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Information Portal

Comic Studies – A Beginning Pathfinder

The following is meant to serve as a guide for those who are at the start of the work in the field of comic studies, as well as for those who are simply looking for a single resource page to bookmark for later use. These listings are by no means exhaustive, but are intended to serve as a broad sampling of the information resources available for those seeking to study comics. In keeping with the “bookmarked for later reference” theme, this page will be broken down into clearly divided sections, so as to make it all the easier to take a quick glance at later.

Note: due to the nature of comic studies, it is important for the new scholar to keep an open mind about the visual appearance of reference sources. For example, The Grand Comics Database – reviewed here – does not have the glossy, well-maintained appearance that some pay-to-play databases do, but it is nonetheless an important resource for any comics historian.

Browsing

Browsing for either comics themselves (in graphic novel format) or for comics studies literature can be a challenge when making use of the Library of Congress classifications (though they are still more accommodating than Dewey).

  • Subject Headings: these will be most useful when searching in a library catalog, primarily as a good starting place followed up by browsing the stacks in the area in which you find a relevant result. There are numerous subject headings for comics, some more general, others rather specific.
    •  For some general headings, try:
      • Comic Books, Strips, Etc.
      • Comic Books, Strips, Etc. – History and Criticism
      • Graphic Novels
      • Cartooning
      • Comic Book Covers
    • For those feeling more adventurous:
      • Fotonovelas
      • Underground Comic Books, Strips, Etc.
      • Comic Books, Strips, Etc. – Moral and Ethical Aspects
    • Finally, for some specific subject areas, there may be other options, such as:
      • Medicine – Caricatures and Cartoons
      • Medical Care – Caricatures and Cartoons
  • Call Number Ranges: comics, in all forms, are limited in their representation of specific call numbers. Below are the general locations one might expect to find texts. It is important to make note that there are several occasions in which a graphic novel will be cataloged with no indication that it is one – rather, it will be cataloged under the subject about which the graphic novel is written. [For example, A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge is classified under F379 (History of the Americas – Local history – Gulf States – Louisiana)].
    • PN6700 – PN6790 Comic Books, Strips, Etc.
    • PZ7.7 Children’s Graphic Novels
      • This classification number is relatively new, so it should be used with caution as older items may or may not be updated to reflect it.
    • NC845 – NC915 Graphic Art Materials
    • NC950 – NC966 Illustration
      • The above two ranges are seldom in use for comics, but on occasion a text discussing the production of comics – especially those in the past – will find themselves here.
    • NC1300 – NC1766 Pictorial Humor, Caricature, Etc.
      • Some specialized areas are cataloged here, though it is not always clear why. For example, the Graphic Medicine Manifesto is cataloged here, when it might have arguably made more sense to place it in Medicine.

Reference

  • Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics. This text, while somewhat dated (published in 1995), is still a valuable tool to anyone looking to understand the publishing history of graphic novels or to those looking for a fantastic annotated guide to hundreds of English language graphic novels. Advertised as a way to help “distinguish between classics and hackwork”, this is a reference resource that could be worthy of a study all-it’s-own to determine how accurate it was given the changes in the industry over the past two decades. For University of Kentucky users, you can find an available eBook version here; for those outside of UK, find information about obtaining a copy here.
  • Representing Multiculturalism in Comics and Graphic Novels is a collection of fifteen articles originally presented at the 2012 Comics forum that seeks to provide insight on the ways in which comics have and have not represented diverse characters. This is the first collection of its kind for comic studies and several of the articles collected here cannot be found elsewhere (at least, not without connections) and is available both as an eBook (University of Kentucky users see here) and in print here.
  • Teaching the Graphic Novel is a collection of 34 essays that explore the issues, challenges, and opportunities that using graphic novels in the classroom presents to educators. The volume serves well as an introductory text even for those who are uninitiated into the comics culture and includes a selected bibliography of graphic novels and sequential art – designed to help get the reader using comics in the classroom as easily as possible. The book can be found in University of Kentucky libraries here – or, alternatively, by using the Library of Congress Call Number: PN6710.T38 2009.
  • A Comic Studies Reader is an anthology of roughly 30 essays ranging from work on editorial cartoons to comic books to manga, covering topics such as style, anti-comics rhetoric, and issues of power and class. The essays serve as a wonderful introduction to the wide variety of issues in comic studies today and with such a broad scope offers a chance to see what is going on outside of our own individual foci. This anthology can be found in University of Kentucky libraries here – or, alternatively, by using the Library of Congress Call Number: PN6710.C667 2009.
  • On the Edge of the Panel: Essays on Comics Criticism is a collection of essays that seeks to offer reflection on the cultural, social, historical, and ideological dimensions of comics – with a focus on the origins of comics, the tools of the medium, and the authors themselves. The work contained here is unlike previous collected work as there is less attempt to defend the legitimacy of the study – as is common in comic studies – and more nuanced, and previously unconsidered, scholarship. As of now, this text is difficult to obtain in the United States, but can be found for purchase here – or, alternatively, searched for in your local library by using the Library of Congress Call number: PN6710.O52 2015.

E-Resources

  • [Comics] As Reading, or A Theory of Alter-Textuality is an eBook in the broadest sense of the word – what it actually is might be better described as an ongoing scholarly experiment in publishing a book via WordPress. This eBook exists as a series of posts on the WordPress of Nicholas Theisen known as “What is Manga”, where he regularly posts updates reviewing manga and providing scholarly insight into what does and does not constitute manga. [Comics] is an ongoing project to engage comics in a way that transcends the academic language which, Theisen contends, cannot adequately capture the essence of what it “is” to experience a comic. This eBook can be found here.
  • Comixology is the name in the digital comic services game as of 2015 and has a variety of price points, including some free options, as well as contracts with many libraries (primarily local public libraries) to provide various levels of access to their patrons. The primary purpose for highlighting this service here is not for its commercial purpose however, but rather to make note of digital comics broadly as a new medium. There are still numerous issues with the transfer of physical comic to digital form and many comics scholars are dedicating time to studying the differences – so it is important to stay abreast of how Comixology moves forward.
  • Oh, Comics! is a weekly news and talk podcast revolving around the world of comics – including conversations about specific comics themselves and, more importantly, the culture surrounding comics, including the difficult discussions about racism and sexism. Much the same way that attention should be paid to Comixology for its impact on the market, a podcast such as Oh, Comics! can provide valuable insight and context to the “real world” that is of immeasurable importance to the studies conducted in academia.
  • The Comics and Graphic Novels LibGuide from the Cornell University Library, found here, is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to find new resources for which to seek scholarly information on comics. The guide is available to the general public, though many of the links for Finding Articles require the user to have access to pay-to-play databases. Of particular note, this guide points the user to opportunities for Academic Networking – a key aspect for anyone attempting to get started in comic studies, as the field is relatively small, making it difficult to know where to start.
  • Comic Art in Scholarly Writing: A Citation Guide by Allen Ellis is a helpful guide to citing comics when drafting a scholarly essay. The focus here is on helping researchers understand a standardized way to cite individual issues of comics (graphic novels follow more conventional practices), which to this day is still not adequately detailed in most citation manuals, regardless of style. The guide can be found here.

Databases (Pay-to-Play)

Described below are two potential databases to make use of when conducting searches for scholarly articles in the field of comic studies – Academic Search Premiere  and Library, Information Science, & Technology Abstracts. These were chosen highlight the interdisciplinary and practical applications of the field of comic studies – other worthwhile databases certainly exist, such as the H.W. Wilson Art Index if seeking to explore art criticism related to comics or PubMed and/or CINHAL to explore the idea of narrative medicine.

  • Each of these databases are part of the EBSCOHost family of databases (for those users at the University of Kentucky) and as such share some similar features that merit highlighting.
    • Boolean Operators: Boolean operators are used to expand or narrow a search – in EBSCOHost, these operators include AND, OR, and NOT. The use of AND will force the search to find only those results with both terms included, while the use of OR will limit the results to one of two terms. NOT will force the search to exclude the specified term from the results.
    • Truncation and Wildcard Operators: Truncation is the use of the (*) symbol at a given point in a word, typically at the end, indicating that results should include any use of the preceeding letters. For example: cart* would tell the search to retrieve anything that includes cart + the proceeding words – this would ensure the retrieval of cartoon and cartoons (but would also catch cartwheel – use truncation wisely). Wildcard in this situation is the use of the (?) symbol inside of a word to catch the results of all permutations of a set of letters, with one letter being the wildcard. For example: searching n?vel would tell the search to retrieve all results that include that arrangement of letters – meaning results such as novel and navel.
    • Stop Words: Stop Words are words that are so common that the search engine does not include them when conducting the search. In the EBSCOHost database, these include:   a, also, an, and, are, as, at, be, because, been, but, by, for, from, has, have, however, if, in, is, not, of, on, or, p, so, than, that, the, their, there, these, this, to, was, were, whatever, whether, which, with, would.
    • Searchable Fields: Within these databases, it is possible to select from a large variety of searchable fields for each individual term in the advanced search options via a drop-down menu – or, alternatively, making use of the two-letter field indicator (such as AU for Author). Some of these fields include: TX – All Text, AU – Author, TI – Title, SU – Subject Terms, AB – Abstract, and IS – ISSN (No Dashes).
  • Academic Search Premier is a general purpose academic database, covering a wide multidisciplinary range – making it well suited for searching for content in an interdisciplinary field such as comics studies. University of Kentucky users can find access here – others should seek access through their local institutions, or seek access here.
    • Keyword Searching can be conducted in ASP by simply typing in a query into the search box available from the “Basic Search” screen. Though not recommended in scholarly databases, some examples of keyword searching here would be: graphic novels, comic books, comics, comics in America, comics culture, seduction of the innocent, and so on. These keywords can be combined using any of the above features (such as searching graphic novels AND comics).
    • Subject Heading Searches can be conducted by either discovering the Subject Headings and entering them into the search bar (combined, ideally, with some form of Boolean Operator) or by building a search by using the Subject Terms feature located at the top-left corner of the page header. For searching articles related to comic studies generally, consider using: comic book artists, comic book covers, graphic novels, supervillians, comic books, strips, etc. (this term has roughly 30 subheadings – make the most of them), and so on.
  • Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) is a database dedicated to the Library and Information Science field, including work on public libraries, databases and other technology, special collections, and more. The database does a decent job of collecting articles related to the collection and maintenance of comic book collections, as well as addressing the controversy and censorship that can arise around their use. University of Kentucky users can find access here – others should seek access through their local institutions, or seek access here.
    • Keyword Searching can be conducted in LISTA by simply typing in a query into the search box available from the “Basic Search” screen. Though not recommended in scholarly databases, some examples of keyword searching here would be: graphic novels, comic books, comics, public libraries, collection development, seduction of the innocent, and so on. These keywords can be combined using any of the above features (such as searching graphic novels AND comics).
    • Subject Heading Searches can be conducted by either discovering the Subject Headings and entering them into the search bar (combined, ideally, with some form of Boolean Operator) or by building a search by using the Thesaurus feature located at the top-left corner of the page header. For searching articles related to comic studies generally, consider using: graphic novels, comic books, strips, etc. (this term has roughly 10 subheadings – make the most of them), graphic novels – awards, censorship, censorship in libraries, and so on.

Periodicals

  • ImageTexT is a peer-reviewed, open access journal focused on the interdisciplinary study of comics (and related media) that is published by the English Department at the University of Florida. The content is made available free of charge and is published on average three times a year (on Volume 8 as of Fall 2015). ImageTexT can be found here.
  • The Comics Journal is a daily digital magazine about comics edited by Timothy Holder and Dan Nadel, with a print version still published on an annual basis. The Journal has been in existence for some 40+ years and has undergone numerous content, purpose, and editorial changes in that time. Today, it serves as an outlet for reviews of comics – both professional and blogger – and publishers long-form interviews and biographies of big names in the comics industry (of note, several years back there was a novella length interview with Garth Ennis). There is currently an archive project underway to collect digitally every issue of the Journal. TCJ can be found here.
  • Image [&] Narrative is a peer-reviewed, open access journal on visual narratology and word and image studies “in the broadest sense of the term”. This journal is designed for a worldwide audience, containing articles in English, French, German and more – some with translation, some without. The articles are as broad as the scope suggests, with articles ranging from issues of authenticity in comics to explorations of the use of photography in French culture. Image [&] Narrative can be found here.
  • The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics is one of the only periodicals about comics to belong to one of the major publishing groups – in this case, Routledge, as part of the Taylor and Francis Group. The journal seeks to cover all aspects of the graphic novel, comic strip, and comic book, with a focus primarily on the modern age (20th and 21st centuries). Articles are claimed to be subject to double-blind peer-review, with publication happening four times per year (currently in Volume 6). Unlike the other periodicals listed here, this journal is not open-access and thus requires either a personal subscription or institutional access (not available through the University of Kentucky). The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics can be found here.

Websites

  • http://www.graphicmedicine.org. Home to the Graphic Medicine movement, this website is still the place where the founders of the group post conference updates, new research and regular book reviews of new and upcoming graphic narratives. The group also has a podcast that has recently been revamped to be more productive, which can be accessed from the site. In essence, if you want to get to know Graphic Medicine, this is the place to go online (alternatively, check out the Graphic Medicine Manifesto, as reviewed here).
  • http://www.comicssociety.org. The Comics Studies Society is a relatively new professional association aimed at the comics scholar, teacher, and independent researcher (a key difference from most professional associations). Perhaps the most important aspect of this website is that it boasts a page full of outside links to both scholarly and cause-specific comic studies resources.
  • http://www.comicsresearch.org. While still mired in a miserable plain HTML and flash page design, Comics Research is a valuable resource for seeing what work has been done on comics from all across the globe. The page has only been updated sporadically in the past couple of years, but the links it provides to other resources are still active and still better collected here than anywhere else.
  • http://www.comicbookresources.com. While it is important to make note of scholarly resources, it is often just as important to be aware of what is happening outside of academics – which is where Comic Book Resources, or CBR, comes in. CBR is known as THE website for keeping up-to-date on new releases (they include previews and reviews) and for keeping abreast of what public opinion is as it relates to the politics of comics. The site also is host to several of its own databases, including a guide to creator Twitter handles and a “Find A Comic Shop” tool.

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