Morning Edition

Comics used to be seen as cheap throwaway entertainment for children and teenagers. But over the last few decades, comics have grown up; they're even released in longer formats, on nice paper with hard covers, as graphic novels.

Daniel Clowes is one of the artists cited for turning the form into serious art — in fact, the art has gotten so serious that his work is now in a museum. Clowes is one of the best-known comic artists working today, with two of his books made into Hollywood films: the Academy Award-nominated Ghost World and Art School Confidential.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

OK, so it's still officially spring, but the movie world is kicking off the summer blockbuster season this weekend with a whole lineup of superheroes in Marvel's "The Avengers." Here's film critic Kenneth Turan's review.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

In Beijing, American officials are working feverishly to end a diplomatic crisis over a Chinese dissident. It erupted just as the U.S. Secretaries of State and Treasury arrived this week for high level talks with the Chinese on economic and security issues. On Wednesday, diplomats on both sides thought they had found an agreement that would enable human rights activist Chen Guangcheng to go free. But that fell apart.