Matt Wagner, who will give a lecture about comics at the Beaverton City Library with Jacob Pander and Greg Rucka:

"'When I was growing up, art schools I went to really pooh-poohed comics,' he said. 'The only comic worth aspiring to was to be a cartoonist for The New Yorker.'

"Now, like mysteries, science fiction and other genres, comics are gaining acceptance, he said, because they contain 'complex ideas and social commentary, internal reflection -- all the things you think of when you think of true literature.'"