In the European French-speaking area, the definition of comics requires nowadays an artistic qualification. As cultural objects, comics' representations contribute to the organization of activities following the classical opposition between artistic and professional recognitions. This opposition transforms the qualification of the object and its personality, around which different kinds of activities of both the commentator's one and the producer's one, are organized. The historical processes of artistic elaboration go against the reconstruction of the actor's professionalization processes on the same historical grounds. In addition, this opposition implies the learning of some practical knowledges in the productive area in order to reduce the tension between contradictory values at stake in the activity. The articulation of contradictory aims or goals in experiencing attachment towards the activity (i.e. relating, on the one hand, to the “artification” and, on the other hand, to the professionalization) involves a conception of personal identity which is open out along comics' margins.
Movements and issues of the artistic and professional recognitions : a typology of kinds of commitment in Comics