"Words alone are called literature, and paintings alone are called fine art," Murphy notes. "But when they're done together, they're called crap for kids." Hence, a day when comics -- a medium already on the cultural rise, thanks to such kudos as the Pulitzer Prize handed to cartoonist Art Spiegelman for his lauded Maus series -- get their due, at least on a small scale. "One thing we're trying to promote is a better understanding of what the medium has to offer," Murphy says. "And also, we just want to encourage the kids." To that end, there are no entry fees and no entrants go home without a T-shirt, regardless of whether or not they bag a top prize.
And, Murphy notes, he and McDonald will continue to fight the good fight as long as they're both in the neighborhood: "Someday, maybe we'll bring in someone like Art Spiegelman, someone who's already championed the cause. Maybe someday we'll be nationally recognized for what we're doing. But right now we're taking baby steps, growing every year."
