The Center for Comics Studies

Links

A Great General Resource for Comics Studies

Searchable Bibliographies

The Bonn Online Bibliography of Comics Research: An international database of scholarly literature about comics and graphic novels

Comics Research Bibliography: The topical bibliographies are very useful, but for a limited number of topics

Information about Specific Comics, Characters, or Creators

The Grand Comics Database: An open database with authorship, publication, and some content information about printed comics throughout the world

Comic Book Database: Similar to the database above, but better for searching for character appearances.

Lambiek Comiclopedia: An illustrated compendium of over 13,900 comic artists

Don Markstein's Toonopedia

Archives and Special Collections

The Comic Art Special Collection at Michigan State University: The granddaddy of university comic book collections and still one of the largest and most comprehensive collection of comic books in the world

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at the Ohio State University

Graphic Novels Archival Collections at Columbia University

The Comic Arts Collection at Virginia Commonwealth University: Contains more than 175,000 items, and serves as the repository for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards

Comics Book Collection at Library of Congress

Comic Books and Graphic Novels at Bowling Green State University

Comics Collection at University of Florida

Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection at University of South Carolina

Manuscript and Archival Collections at San Diego State University

Comic Art and Popular Culture at University of Missouri

Edwin and Terry Murray Fanzine Collection at Duke University

Museums

Cartoon Art Museum (San Francisco)

Belgian Comic Strip Center (Brussels)

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Columbus)

The Cartoon Museum (London)

Society of Illustrators Museum (New York)

Galarie Lambiek (Amsterdam): The world's oldest comic shop and sequential art gallery

Where to Read Comics For Free

Public Domain Comic Books


Comic Strips

Web Comics

Professional Organizations

The Comics Studies Society: A professional society of comics scholars, promoting the critical and teaching of comics

Other Centers

Scottish Centre for Comics Studies: The SCCS, based at the University of Dundee, exists to bring together researchers, teachers, students, archivists, artists and writers, and industry professionals to promote a greater understanding and appreciation of the medium and its history.

Companion Sites (for books about comics)

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures

The Power of Comics: History, Form and Culture

Teaching Graphic Novels

Comics in Education (based on Gene Luen Yang鈥檚 master thesis)

Blogs

Spin Weave & Cut: The blog of comics creator and educator Nick Sousanis. A great resource for teachers.

Comic Book Historians: Interesting interviews and well-researched history

The Fabulous Fifties: Comics from the 1950s

Comics Forum: A blog to accompany the Comics Forum conferences

The Comics Professor: Reviews and commentary about superhero comics

Barry's Pearls of Comic Book Wisdom: Detailed history, accompanied by many images

Timey Atlas Comics: The history of the company that became known as Marvel Comics

Marvel Mysteries and Comics Minutiae: Well-researched comics history