Tintin Forums

The German website Deutsche Welle carries a very interesting article on the steps being taken to revive the flagging Belgian bande desinée industry.
Strip cartoons have held a special place in the local culture, but like the comic market in the rest of Europe and America, recent years have seen a decline in the profile of the "9th Art".
Now an initiative to reverse the trend is underway...
You can read the article here.

I wonder, why are strip comics called the "9th art"?

Because among the French establishment, arts fall into nine classifications:

1. Architecture
2. Sculpture
3. Painting and drawing (the "Visual arts")
4. Music
5. Literature and poetry
6. Theatre, dance, mime, circus skills (the "Performing arts")
7. Cinema
8. Radio, television and photography (the "Media art")
9. Comic-book arts (drawing and writing)

Although these have been obviously been updated through the centuries, and nine is just the current total (it may yet change!), it is seen as being a good figure to stop at, as there were also nine muses in Greek tradition, which gives a nice relationship between antiquity and modernity.