The evolution of the comic book has been spectacular.

From its unassuming dime-store origins to the introduction and domination of the superhero, it was hit by a demonization in the 1950s.

The medium went through a mid-century lull followed by an underground explosion that led to an eventual resurgence as a respected cultural powerhouse: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel, The Watchmen, appears on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.

In its short lifespan, the comic book has leaped incredible bounds, and an appreciation for the art and artistry of comic books and their makers has accompanied this renaissance.

Museums have embraced the form, showcasing work from not only American stalwarts ranging from Jack Kirby and Will Eisner to Peter Bagge and Daniel Clowes, but also artists working in Asia, Britain and beyond. The establishment of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City and The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, among many others, further solidifies the comic book’s place in the art world.

Chicago has its feet firmly in this world. Established artists Clowes, Alex Ross, Chris Ware, Ivan Brunetti, Archer Prewitt and countless others either hail from the city or call it home.

New blood is equally strong. The Museum of Contemporary Art showcases the talents of four young artists who create innovative and challenging work — Paul Hornschemeier, Anders Nilsen, Lille Carré and Jeffery Brown — in its must-see exhibition, New Chicago Comics, running through January 30.

Tucked in a small space on the first floor, the exhibit has the air of an artist’s studio under glass, with drawings (some with printer’s notations, non-photo blue pencil marks and such), sketchbooks and animated work lining the walls and on two center-room tables. Together, they allow for a fascinating look inside both the artistic process and the stages of comic book creation.

When observed individually, the artists’ divergent styles and methods are striking.

Hornschemeier breathes nostalgia for the past into his work with nods to early comics and pop culture ephemera, yet remains thoroughly modern, interjecting an intertwining triple narrative into his upcoming graphic novel, The Three Paradoxes. The Cubist-influenced cover for his Life with Mr. Dangerous anthology seals the deal.

Darker territory is charted in Nilsen’s work.

On display are plates from his ongoing series, The Big Question, about a group of talking birds entranced by an un-detonated bomb that they mistake for an egg, tackle existential quandaries and the brutal natural order of life. Crashed airplanes, owls who kill calmly and mysterious men further the unsettling tone of the sparse ink illustrations.

Surrealism and absurdist humor, as well as influences from old cinema and cartoons, filter into Carre’s comics, accordion books and projected animation.

The kookiness has an antiquated, wood-cut like charm, but it is softened by a poetic lyricism. This is particularly apparent in pages from her book, The Lagoon, which observe detached lovemaking disrupted by an amphibious-looking humanoid creature, with whom the woman escapes into dark, mysterious, yet musical woods.

Displayed on tables under glass, Jeffery Brown’s sketchbooks are a world unto themselves.

The artist behind Clumsy and other autobiographical comics plans, draws and writes each of his works in a separate book. Over twenty are on view, providing an amazing look at the early stages of personal, often hilarious stories that follow him from teenage days hanging out in Wicker Park through uncomfortably humorous intimate moments as an adult and beyond.

New Chicago Comics is more than a simple display of pages and proofs, however.

Lifted from drawing tables, dissected, and displayed singularly, the comics change. Dialogue, action, and even the art itself beg subjective interpretation when subtracted from original narratives — an effect that brings new life to already vibrant work.