The power of jazz lies in its free form. Jazz does not dispense with instruments, or notes, or the common ideas of what makes music sad or happy or anthing else. Instead, jazz takes all the familiar elements of music and juxtaposes them to sculpt a music that directly reflects a personal experience. Jazz is immediate because the social boundaries are lifted in the music, and the performer and the audience are "talking" one-on-one. The power of jazz lies in this true expression and communication of the personal experience right from one human being to another.

This is the truth about comics, too.

The power of comics lies in its free form. Comics does not dispense with pencils, or shading and form, or common ideas of what makes a picture sad or happy or anything else. Instead, comics takes all the familiar elements of story and illustration and juxtaposes them to sculpt a work—a comic book—that directly reflects a personal experience. Comics is immedate because the social boundaries are lifted in the words, the images, and the relations of the frames; and the creator and the audience are "talking" one-on-one. The power of comics lies in this true expression and communication of the personal experience right from one human being to another.

Are all comics like this? No, of course not. Neither is all painting, singing, music, dance, film, writing, or any other art form. Some works in every form fall short of the ideal; some works are written only for entertainment; some works are written only for money; some works are written only for rebellion or shock value. So knowing, do we turn from these other forms?

No. No, we do not. We look at the finest examples and let them guide. We hitch our wagons to a star and let it pull us as high as we can go.

So with comics. It's detractors point to the lowest form and say comics is the lowest form. I say its time to point to the highest form and let comics become the highest form, the most challenging form, the crowning form of our culture—the most expressive, real, demanding, complete art form in the history of humanity.

Take up the challenge, and let's see your jazz. Show us what you got. Be the Bird of comics, the Miles Davis, the Thelonious Monk, the Louis Armstrong, the Bix Beiderbeck of comics.

Winning the Pulitzer Prize was not enough to get comics out of the literary ghetto.

Let's see if we can do it with JAZZ.