This chapter presents a nuanced discussion of the grammatical and conceptual framing of “comics” within academic discourse. Marc Singer begins by interrogating the singular versus plural usage of the term “comics,” arguing that this linguistic ambiguity reflects deeper tensions in comics studies between treating comics as a unified medium and as a diverse set of cultural artifacts. His statement is met with a response from Bart Beaty, who expands the discussion into a broader critique of the field’s methodological and institutional development, arguing in favor of large-scale empirical studies and corpus-based research to complement close reading. Singer’s reply defends the value of interpretive methods while acknowledging the importance of methodological diversity.