Comics Librarianship

Comics Librarianship
A Handbook
By Randall W. Scott
FOREWORDS BY
Sandford Berman
AND
Catherine Yronwode
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data are available
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Scott, Randall W.
Comics librarianship : a handbook I by Randall W. Scott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89950-527-9 (lib. bdg. : 50# alk. paper)@
1. Libraries - Special collections - Comic books, strips, etc.
2. Comic books, strips, etc. - Bibliography- Methodology. 3. Comic
books, strips, etc.-Collectors and collecting. I. Title.
Z688.C64S38 1990
025.2'77415-dc20 90-52510
CIP
O1990 Randall W. Scott. All rights reserved

"Foreword: A Voyage to Libaria" 0 1990 Catherine Yronwode
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland G Company, Inc., Publishers

Box 611, Je$erson, North Carolina 28640
Acknowledgments.
Some ideas in Chapter 1 first appeared as "Comics on Campus" in New

Pages no. 14 (SpringlSummer 1989), in a special section "Out from
Under the Covers: New Pages Looks at Comics." New Pages (P.O. Box
438, Grand Blanc, Michigan 48439; free sample issue on request). Used
by permission.
Some ideas in chapters 1 and 2 appeared as "The Comics Alternative"
and "The Comix Alternative," edited by Sanford Berman, in Collection
Building v. 6, no. 2-3 (Summer-Fall 1984), published by Neal-Schuman
Publishers, Inc. (23 Leonard St., New York, New York 10013). Used by
permission.
Much of Chapter 4 appeared in an earlier form in Cataloging Special
Materials: Critiques and lnnouations, Sanford Berman, ed. Copyright
1986 by The Oryx Press, 2214 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, Arizona 85004-
1483. Used by permission.
Chapter 6 is built on the suggestions of many people, but Elizabeth
Holden of Ottawa, Ontario, and Ron Schwartz and Ken Kirste of San
Francisco contributed particularly long lists, which are incorporated
here by permission.
Chapter 7 has appeared in several forms, beginning as a part of " R L I F
(Research Libraries of Interest to Fandom) in the annual Fandom Direc-
tory (published by Fandata Computer Services, 7761 Asterella Court,
Springfield, Virginia 22152-3133) and also in Comic Books and Strips: An
Information Sourcebook, by Randall W . Scott. Copyright 1988 by The
Oryx Press, 2214 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1483. Used
by permission of both publishers. This version is updated.
Table of Contents.
Foreword by Sanford Berman. 1

Foreword by Catherine Yronwode. 5
Author's Introduction. 9
Chapter 1. Comics Librarianship as a Specialty. 11
Chapter 2. Acquiring Comic Books and Strips. 27
Chapter 3. Storing and Preserving Comics. 43
Chapter 4. Cataloging Comics. 59
Chapter 5. Being the Comics Expert. 103
Chapter 6. Suggested Research Topics. 123
Chapter 7. Comics Research Libraries. 153
Index. 173
vii
Foreword I.
Sanford Berrnan
Part One: Great Scott.
November 15,1988
Irene Percelli, Chair
BowkerlUlrich's Serials Award Committee
Dear Colleague:
This is to formally and heartily nominate Randall W. Scott (Michigan
State University Libraries) for the BowkerlUlrich's Serials Librarian-
ship Award.
Mr. Scott not only meets but transcends all three criteria for the award:
contributions to serials literature, serials research, and enhancing ac-
cess to serials. Quite simply (though accurately), he is the foremost
library authority and advocate for that special serials category: comic
books. As his enclosed vita and sample publications attest, Mr. Scott has
singlehandedly pioneered in creating an appreciation for comics among
his colleagues as well as producing the basic tools and guides for both
collecting and organizing comic book collections. In this otherwise
neglected but significant field, he has no peer.
Speaking personally, as an editor and collaborator, I have found Mr.
Scott to be an exceptionally dedicated, knowledgeable, responsive, and
creative professional. He truly likes what he does. Does it splendidly.
And thinks it important to do. The BowkerlUlrich award would repre-
sent an overdue recognition of his vital work and a real encouragement
to continue it.
Comics Librarianship.
* * *
Part Two: "Nuke" and "Gen."
Bert Dodson contributes a comic strip, "Nuke," to Vermont's Vanguard

and other "alternative" papers. In 1988, McFarland published a collec-
tion of these strips as Nuke (A Book of Cartoons), which prompted
Booklist to rhapsodize:
Few political cartoons last. Their humor fades with the events they
satirize. The ones that survive (other than as memorabilia)do so because
they seize upon issues that dominate an era and because their creators are
both master artists and master humorists. That is, because they're like
Bert Dodson's strips starring an anthropomorphized nuclear warhead . . .
who although a cousin of Herblock's dumb, grim, hulking Mr. Bomb, is
in Dodson's words, "ideological but affable and uncomprehending . . .
Reaganesque."
Through Nuke and his cohorts, Dodson satirizes, mostly with the wryest
ironies, not only nuclear strategy and nuclear power but also U.S. in-
tervention in Third World countries, environmental pollution, galloping
consumerism, official dishonesty, and other matters that have preoc-
cupied political discourse for decades.
Dodson's drawing skills . . . are arguably better than nearly any other
American cartoonist's these days. . . . It's amazing that any cartooning this
hard-hitting could be so deftly amusing, but it is.
Dodson's work is pecisely the sort of thing that Randy Scott would
argue belongs in every type of library because of its fine execution and
unusual content. Collecting the individual strips would be hard, but
getting the book is easy. Scott might also caution, however, that simply
buying Nuke doesn't guarantee easy access to it. In fact, libraries that
did get Nuke and then accepted the Library of Congress cataloging
record for it without making any changes permitted their patrons only
three kinds of catalog access: by author, title, and name of the person
who conducted a reprinted interview. The volume would remain inac-
cessible by both topic and genre, although the Booklist review (and even
a cursory glance through its pages) indicate that it's thematically rich.
Inspired by Scott's concern that such material not simply be acquired
but also made findable, Hennepin County Library (Minnesota), as-
signed these subject headings:
Foreword I (Sanford Bermun).
1. Nuclear weapons - Comic books, strips, etc.

2. Nuclear power - Comic books, strips, etc.
3. Comic book writers -Interviews.
4. United States - Foreign relations - Comic books, strips, etc.
5. Comic book illustrators - Interviews.
6. National security-United States-Comic books, strips, etc.
7. Iran-Contra Scandal - Comic books, strips, etc.
8. United States - Politics and government -1981- -Comic books,
strips, etc.
9. Reagan, Ronald, 19ll- -Comic books, strips, etc.
10. Environmental protection-Comic books, strips, etc.
11. Consumer society - Comic books, strips, etc.
12. Radical comic books, strips, etc.
13. Peace education materials.
(The primary headings for tracings 3, 5, ll,12, and 13 HCL had to in-
novate since none had yet appeared in the Library of Congress subject
heading list.)
In 1987, New Society Publishers issued Barefoot Gen, accurately

described in a back-cover blurb as
The powerful, tragic story of the bombing of Hiroshima, seen through the
eyes of the artist as a young boy growing up in a Japanese anti-militarist
family. Of particular interest is [the] focus not only on the bombing, but
also on the ethical dilemmas facing a peace-loving family in a militarized
culture, and the special problems which they encounter.
Like Nuke, this is a finely-crafted effort that deals seriously in comic-

book format with significant issues and events. For all those reasons, it,
too, deserves a place in most libraries. But, again like Nuke, the sole LC
subject tracing not only limited access but also succeeded in
misrepresenting the actual content:
1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan)- Bombardment, 1945-Comic books, strips,

etc.
Merely the last 30 of the graphic novel's 284 pages focus directly on the
atomic bombing. So what about a heading or two for the other 250?
Well, these are the tracings HCL assigned in order to fairly reflect the
tome's themes and genres, and to maximize catalog access:
1. Hiroshima-Atomic bombing, 1945 [an HCL variation that renders
the event more specific and does not conjure up visions of
Commodore Perry leisurely steaming into the bay and lobbing a
few cannonballs townward] -Comic books, strips, etc.
2. Graphic novels.
3. Comic books, strips, etc. -Japanese-Translations into English.
4. World War II- Japan-Comic books, strips, etc.
5. Militarism- Japan-Comic books, strips, etc.
6. Pacifists- Japan - Comic books, strips, etc.
7. Radical comic books, strips, etc.
8. Antiwar comic books, strips, etc.
9. Peace education materials.
(Not finding any comparable descriptors in the Library of Congress sub-

ject headings, HCL itself established the primary forms in tracings 2,
7, 8, and 9.) HCL further made added entries for "Project Gen," the
group responsible for translating Keiji Nakazawa's original work, and
for "New Society Publishers," a well-known alternative press (a prac-
tice, incidentally, that allows catalog-searchers to readily identify
available material from particular publishers without needing to
remember author, title, or even subject).
Well, the (perhaps transparent) purpose of these case studies is to rein-
force at least two of Scott's contentions: that comics are both worth get-
ting and worth treating right.
Foreword 11.
"A Voyage to Libaria."
Catherine Yronwode
When i was five years old, my mother, Lilo, who had been a
book scout all my life, finally learned enough English to get her col-
lege degree. We moved to Berkeley then, and she began to study to
become a "Libarian," a dweller in the kingdom of Libaria, the Land
of Books. She and my father were divorced, and so we rented an old
house down on the flatlands, where the students lived. Lilo couldn't
afford a babysitter for me, and many days, when she took on extra work
at the "Kofoid or the "Bancroft," she took me along with her. I was an
only child, and quiet. In return for my solemn oath to never tear a book,
i was allowed to explore Libaria, and to wander into its deepest recesses
alone.
Alone in Libaria i lay face down upon the little purple squares of
glass which made up the floors of The Stacks, so cool and delicate, and
received illumination from the storeys below. All day long the Libarians
walked up and down the spiraled steel steps, their arms full of books,
their footsteps clanging, echoing upward, and i would hide, folding
myself into a little ball and slipping into a bottom shelf. I pretended that
if i were caught i would be catalogued. I didn't want to be catalogued;
it took hours and hours and when it was over someone would write
Dewey Decimal numbers on my spine with white paint.
When Lilo graduated, she got a job at UCLA, and so we moved to
Southern California, to a new world of books, The Department of
Special Collections. I was eight now, and i loved to read. Throughout
the mid-195Os, my mother's boss was a man named Wilbur Smith. He
had two sons, but they were not my age. The other Libarians, whose
6 Comics Librarianship.
names may have been Shirley, and Jim Mink, and Esther, did not have
any kids. The Head Libarian, Old LCP, walked with a limp, was very
short, and if he had ever had children, they must have been grown-ups
by then. Lilo was still poor (there was not much money in Libaria, i
guess) and during school vacations there was no daycare for me, so i
would go to Special Collections with her. Alone among the grown-ups
and the books, i sharpened pencils and cut paper slips, and when there
were no more pencils to sharpen or slips to cut, i begged to be locked
in The Cage with The Very Special Collections.
The Very Special Collections were so Special that even the
Libarians needed a key to get inside and play with them, which they
hardly ever did. There was a Gutenberg Bible there, or most of one, and
one day Wilbur turned the pages and let me look at it. There were Vic-
torian Children's Books, but i could not touch them, ever, ever, ever.
I had to promise, because they were fragile and because i "might be
tempted." I was so afraid of hurting the Victorian Children's Books that,
even though i was just a little, tiny bit tempted, i did keep my promise.
Actually, it didn't really matter if i could touch them or not; I just liked
being locked up with them while i read my Gene Stratton Porter novels
or Nancy Drew mysteries. They smelled nice, fresh and clean, like the
little blond babies dressed in lace christening clothes upon their covers,
and they were not a bit musty.
But the best things in the Very Special Collections were not books.
The best things were really, really strange. For instance, there was the
Olive Percival Collection of 1920s Pasadena newspaper clippings about
kitty cats and puppy dogs, all filed neatly in little decorative envelopes
Olive Percival had made herself by silhouetting her jewelry and fern
leaves on blueprint paper and exposing the paper to the sun. The
envelopes had gracefully lettered labels on them, like "Cats Who Have
Adopted Baby Skunks," and "Puppies in Baskets," and sure enough,
when you looked inside, there were old sepiatone or blue rotogravures
of mother cats nursing skunk babies and cocker spaniel pups tumbling
out of Easter baskets by the dozen. Olive Percival had been a Minor
Local Poet.
Then there was the Henry Miller Collection. Lilo said that even
though Henry's books were against the law, he wasn't a criminal, and
so she took me to his house in Big Sur to play with his dog, Skipper,
while she packed up the boxes which, once they were catalogued,
would be kept in Special Collections. Skipper was a really great little
dog. Henry was nice, too. I didn't get to read his books, because they
Foreword II (Catherine Yronwode). 7
were against the law, but the letters Henry got from his fans were lots
of fun. The best ones were from a man who had gone to every hotel and
house that Henry had ever written about and had sex there in exactly
the same position and at the same time of day as Henry had described
himself having sex. After he had sex, the man would write to Henry to
compare his orgasm to Henry's. Neat, huh? We got to catalogue them.
It was fun.
But the best Very Special Collection was Franz Werfel's writing
desk. It was Very Special because even though it was just a plain old
clunky oak desk like anybody could have owned, inside the upper right-
hand drawer was Franz Werfel's hand, all wrapped in purple velvet,
and inside the middle right-hand drawer was his face, all wrapped
in black! His wife had put them there. She had made them out of
white plaster she pressed against his dead, cold body. Very, Very
Special.
One day, sometime in the summer, i brought two comic books with
me to Special Collections. One was Donald Duck in Old California by
Walt Disney and the other was Uncle $crooge in Back to the Klondike
by Walt Disney. Actually, both of them were by Carl Barks, but i didn't
know that then. Carl was not allowed to put his name on the stories he
wrote and drew. He had to put Walt Disney's name on instead.
Wilbur was there, and i asked him if i could go in the back to read
my comics. Lilo, who didn't like comics, because they were not books,
apologized to Wilbur for me. "I don't know why she has those things;
she usually reads books." I stuck up for my comics, though. I told
Wilbur, "They're really great! They have keen pictures and the stories
are funny!" Wilbur took me back into the Victorian Children's Books
area and we sat down at a table. He asked if he could read my comics.
I was afraid he would find something wrong with them and tell my
mother not to let me have any more of them, because she already didn't
like them, and it wouldn't take too much convincing to get her to ban
them just like other people banned Henry Miller's books.
But Wilbur read the comics and he liked them. He even laughed.
Then he asked me to tell him what i liked best about them. It was like
giving a book report. I told him i liked the part where the Ducks went
back in time to Old California because it was just like the things we
were studying in school about the Spanish Missions only more exciting,
and i liked the one about the Klondike because Unca $crooge had a
girlfriend in it, and he was in love with her.
Wilbur told me that one of the things he liked was that the Fiesta
that the Ducks were on their way to see when their car hit a rock and
they went back in time was a real Fiesta in Santa Barbara that they still
held every year. He told me the other thing he liked about them was
that the stories were very funny "and also educational." I knew "educa-
tional" was very important, so i asked Wilbur, "If you think they're good,
then tell Lilo, 'cause she doesn't like me to buy them."
So Wilbur took the comics over to my mother and he told her that
they were "just fine for kids to read, because they were in the American
tradition of tall tales such as Pecos Bill" (he kinda forgot, i guess, that
Lilo was from Europe and hadn't known much about Pecos Bill until i
told her myself, a year before). He also told her that "some day this
library will probably be collecting comics, just like we do with Victorian
Children's Books now." Then he turned me, bent down, and gave me
the comics back. He said, "Here. Keep these in good condition. And
when you're done with them, put them away in a box, nice and flat. That
way you'll always have them if you want them again, and maybe one day
you can donate them to a Library."
And that's just what i did.
Author's Introduction.
Academic libraries and scholars have been reluctant to collect and

study comics. Popular opinion among those of us who do take comics
seriously has generally ascribed this reluctance to a pervasive and
debilitating conservatism within academia. The idea seems to be that
the general run of librarians and professors don't want to take a chance
on anything so new that it might be ephemeral. This haze of snob-
bishness, according to the model, should clear up in about 100 years if
we let nature take its course, and at some point midway through the 21st
century there will be many dissertations on Superman. Although this
train of thought is amusing, it too is passing through a foggy area. There
are conservatives in academia, of course, but there are plenty of am-
bitious people willing to try new things.
I would like to suggest that a major reason that there are not
enough histories, analyses and reference books about comics is that col-
lecting comics is a very difficult job, and libraries have not been col-
lecting well enough. Although there are some significant university
collections of comics material, there are very few libraries that routinely
acquire the best of what is newly published, even of political and nonfic-
tion comics. For example, there are only a handful of university libraries
with complete or nearly complete runs of any comic book or strip that
has lasted for twenty years or more, and there are no university libraries
with more than four or five such collections. A really useful library
would have hundreds of such collections.
Prospective students are faced with two possibilities. They can col-
lect the appropriate primary material themselves and thus limit the
scope of their studies to what they can find and afford, or they can make
generalizations from whatever comics are available. As far as I can
determine, nobody has ever played the game of comics research with
a full deck, and very few people doing other kinds of research have been
reminded of relevant comics material by their librarians.
This volume asserts that comics are a communications medium
within human culture that touches millions of lives daily and is
therefore important to understand. This volume is dedicated to the col-
lecting and study of comics at an institutional level, where there is some
hope that funds and space can be made available to do the job well.
Although much that appears here should be of interest to public
librarians, the majority of this volume is for research librarians. Public
librarians need to be aware of relevant current material, and of ways to
catalog it that will make it visible to library readers. The "alternative"
papers and librarians, like New Pages and like Sandy Berman, are doing
that job, and hopefully this book will help them a little. The main con-
cern here, though, is for establishing and maintaining large retrospec-
tive collections. Only research libraries can afford to do that, and there
is much to be done.
For librarians or prospective librarians who have an interest in
comics, there is a cause here that can be taken up, and a struggle to be
won that can only take place in research libraries. Perhaps this book will
recruit a generation of comics librarians. Even three or four new comics
librarians in the next ten years would be wonderful, but there really
should be one in each state, province, or country. Or perhaps this book
will help other specialized librarians to more clearly see ways to ad-
vance their own separate concerns that are not even related to comics.
Even that much would spell success and make the effort worthwhile.
In the broadest scheme, if the mere fact that a book with the title Com-
ics Librarianship exists can raise a few academic-library eyebrows, it
will have planted the kind of seed that will lead people to their own
discoveries about this neglected medium.
Chapter 1.
Comics Librarianship
as a Specialty.
The Status of Comic Strips in Society.

Not too long ago, the present writer was thrown into the com-
pany of a retired university professor. This is not quite like being
thrown to wolves, of course, but my guard was nonetheless up. In-
stead of introducing myself as a "comic book collector," I opted for
the safer tack of being a "librarian at the university." Librarians and
professors often have something in common, or they think they do
anyway.
Professor " X responded positively, and we exchanged comments,
and then anecdotes, all illustrative of the general virtue of research
libraries. The evening deepened, and finally it became necessary to
put aside my secret identity. "Actually, at the library, my specialty
is comic books. We have one of the most important comic book collec-
tions in a library anywhere, and I spend a lot of my time working with
them."
"Hmm," said Professor X. "That's interesting. My first job as a stu-
dent library assistant back in college in 1936 had to do with comics. I
was the one who had to go through the newspapers every morning and
rip out the comics, before the papers could be put out in the reading
room."
We speculated as to why this particular task had been necessary.
Were the librarians protecting the college students from a moment of
informality? Were the librarians protecting themselves from being ac-
cused of not having high enough standards? He couldn't remember, and
I couldn't imagine. It was time for dinner, and the subject was aban-
doned. More information about this curious practice would still be
welcome.
A few months later, something similar happened. A university
library, which is otherwise one of my favorite institutions in all the
world, republished a little booklet as part of a library fund-raising effort.
The booklet extolls the virtues of reading, and was originally published
in 1926. It contains the following sentence on page "ix," which it says
comes from "The Literary Reuiew of two or three years ago":
The adenoic errand boy besotted by a page of comics is better off than
crouched in a corner staring at nothing.'
"Besotted means "stupefied," in case the subtleties of this nicely-turned

sentence are not all immediately apparent. "Adenoic" probably means
"having enlarged adenoids," but the accuracy of that is between the
author and his errand boy. The "besotted business is a kind of literary
criticism, and though reading comics is better than sitting doubled over
in an empty corner, according to this unidentified but well-placed
writer, it's a near thing.
Both of these examples seem to illustrate a certain elite or aca-
demic attitude toward comics. Comics were apparently thought to be
inappropriate in an academic situation, and must even have been sus-
pected of being dangerous. Perhaps that college library, by ripping the
funny pages out of its newspapers, was merely trying to avoid the
stupefaction of its readers. Who could object to that?
The most interesting lesson from these examples, however, comes
only when you look at the dates. Both refer specifically to newspaper
comic strips, and both predate the real success of the comic book as a
separate medium.
Those of us who were born after 1940, and who grew up reading
both comic books and comic strips, can only have assumed that comic
books were what caused all the objection. The contents of the two
media are for the most part very different, and it was comic books that
were-thought to cause juvenile delinquency in the 1940s and 1950s, not
comic strips.
What were they reading in the 1920s and 1930s newspaper strips
that could cause academic disfavor and stupefaction? "Krazy Kat"
might be an example. Surrealism is pretty stupefying. Or maybe "Little
Orphan Annie" or "Brick Bradford or "Buck Rogers" contributed to the
problem. It was the golden age of newspaper adventure strips, after all.
Comics Librarianship as a Specialty. 13
Flying around in a spaceship might be expected to take your mind off

your homework, and that could be interpreted as negative.
It's likely, however, that sarcasm is unnecessary to the explanation
of why comics were not enthusiastically embraced in all circles. Take
the example of professors. Perhaps some professors saw themselves as
people who had, through discipline and to the benefit of society,
learned to read dull books with small print, no jokes and hardly any pic-
tures. How were they supposed to react to the spectacle of a younger
generation laughing through page after page of comics? Picture-
writing was for cavemen, very young children, and illiterates. It was a
matter of pride, maybe, for the academic to avoid the appearance of
illiteracy.
If this is even partly true, what may have been operating in the
1920s and 1930s is what we have more recently called a "generation
gap." Some elders genuinely didn't understand the fascination of this
newfangled stuff, and since comics appeared to promote picture-
reading, they disapproved. The attitude got frozen into institutions, and
that was that.
One final shred of evidence seems to apply. My wife's grandmother
was born in 1898, and has read one of the Chicago newspapers nearly
every day of her life. Over the years, she reports, she has tried quite a
few times to figure out why so many people were interested in the com-
ics page, but she has found that "they don't make any sense." Somehow,
the whole set of conventions (word balloons, captions, sequential pic-
tures, etc.) is something this educated and literate person never really
took the time to puzzle out.
Maybe, for people who learned to read before newspaper comics
were well established, the medium is less likely to be attractive because
of the extra effort it takes to learn the rules. The idea that comics is a
medium that takes a separate effort to learn to read may seem strange
at first, but it does stand to reason. Comics are certainly different from
printed text. Maybe those disapproving academics of the early 20th cen-
tury were, without knowing it, just defeated by the complexity of the
new medium.
However it got started, it seems clear that there is a pre-World
War I1 history of antagonism toward comics as a medium on the part
of academics, including librarians. This attitude must have been either
: transmitted to, or at least shared by, many parents and other social
opinion-leaders, because when comic books appeared on the scene
there were thousands of grownups ready to condemn them.
The Status of Comic Books in Society.
Soon after the first regularly published newsstand comic book went
on sale in 1934,2and especially by 1938 with the arrival of Superman in
Action Comics, no. 1, comic books were established as a distinctly
separate medium from newspaper strips. Early publishers were not
subject to many restrictions, and some began to take chances by in-
troducing violence and sex in order to improve their circulation. This
caught the eyes of parents, teachers, librarians, and a psychiatrist
named Dr. Fredric Wertham. Dr. Wertham's 1954 book, Seduction of
the Innocent, helped to crystalize a feeling that comic books were
responsible for juvenile delinquency.3 Hearings in the United States
Senate, extensive media coverage, and the beginnings of industry-wide
self-regulation through the Comics Code (1954) caused profound
changes in the comic book during the middle 1 9 5 0 ~Creators.~ and
publishers fled the industry, and the superhero, horror, and crime
genres all but disappeared. With the adoption of the Code, comic books
seemed to have admitted guilt, and any school or public library actively
collecting them would have had angry parents to deal with.
General and serious disapproval of comic books seems to have de-
clined since the 1950s, but the image of comic books in the public eye
still bears the scars. In the 1960s, college students discovered the
Marvel Comics of Stan Lee. Together the students and Mr. Lee tried
to convince the world that comic books had grown up, but despite their
efforts what really set the tone of the decade was the "Batman" televi-
sion show. The television "Batman" was a silly, self-lampooning comedy
with lots of mindless action and drawn-in sound effects. "Bam!" "Pow!"
A "comic-book plot, as the term is sometimes seen in movie reviews,
is thus likely to be not only violent but also stupid.
Results of society's general disapproval of and low esteem for
comic books are easy to see in the bibliographic world. New Serial Titles
(1953) and Ulrich's Znternational Periodicals Directory (1932) excluded
comic books by policy from the beginning. New Serial Titles admitted
comic books in 1979 but Ulrich's is holding Although it has moder-
nized-to the extent of appearing on compact disc, Ulrich's not only ex-
cludes comic books, it also excludes even the subject heading for comic
books and strips. Magazines about comic books and strips, even though
some are listed in the Ulrich's Plus database, are therefore next to im-
possible to find. In addition, the Library of Congress has never provided
cataloging for comic books as it does for almost every other category of
published material. Until the late 1970s, no librarian anywhere on Earth

would have been able to prove, using any standard library catalogs,
whether such titles as Wonder Woman, Superman, or The Amazing
Spider-Man even existed as bibliographic entities.
Several substantial general research collections of comic books,
and a few dozen more specialized research collections, have begun in
academic libraries since about 1970. Most have been taken seriously by
the sponsoring institutions, and are growing to some degree, but comic
books in research libraries are still viewed as something exceptional by
most of the world. If daily broadcast and print reporters can be trusted
to know how interested and informed the public is on any given subject,
it can probably be proven that news of comic books in a library is about
on an equivalent level to news of a new elephant in the zoo. Journalists
are perpetually willing to exploit the image of the weird librarian sur-
rounded by the colorful pages of Spider-Man and (Bam! Pow!) Batman
comic books. Even among college librarians and in library literature,
the idea of deliberately collecting comic books and strips is in some
circles a novelty.
Part of the reason that comics are not collected must be the
inconvenience of the format. They are fragile, they are printed on
bad paper, and if you want to read newspaper strips efficiently you
have to clip them out or photocopy them. Thus comics are easy
to exclude from a collection, as are videocassettes or phonograph
records, because they are a different physical medium and require
different kinds of care and storage. Currently there seems to be a
willingness in the library profession to tackle new formats, which is
lucky because there are so many new formats. Comic books are over
fifty years old, however. Job listings for "media librarians" are be-
coming common, but so far nobody has included comic books in the
list of responsibilities advertised. Maybe it seems silly to think about
comic books and strips as communications media so different from the
usual content of a library as to prevent their being collected. But, just
as the possibility that it takes separate skills to read and understand
comics is worth consideration, the possibility that it takes separate skills
to properly acquire, organize, store and preserve comics must be
raised.
Although the comics medium may not always have been seen as
valuable, there is a tradition of recognition that it is separate and
different. As a good case in point, a review of the translation of a
Japanese nonfiction comic book, called Japan Znc.: An Introduction to
Japanese Economics, appeared in the Library Journal for March 15,

1989. The reviewer never gets around to commenting on the quality or
value of the book, but instead calls it "unusual" and concentrates on the
fact that it is a comic book. The heart of the review is that, "given the
title and publisher, one could assume it is a scholarly work. But, golly
gee, Batman, it's a comic book!" An explanation follows, correctly
stating that "the Japanese see nothing incongruous in presenting serious
topics in what we consider comic book format." The intent of the review
seems not to be to evaluate the book, but to entertain the reader with
an invitation to shared condescension toward comic books.6 The review
ofJapan Znc. was not written with the intent to be malicious in any way.
It is presented in good humor and the book is actually given more
positive ink than the rest of the books reviewed in the column. But the
medium comes off badly, and thus in the final analysis so does the book.
The librarian reading the review is hardly likely to notice how pointed
are the remarks about comic books. It is precisely such matter-of-fact
put-downs that some from the heart of a culture and a profession, and
not just from the whim of an individual writer. The Japanese people are
correct. There is nothing incongruous about being serious in the comics
medium.
Perhaps the general lack of positive attention given to comics by
academic librarians can be explained simply by saying that comics are
a subliterature for kids, appropriately beneath the notice of the general
library profession. If that sounds right, then this book is probably not
going to work for you and you should ask for your money back. On the
other hand, perhaps librarians just need to be introduced to the idea of
comics librarianship as a specialty involving both some substantial
knowledge and some reasonable payoffs in terms of the usual goals of
library service. Comics carry unique messages to a mass readership
who, at least as comics readers, can expect little or no help from the
library profession in choosing, finding, or understanding those mes-
sages. The situation does not seem healthy.
In the future most libraries, it seems safe to predict, will represent
the comic book and comic strip in their collections. Research library
users will be able to examine firsthand the trends and landmarks of
comics history. Public library readers will find the current best-sellers
and enough old favorites to introduce their kids to the joys of comics
reading. When that millennium arrives, most of the current "special"
collections of comics will seem like normal parts of a research library.
Seen from this perspective, most of today's research collections of
comics are "remedial" collections that bring the level of preservation of

these cultural artifacts up to a point that might be considered normal
if certain social pressures were relieved.
The Public Library Sector.

Most -public libraries, unless they are also research libraries, are
not going to be able to keep retrospective collections of comic books.
Comic books are so fragile that it doesn't usually pay for a public library
to even catalog them. The typical public library collection has a revolv-
ing stock, frequently kept going by trading with readers or by adding
new comic books periodically. The flimsy physical nature of the
medium, plus the presumption that kids can easily get comics else-
where because they're cheap, probably accounts for the major fraction
of public libraries that do not carry current comic books. The percen-
tage of public libraries that don't provide comic books is unknown, but
some do, and some don't.' Whether a public library circulates its comic
books to death, trades them indiscriminately, confines them to a laun-
dry basket near the 8-piece jigsaw puzzles, or refuses to let them in at
all, a public library is not ordinarily the place to learn respect for the
comic book medium.
These problems with the comic book format are real and oper-
ative in public libraries, but social pressures against the comic book
medium operate on public librarians as well. Unlike research librar-
ians, librarians don't have the same arguments about his-
torical value and the encouragement of research to back them up.
Attitudes about comic books vary when they are admitted to the pub-
lic or school libraries. Sometimes comics are presented to the readers
in open recognition that they have their own unique and appro- - -
priate entertainment value, or in other words, without apologies to

anyone. Probably as often, comic books are part of a "bait and switch"
scheme. The comic books are used as a way of attracting young
readers to the library, with the hope of sooner or later diverting their
attention to "real" books. Although this practice tends to perpetuate the
: idea that comics are a subliterature, it can be used to get around
parents, library administrators, and others who are against comic
books.
The "comics are valuable" and the "bait and switch attitudes can
coexist in the same library, with one staff member being able to name
all the X-Men, and another staff member trying to turn kids on to C.S.
Lewis. It's not even unreasonable for one person to do both. Public and
school library workers who believe in the value of any particular kinds
of comic books can best spread the attitude by being able to talk in-
telligently about them to readers and fellow st& members.
There are plenty of reprint volumes and graphic novels appearing
currently that are more durable physically, and it is logical to expect
that public libraries will begin to routinely buy them. Most of the
reprints of older strips are not being marketed to libraries yet, however.
Current favorites like "Garfield and "Calvin and Hobbes" are easy
enough to get in book form, but the "Krazy Kat" and "Li'l Abner"
volumes have less visibility. Public librarians can do their readers a
favor by looking at the ads in the Comics Buyer's Guide or The Comics
Journal, and sampling the reprints for sale there.
The Academic Context of Comics Research: Popular Culture.

ill11
11 The reader will find that the term (as well as the concept) "popular
/ !II ,I
culture" is not used in this volume, except in titles and in the names of
collections. Popular culture studies was an academic movement that
I 11
I l1 began to be noticed around the beginning of the 1970s. Scholars like
Ill
11
Ray Browne and Russel Nye who wished to work outside the canons.of
I II literature, history, sociology and art established at that time found it
I useful to apply the label "popular culture" to whatever it was they
I
wanted to study. The term never had coherent boundaries, and any two
"popular culture" scholars would have been hard pressed to agree on
a useful definition. Because the category was created in reaction to a
rigid canon, it is essentially a negative concept. It was once progressive
in that it allowed academics to move forward in the direction of
democratization of subject matter. Popular culture studies was an
academic movement, like "pop art" was an artistic movement, and both
can be treated as historical.
A more up-to-date term is available: cultural studies. Cultural
studies seems to mean the study of the day-to-day concerns of ordinary
people. This is good, as long as everybody can be to some extent an or-
dinary person. Twentieth-century communications make most "cul-
ture" available, or at least visible, to most people. From the point of view
of the research librarian trying to collect and organize documents of the
20th century, it does not seem to matter if some are called "popular" and
some "elite," or if some chronicle the working class and some the jet set.
The audience of any mass medium is potentially universal, and the age
of re-runs has hardly begun! Culture is being democratized, decades are
being homogenized, classics are being colorized, and academic depart-
ments will have to recognize these things sooner or later. Academic
libraries need to recognize it sooner, because the first full century of
mass media culture is coming to an end, and there is much collecting
to be done.
An interesting observation, brought to America by a friend from
Australia, is that Land Grant colleges seem to be in the forefront of this
process of widening the scope of acceptable topics of research and
teaching. Land Grants were given in the United States, and in Australia
as well, to encourage the education of the general population. The
population needed to know more about agriculture than about Plato,
which was not the usual orientation for a university. As universities
grow they can take on more, and the visible tendency is for the tradition
of innovation in popular or populist subject matter to stay with the Land
Grant colleges. Perhaps this is not true everywhere, but it works in
Michigan and Australia. The implication seems to be that historical
forces are at work within the larger academic community, and that not
every institution is moving in the same direction. Even if special comics
collections are not appropriate for every library, though, the content of
the medium needs to be watched. If Japan Inc. really is a scholarly work,
every research library should have it.
The Academic Context of Comics Research:

Alternative Publications.
There is a movement in libraries (which are part of academia) that

is also, like "popular culture studies," an attempt to expand the canons
of the information community. Librarians use the word "alternative" to
describe a heterogeneous mix of publications that are generally the
kinds of things libraries have excluded in the past. Alternatives can be
things we have been reluctant to collect out of moral or political
squeamishness, or they can be things we were uncomfortable bringing
into the library because some conservative administrator might object.
Alternatives can also be things that we as a profession were heretofore
Alternative librarians like Sanford Berman are a kind of conscience

for the library community. They remind us that our collecting habits,
our relationships to readers and researchers, and even our subject
headings exist in the real world. We do not have to be satisfied with the
pronouncements of the professors and the mush from the mass media,
is the message we get, and the message we need.
Are comic books in some way alternative publications? There are
small-press, avant-garde, experimental, left-wing, right-wing and
religious comic books that clearly present unusual styles and messages.
These are a treasure to a library, and calling them "alternatives" can't
hurt. They are not "popular culture" in the usual sense, because they
are not mass publications. Librarians who follow the alternative track
do not necessarily approve of mass-medium comic books, anyway. The
content of a comic book is apt to be as violent, sexist, racist, ageist and
boring as anything else that gets excluded from a library. Alternative
librarians, though, are used to looking for virtue in unlikely places, and
there are plenty of unmistakably good comics to be found. Alternative
librarians also like to adopt things that stuffier academics reject, and
that gives comics a plus! Probably the only clear-cut way to say that
comic books are an alternative, however, is to call them an alternative
medium. Comic books are not all the same, and within the medium
some are alternatives to others.
Alternative collections in research libraries have their own ap-
propriate class of scholars. They tend to concentrate on the social
sciences, they have opinions on what's wrong with how the world op-
erates, and they want to help it change. They may be in education, and
be seeing comic books as children's literature. They may be in com-
munications, and be seeing comics as propaganda. They will study the
products of mass media with a suspicion that is not usually
characteristic of the popular culture studies group, who are mainly
humanities scholars.
Best of Both Worlds?

It is a misnomer to call a general comics collection "alternative,"
because so much of its content is mainstream entertainment. On the
other hand suggesting that a comics collection fits wholly into the
category of "popular culture" doesn't work, because so many comics are
just not "popular" in any sense. A comics collection in a research library
can attract both the humanities and the social sciences scholar. The
humanities scholar will study the art and writing styles, the social scien-
tist will study the descriptions of indigenous populations, and the
studies will overlap. While we can welcome, and assist, scholars from
both the popular culture and the alternative movements, it's probably
better not to get involved with either of these terms when describing
our collections!
Yet Another World.

There is a third world of scholars, who in general might be
expected not to identify either with "popular culture" or with "al-
ternative culture." They call themselves "fans," and belong collec-
tively to "fandom." Not all fans are scholars, of course, and members
of the foregoing rather serious groups might not choose to recog-
nize any of them as scholars. That's not our problem as librarians.
Serious and concerned fans have always been a part of fandom,
and these people, sometimes called "data nuts," have produced much
of what has been written about comics. The publications of fandom
are called "fanzines," and the annual professional meetings are called
"cons," which is short for "conventions." Not all fans will use these
words in the presence of a librarian, because librarians are "mun-
d a n e ~ "and they wouldn't (or shouldn't) understand. Likewise librar-
ians might want to wait until they've been to a few cons, pubbed
a few zines and gotten a few big-name LOCs before they decide
they understand fanspeak. Fans have a private language to some
extent, and it costs nothing to respect that privacy. Fans also understand
English.
There is no other word for "fandom," however, and no other word
for "fanzines." They represent new concepts that have come to be only
in the twentieth century. Mass media, particularly science fiction
magazines, and cheap private publishing, particularly ditto and mimeo-
graph, have made this subculture possible.
At some point early in the history of fandom, and it may even be
possible to document this but for now I'm just making it up, a fan offered
to help a librarian build a research collection of science fiction
magazines. Fan " X was intrigued by the concept of a research library
being the stored memory of a society, holding documents for future
centuries to regard in awe, glee, or indifference. Fan X was convinced
I
1
i 1
I
that anything as enjoyable as good science fiction was worth sharing

!I
11
with the future.
Librarian " Y was not receptive. The idea of stockpiling a lot of
I flimsy, garish magazines about space flight and mad scientists in a
I respectable college library was outlandish in itself. The prospect of ex-
I plaining the stuff if Professor "Z" noticed was horrifying. And the pros-
pect of having to interact regularly with this weird person who actually
11~1
I read this sort of thing was too much to contemplate. The proposal was
I
I
rejected, and Fan X was left with the bad tastes of rejection on moral,
I intellectual, and personal grounds, all conveyed in one grimace by
I Librarian Y, who was a master of nonverbal commu~licationfrom long
practice at silently telling rowdy students to be quiet in the library.
I,!
111 1
11 l1
You didn't have to make pictures in stained glass for Fan X to catch
)Ill1
on. Fan X had an IQ of over 160 and the librarian had mispronounced
the word "scientifiction," and that was enough. The next issue of the Fan
X-Press excoriated Librarian Y, defamed Librarian Y's profession and
place of work, ridiculed Librarian Y's attitude, education, and hairstyle,
and speculated on Librarian Y's private life, all in words of five syllables
or more. Fan X went on to become well known and influential in fan-
dom, and the sins of Librarian Y were recounted again and again. When
Fan X died suddenly, his family, not being part of fandom, gave his col-
lection of fanzines and pulps to Librarian Y's institution. After a couple
of years stacked in a basement hallway, the zines were thrown out. Fan-
dom found out about thiq, complained bitterly, the story was carried in
every fanzine in the land, and nobody in the library seemed to care
enough to even explain or apologize.
Both Fan X and Librarian Y are caricatures, of course. One little
sneer could never have such an effect. But the point is, that's how a lot
of librarians think fandom feels about librarians, and that's how a lot of
fandom thinks librarians feel about fans. Fandom has a long memory for
attitudes, if not for details. How this got started is not as important as
getting it stopped. Plenty of librarians are ready to admit that the fans
were right about collecting and preserving stuff. We have buildings, we
can get the technology, let's do it together!
Comics Librarianship as a Specialty.

Comics fandom is only a part of fandom, though it is a good-sized
part. Science fiction, fantasy, Star Trek and animation fandom, for
example, can use friends in libraries as well, but one thing at a time. If
comics librarianship can be established to some degree as a research
library specialty, it can ease the way toward developing similar kinds of
focused Iibrarianship for other new fields. The need for specialized
skills, the needs of a specialized readership, and a sense within libraries
that the time is right to begin giving comics more serious attention, all
these things make it seem possible that comics is a field that can help
librarianship as a whole break some new ground in terms of proactive
information handling.
Special Skills.
Specialist skills are needed for comics librarianship because com-

ics is essentially a throwaway medium. It is hard stuff to collect
thoroughly, when it comes right down to it. The librarian needs to be
able to see into the same corners that the monomaniacal collector is
looking into, and still maintain enough professional formality to deal
with the everyday academic world. Again, specialized skills are needed
for comics librarianship because some comics are rare and all comics
are fragile. Comic books and Sunday strips are the first and only mass
media to be ~ r i n t e din color on newsprint, and thus they present unique
preservation problems. Comic books have historically been prime tar-
gets of paper drives and general disrespect, both of which social
phenomena have created problems which require sharp professional
judgment to get around. Special skills are needed just because comics
are different than anything else that has ever been. They are not, ap-
parently, fine art. They are not, apparently, literature. The unique con-
ventions, history, and value of the various comics traditions are not
transparently obvious to most people. As is the case with other media,
some professional mediation between reader and collection is neces-
sary. Somebody has to be there to say why this stuff is taking up space,
at the very least!
Appropriate Constituencies.
Popular culture scholars are a natural public for the research

library collection of comic books, strips, etc. Popular culture scholars
are fairly traditional academics these days, who happen to see value in
studying certain things that were not regularly studied thirty years ago.
One of those things is comics. "Alternative" scholars are another in-
terested group of potential users. Alternative scholars are typically
critical of the content of most comics, but willing to learn from nontradi-
tional source material. A third large constituency of users is comics fans,
who need to have access to "their" culture. Some fans are readers only,
and some are scholars who have their own not-so-different research to
perform.
Time to Begin.
Over three dozen research library collections of comics now exist,
and some, like the collections at the University of Missouri at Columbia
and the University of Tulsa, are just beginning. The problem of fragile
paper is being noticed as comic books have reached their half-century
mark, and comic strips will soon be a century old. The fact that there
exists an overwhelmingly massive amount of comic art is being acutely
felt by those libraries which have accumulated any interesting percen-
tage of it. Most libraries with any comics at all are currently exploring
ways to preserve and organize their collections. At the same time, more
quality books about comics and more well-done books reprinting com-
ics have been published in the past ten years than in all of previous
history, and the trend seems to be continuing. It is suddenly much
easier to provide reasonable support for high school and the under-
graduate college level study of comics. Whether this will lead to an in-
crease in such studies is hard to say, but the possibility seems
reasonable. There are more academic library comics collections than
there are college courses taught on comics, for sure. Libraries seem to
be leading the way in introducing comics to academia right now. It is
a good time to be a comics librarian.
How to Get a Job as a Comics Librarian.

The comics librarian will need to know a lot about comics just to
begin, and that is the purpose of this book. The comics librarian will also
need to be well-versed in the library sciences of selection, acquisitions,
cataloging, reference, preservation, fund-raising and publicity. ~ o s t
librarians concentrate on just one of those, so this is not a job for

the faint-hearted. Comics are just different enough that they will
need intelligent advocacy at every point in the normal library pro-
cess, at least at first. Probably the hardest parts are selection and
cataloging. Selection is difficult because it requires in-depth knowl-
edge of the field right up front, while the other activities basically react
to the results of selection. Cataloging is difficult because cataloging is
difficult, and trying to make somebody else catalog something they
don't want to do is even more difficult. It's best to have very good friends
in the cataloging department, or to be the cataloger yourself. An
uncataloged comics collection is no better than any other uncataloged
collection, and that is to say, not much good. Be willing to learn cata-
loging.
There are comics fans in library school right now who are wonder-
ing how to become comics librarians, and hoping against hope that this
occupation might be in their futures. Obviously, there is no one true
path. It will help to be able to keyboard well, but until the first actual
job offering is posted, we can't really know what the rest of the re-
quirements for "Comics Librarian" will be. Of the fifty or so people in
the universe currently in charge to some degree of university research
collections of comics, it's safe to guess that none of us planned it that
way.
The first thing to do to become a comics librarian is to get a li-
brarian's position in a research library. The following scenario is as
reasonably possible as any, and is based on some serious advice. The
serious advice is, there's room to make a difference but you have to be
able to see beyond the job you're hired for. After you have the job, see
if you can talk people into starting a comics collection. You might have
to engineer a big donation to do that. Next, engineer some more dona-
tions. Mention the dollar value of a big donation to the Board of
Trustees. When the collection gets big enough to be of use to some-
body, start a newsletter and do some publicity in academic, alternative,
and fannish publications. When researchers have trouble, be there to
help. When the disorganization of the collection starts to impede
reasonable use, argue for cataloging. When impecunious scholars start
arriving from all over the world, let them stay at your house. When the
comics start to crowd out the rare Shakespeare volumes, do some fund-
raising to help buy a new building for the Shakespeare volumes. If you
start to have too much fun, read the New York Times. If the institutional
climate is reasonably receptive, all of these things, except for the new
building, can be done from an entry-level position as cataloger, for ex-

ample. And we're working on the new building.
Notes to Chapter 1.
1. Koch, Theodore Wesley. Reading: A Vice or a Virtue? (MSU Keep-
sake, no. 1.) East Lansing: Michigan State University Press,
1987. xiii, 28 p. My goodness, but this is an old-fashioned book!
2. Myers, Greg W. "Flashback, 50 Years Ago," The Comic Buyer's
Guide, no. 549 (May 25, 1984), p. 1.
3. Wertham, Fredric. Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart,
1954.397 p. Although this book is resoundingly negative about
comic books as a medium, and can be seen as illogical and
amusing as an attempt at scientific research, it does stand as
the first whole book about comic books.
4. Goldwater, John L. Americana in Four Colors. New York; Comics
Magazine Association of America, 1974. 48 p. The Comics
Magazine Association of America, 60 E. 42nd Street, New
York, New York 10165, is the body responsible for enforcing
the Comics Code, which this booklet spells out.
5. Comic Art Collection, no. 5 (February 1980). A letter from Mary E.
Sauer of the Library of Congress' Serial Record Division is re-
printed, which "admits" comic books into the ranks of regular
serials.
6. DiMattia, Susan S., in "Business Books 1988," Library Journal
(March 15, 1989), p. 35.
7. The U*N*A*B*A*S*HmE*D Librarian 15 (Spring 1975), p. 4; 18
(Winter 1976); p. 3. Short articles describing the use of comic
books in public library branches, basically for public relations.
At the time such behavior by librarians was thought of as
daring and . . . unabashed.
Chapter 2.
Acquiring Comic
Books and Strips.
Once a library or a librarian has made the decision to include com-

ics material in the collection description, what then? A substantial dona-
tion or purchase was probably involved in provoking the decision to
start with, but it should go without saying that a collection that is not
growing in some way is a dead collection. Both comic strips and comic
books are changeable media, and the representative collection of today
will usually not serve to represent next year's comics. Since comic strips
and comic books have enjoyed 100 years and 50 years respectively as
mass media, there will probably always be new areas of historical study
being opened up as well. Research libraries will need to increase
retrospective holdings just to enable basic college-level scholarship.
Two general problems are likely to inhibit the acquisitions of all
kinds of comics material. The first is the fact that there is a collectors'
I
market for almost all kinds of comics, both comic books and comic
strips, both old and new. Competition among collectors has raised the
going price of some materials until it is completely unrealistic for a
library to expect to be able to purchase them, and still maintain
credibility with sources of funding. ("You paid $6,000 for one comic
book?!?") The idea that collecting comic books is a fad indulged in by
a lunatic fringe of wealthy bachelors is, unfortunately, promoted in the
popular press. It can be difficult to convince library administrators and
boards of trustees that to collect comics is not automatically to abandon
the last shred of academic respectability.
Attitudes about comics within libraries and within the academic
community are the second general problem confronting the library
I 11111 28 Comics Librarianship.
11
I
acquisitions program. The idea that collecting comics is crazy is not go-
ing to be corrected, if encountered, in time to get a few items into this
I '
I year's budget. Collecting comics will only seem reasonable to some peo-
1
ple when serious scholars and rich donors start to show up. The idea
I
I
that comics are incredibly expensive, however, can be done away with
right away. There is no reason for a library to pay collectors' prices for
l 1
! I a comic book or strip. It could become important to fill in a gap quickly
I
I by purchase, in order to produce a key piece of evidence for someone's
I 1 research, but this would be unusual. Normally such a crucial piece
I
I would not be available on the market when you want it anyway. Good
I
Ill I reprint volumes are a better investment because they are more durable,
and more likely to be cited and to be generally useful, than yellowing
and fragile newsprint comic books. Reprint volumes of comics cost less
than most other academic books. The point can and should be made
that a pretty decent comics collection can be put together very cheaply.
Perhaps one day, when libraries have exhausted the reasonable and in-
expensive options, it will be appropriate to compete with collectors, but
it's doubtful.
How to Buy Old Comics and Related Material.

Shops that specialize in comic books have been in business in most
United States cities for 15 years or more. They can usually be found in
the Yellow Pages under "book dealers," and recently the new rubric
"comic book dealers" has begun to appear in some telephone direc-
tories. In the beginning these stores made a large percentage of the rent
money by selling old, used and rare comic books. These stores have
been experiencing a shift toward new material in recent years, but back
issues remain important and available.
The comics librarian should become familiar with comics shops as
sources of retrospective material. Although competition with collectors
will make old superhero and horror comic books seem outrageously ex-
pensi-ye,other kinds of comic books are likely to seem cheap. Collectors
don't collect everything, and the typical collector is a boy or young man
whose interests are in superhero and other fantasy and adventure
genres. The back-issue dealer, in fact, may be stuck with a whole box
of career girl comics (Millie the Model, Tessie the Typist, etc.) or
something else that nobody in the local community wants. The dealer
can either sit and watch them take up space, lug them to a convention
Acquiring Comic Books and Strips.
and hope to meet a dealer from another city with a rich, eccen-
tric customer, or unload the whole bunch at a discount to the slightly
eccentric librarian from the university. This last kind of behavior is
worth encouraging. The retailer's other back issue customers will nor-
mally be looking for things they enjoy reading, or for things that will
appreciate in dollar value. Neither of these criteria is likely to be impor-
tant in a research library collection. Once the retailer starts to under-
stand that the library would rather have something that presents
or illustrates interesting facts about twentieth-century social history,
and is cheap, he or she will start saving all the "junk for the li-
brary.
Having a basically noncompetitive, low-cost "niche" in the back-
issue market can give the librarian an excuse to visit comic book stores
regularly. Although such behavior may not fit in with the usual acquisi-
tions procedure in a research library, there is really no substitute for
personal acquaintance with the people and stock of the local specialty
stores.
Besides buying certain comic books, the librarian will probably
want to improve the collection by adding books about comics, and
books that collect and reprint comics. Although publishers are cur-
rently putting out more books in these categories than ever before, the
typical research library will have missed most of the books published
over the past 100 years. A comic-book store acts as a magnet for these
out-of-print books, and they will turn up regularly. These are of prime
value as research material, and again, there is likely to be little competi-
tion with collectors. Retailers will usually save old reprint books and
books about comics for a librarian who comes in regularly, and will soon
start looking about for more. They are most often priced reasonably and
well worth it to the library.
At some point near the beginning of this librarian-to-book dealer
relationship it is going to be necessary to reach an agreement about in-
voicing, payment, and duplicates. Unless the librarian is using some
form of bibliographic magic that has not yet been reported in the
literature, there will be times when shopping in person (without the
benefit of preorder searching) leads to mistakes. Probably a book dealer
who sees the librarian as a steady customer will be glad to accept
returns if they are presented within a reasonable length of time. This
is not routine ~ r o c e d u r efor most dealers, nor is it likely to be routine
for library receiving sections. The best way of handling the overall
transaction seems to be to have the selector carry the material, along
(11 with an invoice prepared by the seller, to the receiving section of the
library. After a preorder search, duplicates can be deleted from the in-
1:1~~
I voice and returned to the seller on the next trip, along with a copy of
1 the amended invoice as it will be paid. This procedure requires good
I
faith and timeliness by all concerned, but nevertheless it can work well!
I
11
A variation of the procedure is to have the dealer's invoice searched
I by the preorder searchers while the books are still being held by the
I 1 dealer. This can be done in cases where the dealer doesn't quite trust
l 1
I / the library to pay, or to pay promptly. Unfortunately, small business
l l owners sometimes get the idea that a research library has to go through
(1 11 so many levels of bureaucracy to get a simple check written, that it isn't
I ( ! I(
! 1 1)
worth all the waiting and record-keeping it takes to deal with them.
I 1 1 ) 11 More unfortunately, this is sometimes true. Most mail-order ar-
li1 11 rangements with comics sellers will soon break down for this very
lllliI1
(1 reason. Comics dealers are relatively new to the antiquarian market,
and many see no reason to exercise the level of patience it takes to deal
/,/I/(
with research libraries.
( I l l 1 (1
I 1 Don't expect comic book stores to issue catalogs! When the pro-
1 111 I 11 spective purchase is being searched without the books in hand, it is of
11
'11~~ course necessary to have a fairly detailed description on the invoice. At
11
~ 1 1 1 111
the very least, each item needs to be listed well enough so that the
library can be positive that it's not buying a duplicate. Here again the
dealer is likely to balk at spending the kind of staff time it might take
11~11
' to prepare an invoice to specifications that seem arcane. Retailers vary
widely in sophistication, both in what they understand about bibliog-
I raphy and in what they practice in terms of bookkeeping. Don't be sur-
prised if an exasperated store owner hands you a pencil and a sheet of
paper and tells you to make out your own (blankety-blank) invoice. It
might even be a good idea to bring your own paper. Unless the librarian
doing the shopping is also the acquisitions librarian, the selector is
almost certain to meet the same level of exasperation back at the library
the first time an invoice is submitted on the grocery bag in which the
I merchandise was transported, or on the back of the store's business
card. Two very different worlds are involved here, and it will take time
I to bring them together. At this stage of the game it is very important for
I the comics librarian to show up in person both in the comics store and
II 1 I the acquisitions department, and talk these things out.
I
I
Besides making trips to a comics shop, there are other reasonably
useful ways to spend money on old comics and related material. Flea
markets or rummage sales have obvious drawbacks: you need to carry
Acquiring Comic Books and Strips.
cash, and you need to invest time in prowling the community in order
to find anything interesting. Sometimes a staff member can be found
who does this anyway, and is willing to become knowledgeable enough
to help out. This can lead to some startlingly cheap and valuable acquisi-
tions, or not. If the nature of the collection is going to be fairly general,
there are probably things of interest circulating among the rummage
crowd that people wouldn't ever think to take to a library or bookstore.
Coloring books featuring comics characters are a good example of this,
and some have very fine art samples or are reprinted from vintage
strips.
Private collectors who wish to sell their collections often look to
libraries as sources of money, particularly after they've discovered how
little a comics shop will offer them for their treasures. Buying from a col-
lector may make sense if a library is just beginning and a large and
varied collection comes along that will fit the budget. In some cases a
specialized private collection will be attractive if it does not signifi-
cantly duplicate current holdings. Most private collections donated to
libraries to date have been similar to one another, however. The collec-
tion of Marvel and DC superhero comic books that you buy today is
likely to be indistinguishable from the collection that will be donated
to your library tomorrow. The situation may be changing, however.
Since the publishing explosion of the mid-1980s, it is likely that some
new kinds of private collections are building that will be of interest to
libraries. Each collection that is offered does need to be looked at
carefully.
There is a more general drawback to buying comics from private
collectors. If collectors learn that some libraries are paying cash, it will
be harder to encourage donations. In dealing with private collectors
there is a fine line to be walked. We have to convince them that we
value their material so highly there's no chance it will be dumped into
the next book sale (which has apparently actually happened). At the
same time, we have to convince them that we don't have the need to
pay collector's prices, since other collectors are predictably going to
give up on the whole thing and donate their collections. Perhaps as
more libraries try to remedy this fifty-year deficit in their collections of
twentieth-century culture, a competition for private collections will
emerge. It's doubtful. Probably some good color microfilm sets will ap-
pear before then.
Before very much serious research has been done in a library com-
ics collections, it will start to become obvious that no library can have
1I everything. Some things can be done without, but some will seem too
important to ignore and a wantlist of out-of-print books will develop. It
pays to advertise. A classified ad in the Comics Buyer's Guide1 will bring
responses from specialist dealers and collectors everywhere. A printed
I wantlist circulated to both specialist and general antiquarian book
i
dealers will bring good results. If the library advertises on the out-of-
I
1 1
I print market for other kinds of books, try to get a few comics items listed
each time. Before long a reputation will build, and dealers will be offer-
I
l 1
ing important books that you never heard of.
I 1
11 There is a collectors' market in old newspaper comic strips, but
II 'I most comics stores are not connected with that market and only rarely
1 1 111 handle strips. Dealers and collectors can be contacted through the
I 111
I II Comics Buyer's Guide classified ads under the heading "newspaper
1 ) 111
strips." The path of least resistance in collecting old strips is to collect
' 1 ' 111

I I, only those which have been edited and reprinted in book form. Quite
a respectable collection can be put together in this way. There are,
111 however, two drawbacks to collecting only book collections. In the first
,I/ 1 place, only a small fraction of comic strips have ever been collected in
(1
Il! book form. In the second place, most of the book collections are in-
,Ill1 1
I complete or are edited in ways that make it difficult or impossible to
know exactly when a given strip first appeared, or even in what order
Ii I
1 [I
II they appeared. Some researchers can tolerate this, and find that the
convenience of the book form outweighs the occasional uncertainty or
1
ill
missing episodes. Others, especially those doing studies that involve
II
I
chronology or comparisons with current events, need better sources.
I
Whatever the project, a scrupulous researcher wishing to provide exact
I citations will try to cite the date on which a syndicated strip first ap-
peared in newspapers. Many otherwise important-looking books omit
this information.
There are collectors who have put together runs of strips, typically
arranged either in shoe boxes or in scrapbooks, or maintained in the
bound newspaper volumes as discarded by libraries. Libraries, accord-
ing to the lore of the strip collectors, used to buy the microfilm and then
I actually just throw away the bound originals. This afforded a golden op-
I portunity for the strip collector, and ~ r o v i d e dfurther reenforcement
1, for the idea that research librarians are not to be trusted with the keep-
ing of anything that is really valuable. Whether the practice was
I I
I
I widespread enough to be materially destructive to comics research is
I
a matter of opinion. The fact is that the library at the San Francisco
Academy of Comic Art, which is wholly or ~artiallythe source of most
Acquiring Comic Books and Strips. 33
of the best reprint books, is the result of just such a salvage opera-
tion.
It might be a good idea for the comics librarian to survey the
newspaper holdings of her or his library with the poential for use in
comics research in mind. Then again, it might not matter. Bulky bound
volumes are difficult to use efficiently for examining runs of a comic
strip. Especially if they've been indifferently cared for, the pages will be
yellow and photocopying can be monumentally difficult both because
of the yellowing and because of the bulky format. Microfilm, on the
other hand, is similarly difficult to use and good photocopies are often
not possible. If there is a library that can afford to spend st& time clip-
ping or photocopying from its newspaper holdings to create files or
volumes of comic strips for efficient use, that would be good. Until then,
we should be happy that collectors are doing it, and support the
publishers that are printing the results of their projects. A few large
strip collections have been donated to libraries, but this is by no means
as common as comic book donations.
How to Get Old Comics and Related Material Free.

Donated accumulations and collections of comic books can
reasonably be expected once a comics collection has been established
and word has gotten around. A mention to the local newspapers and
television stations that the library has a comics collection will usually
bring a reporter around to ask, "Why?" and "What is your most valuable
comic book?" Whatever the resulting story looks like, it's likely to occur
to somebody in the community that those comics in the attic might be
better off in a library. Comic books are the kind of thing that people
outgrow, but maintain a lingering fondness for. If the stereotypical
house-cleaning mom can be gotten around, so that the collection is still
intact when the owner has grown up, a lot of people can not quite bring
themselves to throw them out. Ask the reporter to mention that the
library is accepting donations of comic books. It can't hurt either
the news value of the story or the acquisitions program of the li-
brary.
Comic book donations to an educational institution can be tax de-
ductible, but that's between the donor and the Internal Revenue Ser-
vice. If this question comes up, it is legitimate to provide the donor with
an inventory of the gift, and to assign values based on the Oficial
1
~! Overstreet Comic Book Price G ~ i d eIt. should
~ be clear in the cover let-
ter with the inventory that the evaluations are not an appraisal, but are
(
only the result of checking a standard price list. An appraiser might do
(1'
1I no differently, but the ethics of the situation require that a third party
1
iI
I should do the evaluation if it is to be called an appraisal. A qualified ap-
praiser can usually be located by calling a local comic book store. The
I appraisal should be paid for by the donor, and the cost of the appraisal
is also tax-deductible.
I 1
I The donor with a valuable collection will often have discovered the
)I
Overstreet guide independently, and sometimes will have formed an in-
11 (
I IA flated opinion about the value of the collection because of unfamiliarity

1iI )(I
I li11
with the grading system. Donors will sometimes decide to be stubborn
111 /((I1 about the value they set on the material, to the point that they don't
I;
!I
1 1
1
'I
111
I l l
want any other figure mentioned in the acknowledgment letter. It then
becomes necessary to phrase the letter like this: "Thank you for your
pi1 l1 1111
gift, on December 31 of last year, of seven comic books which you value
at a total of $65,000. . . ." It seems possible that an Internal Revenue
Ill 1 1
1 l~
Service auditor might require an appraisal later on, so it's a good idea
~ ~ ~ I I ! to keep especially good track of inventory lists in cases like this.
I/ il~l]I
l l ~ dI l
'\!I 1)
t
I
l1
I
Most of the time, donors will drop off their comic books just be-
cause they seem to be getting a good home. An inventory isn't necessary
and a polite thank-you letter mentioning the number of items serves to
'I// get the transaction into the library's correspondence files. Unless the
1 dollar values appear to be outstanding, the library in this case doesn't
I I normally need to know what such a routine donation is "worth in
i
I numbers.
Besides local media, donations can be discreetly solicited through
staff newsletters, alumni magazines, and personal contacts. Regular
visits to a comic book store will sometimes result in donors' being re-
ferred by the store owner to the library, since retailers can also
recognize that financial and research values operate on two different
scales. A box of comics with no collectors' value could turn out to be
a run of Adventures of the Big Boy that somebody in the Communica-
tions Department has been trying to write a paper on. Also, by attending
i
(1
I
the comic book store religiously, the librarian will get to know some of
the other customers. You never know when a collector will decide to
just pack it all in and get out of the field. The collectors themselves
1
might not even have much warning of the impending decision, but if
i they're acquainted with a comics librarian the chances are much better
that the library will benefit when the time comes.
To reach outside the local area for contacts and donors, specialized
national publications are the most valuable. An occasional letter to the
editor or press release printed in Editor and Publisher or the Comics
Buyer's Guide will attract some appropriate attention. At this level, try-
ing to attract donors and trying to attract researchers become dual
aspects of the same publicity. Potential scholars from far away will want
to hear about how good the collection already is, and not how earnestly
we desire to improve it. Until something special or unique can be
claimed about a collection, most librarians will want to stick to local-
level publicity.
Buying Current Comics and Related Material.

For most of the first fifty years of comic books in the United States
and Canada, distribution has been through the newsstand, or some
variation such as "spinners" in convenience, stationery, candy, and even
grocery stores. It is hard to imagine a distribution pattern less likely to
intersect with the buying channels of a research library. During the
1970s, however, comic book shops that had been established on the
strength of the back-issue market discovered that a lot of collectors
would go out of their way to get the latest issues a few days earlier than
the established outlets could supply them. This led to separate negotia-
tions between the comic book stores and the wholesalers, and even-
tually to a separate distribution system.
Established comic book publishers use the new distribution net-
work by designating some of their titles "direct only," meaning they
are sold only to comics shops and by subscription and never appear on
the general newsstand. The distinction is now commonly made be-
tween the "direct" and the "newsstand markets. Most newsstand com-
ics appear in the comic book stores, but not all. Occasionally a new
publisher will float trial balloons onto the newsstand, apparently
unaware of the direct market. Sometimes a local specialty store will
decide that a certain category of comic books (Archie comics, for exam-
ple) doesn't sell well enough to its mostly grownup clientele to be
worth display space. The two distribution systems both need to be
watched if complete representation is what the library collectors has in
mind.
In the past, a few new comic book publishers have tried to make
a start only to back out, leaving the impression that the (newsstand)
distribution system did not welcome them. The situation has changed,
and comic book stores are actively looking for good material to offer that
is not available elsewhere. Besides encouraging dozens of new United
States and Canadian companies, the direct market has attracted Euro-
pean and Japanese publishers hoping to distribute English-language
editions of graphic albums and "manga." Besides comics themselves,
comics stores also sell related books, posters and realia. In order to sup-
port all this, specialized wholesalers have appeared, but unfortunately
none of these wholesalers is quite comfortable dealing with libraries to
date. The librarian's best bet for acquisition of new material through the
direct market is to establish an arrangement with a local comics shop.
Arrangements with the store for invoicing, payment, and return of
duplicates can be the same as described above for back issues and out-
of-print books. One big set of decisions needs to be made at the library,
though, before the arrangements for new comics can be completed. If
your library can afford to buy, check in, and store one of everything,
your dealer will be glad to have a package (a large package) waiting for
you every week. Meanwhile, back in the real world, an acquisitions pro-
file needs to be written. This need not be laborious and difficult. For
example, ask for copies of all locally published comics. Most com-
munities that can support a research library can also support one or two
small press comics publishers. (If your library is in New York City, you
might need to limit the local angle to small presses.)
Another reasonable part of the profile might be reprint books and
magazines. Some reprint volumes will be too expensive for most of the
store's usual customers, and the retailer might not order copies at all
without a fairly firm commitment from the library. High-quality reprint
volumes are currently running up to about $30 each, which is not a lot
compared to other books that libraries purchase. Except for the few that
are published by old, established publishing houses, these reprint books
are under-advertised in the general book trade. Getting them into your
profile with a direct-market dealer is quite possibly your only chance
to get copies of reprint volumes published by Arcadia Publications,
Blackthorne Publishing, Classic Comic Strips, Russ Cochran, Eclipse
Books, Fantagra~hicsBooks, Nantier-Beall-Minoustchine, or Pioneer
Books.
After local publications and reprint volumes, the next logical addi-
tion to the profile is books and magazines about comics. As with reprint
volumes, a percentage of books about comics will never show up in
general book trade channels. Authors and ~ublishersin the direct
market will be directing their efforts toward an audience of fans, collec-

tors, and speculators, rather than toward students and scholars. Ex-
amine some of these and decide how you will justify their purchase to
library colleagues, administrators, and teaching faculty. Even the comic
book dealer might question why on Earth you want some of this stuff.
Compared to most other disciplines, comics research and history are in
their infancy. A lot of checklisting, summarizing, interviewing, and
general scouting for landmarks needs to be done before much really in-
formed writing can be done. This is exactly the kind of thing the fan
press is producing, and while some of the efforts may look a little shaky,
nearly all of them make original contributions. If you have to choose
between buying new comic books, or buying new books, pamphlets or
magazines about comics, remember that donations of comic books to
libraries are common and that at some point in the future almost any
comic book might come in for free. Fan and small press books have
much smaller print runs, go out of print immediately, and have not been
turning up in donations to libraries. Often you only get one chance to
buy them.
If that small book that does almost nothing but summarize the plots
of the "Batman" movie serials looks questionable, remember that The
Batman is, like it or not, one of the more durable American contribu-
tions to world literature. Some day, someone is going to have to do a
dissertation on the phenomenon. How is it going to look if the only two
library copies of the only book on that particular manifestation of the
character are held by the universities of Helsinki and Toulouse? Too
many American academics (that includes librarians), even resolutely
"alternative" or anticanonical academics, have an attitude problem
when it comes to thinking seriously about comics. A lot of European
scholars are way ahead of us. So buy the book, already!3
Most periodicals about comics fall loosely into the category of fan-
zines. With few exceptions, periodicals published by and for the comics
collectors' market are either irregular or impermanent. Those that offer
subscriptions do so in terms that easily defeat the best serials acquisi-
tions module. The safest way to keep getting selected titles is to have
them added to your ~ r o f i l ewith a comic book specialty dealer. Each
new issue, whether it's a monthly that appears semiannually or a wholly
unanticipated title change, will appear in the save pile. The biblio-
graphical details can then be worked out with the piece in hand,
without having to incur the wrath and disbelief of a harmless not-for-
profit ~ublisherthousands of miles away.
1
I
1 1
,I1
1
I/l1 I
'I I
I If it looks like there will be money left after the local publications,
1 1
the reprint collections, and the history and criticism have been paid for,
the next logical step is to ask the dealer to save samples of comic book
11
series. One of everything on the rack every six months might be a good
I
strategy, or a copy of every first issue can also work. Either way, sam-
1 I pling the current market can help ensure that the library user will find
II
I at least something in every category, and the course of collection de-
velopment will be that much less at the mercy of random donors. If the
1 1
cataloging department is going to help out, it might be a good strategy
I i
(I to present them with a flow of first issues of serials. It is much more
I IIIII
II!~,
11 111
~ satisfactory to catalog from the first issue of a serial under current rules,
and thus the work of cataloging is more likely to actually get done.
After a profile has been worked out with a local dealer or dealers,
I lIll
remember to ask for a discount. In return for a steady flow of business,
the retailer should be willing to grant a standard 10 to 20 percent off on
I i /Illl nearly everything the library buys.
1 1:I If comics acquisitions' best friend is the direct market dealer, its
111 I next best friend is the weekly Comics Buyer's Guide. The Buyer's Guide,
l l I!I 1
II~
I!I 1 or " C B G as it is usually called, began in 1971 as a hobbyists' monthly to
I1 facilitate mail-order buying. Currently CBG presents over 60 tabloid
11
I1)l
l1
I
pages per week of advertising and information. The ads for back issues
by mail are still there, but there is much more. News, interviews, re-
(1) l1 views, retrospective articles, and a column on legal aspects of comics
/
I
Ill
are regular or frequently appearing features. Directories of comic book
stores and clubs and calendars of comics conventions and forthcoming
I
1 publications appear regularly. A clipping service keeps track of how the
I
comics industry and subculture are being seen in other media. An active
letters page makes CBG a leading public forum not only for collectors,
but also for the direct market businesspeople and for creators and pub-
lishers. All this information is context that will help the comics librarian
understand what's going on, or at least to interpret the advertising. Sub-
scription services, wholesalers, convention organizers, publishers,
specialized collectors, writers, artists, editors, and even other librarians
can be contacted through the ads and letters of CBG, and whether you
I answer any of the advertising or not, exposure to the pages of CBG will
I make the experience of dealing with the local comics retailer as an
I
I equal much easier. The CBG is required reading, or at least required
I
I I browsing, for the profession of comics librarian. After the browse, have
(I
it cataloged for the collection. The Comics Buyer's Guide documents an
industry and a subculture. Some day there may be an index.
Getting the New Stufffor Free.
It is possible to get some comic books and fanzines for nothing,

without having to wait for collectors to get tired of them. Nearly all
publishers have "comp" lists of people and organizations to whom free
or "complimentary" copies are sent. Whether there is room for a library,
or another library, on the list, depends on the kind of relationship that
exists between the publisher and the library. If the publisher graduated
from your college, ask. If the publisher is in your town, ask. If you don't
mind sending letters that never get answered, ask. But please don't
pester publishers unduly in the name of your library, or libraries in
general. This is a kind of "goose that laid the golden egg" situation, and
such arrangements are not likely to be permanent unless they are based
on positive personal interaction.
Another way of getting new material for free is to encourage staff
members to "endow" the collection by subscribing to a favorite title, and
then donating it to the library regularly when they're through reading
it. Several people might share a subscription, to Mad or National Lam-
poon, for instance, with the library handy to settle the question of who
gets to keep the magazine when everybody has read it. Schemes like
this are also likely to be impermanent, but there's always the chance
that somebody will take it seriously enough to really help out.
One effective way to get samples of foreign comic books is to ask
staff members and friendly teaching faculty who travel abroad to bring
back comic books as souvenirs. This works well, and can add lots of sur-
prises to a collection. The travelers will want to know what they should
look for. Tell them, "Look at a newsstand, and any comic book that sur-
prises you will be of interest to the collection. It can be a translation of
a familiar feature, or something exotic-looking. When in doubt, bring
US one of each!" This requires no long-term commitment on anybody's
part, doesn't cost much, and gives the average tourist an excuse to
get out of the hotel, poke around a bit, and get some new insight
into the place they're visiting. Actually, they should thank us for
asking!
If these last few paragraphs give the impression that comics ac-
quisitions can involve a certain amount of grasping at straws, it's no
mistake. Routines and policies can be set up to catch the bare bones of
a good collection, namely the outstanding creative publications and the
products of research, but comics is a mass medium and an enormous
field of study. No budget can cover it all. If a few items can be coaxed
A-
in for free, then perhaps a little more money can be found to catalog
them. A good acquisitions program makes its basic contribution in
establishing the depth and consistency that make research possible.
II The next step is to provide the surprises that make inspired research
I
I possible. If there were hundreds of massive research collections of com-
1I ics, there would still be room for each of them to have unique special-
11
I ties, and to some degree that involves beating the bushes for the stuff
nobody has thought of. Set up a system, sure, but then get people out
1 1 there prowling the flea markets. Maybe somebody will finally find that
'1
j
Back to the Bible pamphlet about comic books that will show what the
1
/I
I
1, I I
Moody Press and its readers really thought about comic books in the
1950s4
11 ' I [/ /I I
I1 JI,l
)I
/I(, Getting Rid of Extras.
Before very long in the story of a comic book collection, whether

public or private, the problem of what to do with duplicate copies
comes up. Although it makes good sense to keep two copies of each
issue for insurance, this only postpones the problem, since multiple
copies are sure to come in. Some of the most serious and valuable dona-
tions are likely to be made only after the donor has understood and
agreed with the library's policy for dealing with unwanted duplicates.
Horror stories have circulated among collectors about libraries accept-
ing donations of rare comic books and then selling them a month later
at the Friends book sale for a nickel each. It is necessary to have a
policy, and to stick to it.
The optimum solution is to trade the unwanted duplicates for the
unwanted duplicates of another comics research library, so that nothing
goes to waste and all the comic books eventually find a home. This is
to some degree practical, because even the largest of today's collections
will find some percentage of new material in any random collection of
comic books. To find a library home for every last comic book is com-
pletely impossible, if only because of the existence of the first issues of
~ h a z a m(1973) and Howard the Duck (1976). Collectors were excited
about the appearance of these and a few other first issues in the 1970s.
Many bought large numbers of copies, certain that the market value
would rise quickly. The magic that had made the first issues of The
Amazing Spider-Man (1963) and Conan the Barbarian (1970) valuable
collectors' items was gone, however. The new direct distribution
network included dealers who were former collectors. These dealers

ordered more copies than normal as well, and stored some of them away
for the future. Soon people realized that it was unrealistic to ask large
sums for a comic book that nearly everybody had stacks of. By now,
most of these amateur speculators have unloaded these titles and a lot
of others that were hoarded throughout the 1970s, before the idea sank
in that times had changed. Not a few have given their troves to libraries,
and the boxes of extras that build up in comics libraries inevitably look
similar from one library to another.
Not only do the duplicate boxes look similar, but they take up
a lot of space, and the situation can sometimes become urgent. It
is theoretically possible to grade and evaluate each duplicate comic
book, and make trades based on the collectors' values thus assigned,
but this is incredibly labor-intensive. Even to put the duplicate comic
books in alphabetical order normally seems like a waste of time.
The recommended solution is to trade boxes of duplicates with an-
other library with similar interests, or to find a library that is just
beginning its collection, and send them duplicates until they start
to complain. Looking through the duplicates from another library
is a lot more rewarding than watching your own duplicates pile
UP.
There is no well-established way to find libraries willing to trade
duplicate comic books, or even to accept them as research material.
This is one of the purposes of this book. Please call around to the
libraries listed in Chapter 7, once your collection of extra copies starts
to get out of hand.
After all the interested libraries have seen the comic books, it's
time to call in a trustworthy local comic book dealer, and ask to trade
for a credit slip (not cash!). A credit slip can be cashed in without involv-
ing the library's bookkeeper, for one thing. A dealer will also usually
give you more for comics if the credit is to be used to get used comic
books from the shop. The profit margin is high on used comics, and the
ones the library is likely to want will be things less interesting to other
customers, and on the low end in price per unit and thus taking up a
lot of room anyhow. If information about this kind of trade reaches the
public, it will be less provocative to donors than news that you are sell-
ing them in the library discard sale. By having the dealer make an offer,
the library will be displaying wise stewardship in getting more comics
based on the collectors' value of the material unloaded. Nothing h ur t s
a comics research library's reputation like news of a valuable comic
I book being sold for a nickel, even if it was Shazam no. 1 and it was only
worth a nickel anyhow. The appearance of ignorance is bad public
I
I relations.
It is also possible to trade with or sell to individual collectors, some
of whom will be very interested and persistent. This is a dangerous
I
I
route. If word gets around that the library is trading, just supervising
the transactions will take a lot of staff time. Inevitably, collectors will
/I start to brag about the great deals they got from the stupid librarians,
i I
and whether we've acted stupidly or not, the reputation of the collection
I I
111 suffers. It's better to deal with other libraries on a basis of research value
I/!!' rather than financial value, or to deal with professional comics retailers
who have their own reputations to maintain.
Notes to Chapter 2.
1. The Comics Buyer's Guide is published weekly by Krause Publica-
tions, 700 E. State Street, Iola, Wisconsin 54990. This publi-
cation is vital to all aspects of information gathering about
comics, as well as a major communications medium within the
comics community. A sample issue will be sent upon request.
2. Overstreet, Robert M. The Ojicial Overstreet Comic Book Price
Guide. New York: House of Collectibles, 1987- . This annual
publication began in 1970 as The Comic Book Price Guide. The
prices quoted are based on the averages paid over the pre-
vious year.
I
I
3 . Van Hise, James. Serial Adventures Presents the Serial Adventures of
Batman. Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Books, 1989.98 p. This book
is listed as an example not to especially recommend it, though
it does what it sets out to do perfectly well, but to stand for a
class of books that will probably be unfamiliar to research li-
brarians.
4. Johnson, Ruth I. The Truth About Comic Books. Lincoln, Nebr.: Back
to the Bible Publishers, 1955? Does this exist?
Chapter 3 .
Storing and
Preserving Comics.
Appropriate storage and preservation of comics (both comic books

and comic strips) have always been major concerns for advanced private
collectors. The properties of newsprint, both chemical and physical, are
mysterious, whether they need to be or not, and individual collectors
are rightfully frightened at the prospect of carrying out mass deacidifi-
cation programs while still making mortgage payments. The publicly
owned collection is no less a ~ r o b l e min this regard, but the motiva-
tions, and therefore the priorities, need to be different. The private col-
lector is typically protecting a financial investment, or at least engaging
in a kind of hoarding behavior (an ego-investment). The first and most
basic level of protection for the private collector, therefore, is not to
deacidify, but to restrict use. There is a chance the comic books can be
sold before the acid problem gets too bad, but if somebody rips the
cover, condition goes from mint to fair in one second and hundreds of
potential dollars are out the window. Typically only the owner is al-
lowed into the magic room, with a very few friends receiving temporary
annointments.
In order to be sure the friends will be careful if they touch the com-
ics, or in other words to protect the financial investment, the private
collector will need to emphasize the value of the collection. To protect
one's reputation for sanity among one's noncollecting friends, it
sometimes helps to show off the most exciting or intriguing items for
their intrinsic value. Colorful displays presented along with the men-
tion of large sums of money will do the trick, but both of these ways of
making an impression are basically counterproductive. If the comics are
I
' !I
11 I
permanently displayed they are usually not well protected from light
and accidental handling damage. If the display is only temporary, there
is potential for added damage in taking the materials back and forth in
and out of their permanent containers. Even for a library, displaying
comics safely is a serious problem.
The most direct way to impress some noncollectors is through
numbers alone. "This is Detective Comics no. 26," the collector might
say. "A copy of Detective Comics no. 27 sold for $35,000 in 1988, accord-
ing to Overstreet." The implication is that since no. 26 is even older, it
must be worth more.' The suitably impressed friend might pass the
word along, thinking to impress still more people with the offbeat
wisdom of this comic book collector. "He's got this comic book worth
over $30,000 just sitting in the room over the garage, two blocks from
here!"
So what happens to preservation? This may sound like the way the
Beagle Boys do business, but plenty of nonprofessional burglars get
their start tearing apart somebody's comic book room trying to decide
which one is worth the big money. Even if the career in crime ends right
there, the damage is likely to be done. For the private collector, privacy
is job one.
A public comics collection, on the other hand, is set up to en-
courage the use and study of its content. The ambience has to be
different. In order to justify the expense of special storage strategies and
large commitments of space and staff time, the librarian needs to be
able to show that the collection is being used, preferably a lot. The
material is just as fragile, and the potentially large dollar values still
beckon, but the librarian, unlike the private collector, typically does not
have the option to completely restrict any part of the collection. "What's
your oldest comic book?" and "What's your most valuable comic book?"
are the main questions that comics librarians get from tourists and jour-
nalists. An honest answer is necessary, of course: "Our most valuable
comic book is our copy of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories no. 1, which
is worth about $1,000. I'll show you the cover, but it has been handled
a lot and unless you have a special reason to look inside I'd rather show
you a different issue that you can look through."
Research library special collections of comics (and other twen-
tieth-century media) are relatively new, and a relatively new level of
tension between publicity and preservation has arrived along with them
and can't be ignored. Comics make great Sunday supplement jour-
nalism. There's enough controversy about "adult" comics, and enough
Storing and Preserving Comics. 45
hype from movie companies pushing the latest comics-related movie,

to keep the subject before the public eye. When journalists discover
that a local library has a collection, that collection gets mentioned often.
Soon there is a steady stream of tourists, ten-r ear-olds, burned-out col-
lege students looking for escape, and of course the occasional visiting
scholar. For most people, the idea that these everyday materials, even
the ones published last week, need to be treated with respect, is a
difficult one. The skateboards have to be put up on the hatrack, and the
rare book room will never be the same. Although recreational users of
other new media (fiction and film) can often be referred to public
libraries, when it comes to comic books there is usually no such
option.
Although the Beagle Boys are not apt to be able to get into the
average research library special collections department, security is still
a part of reservation. Early experiences at the Michigan State Univer-
sity collection included readers trying to stick comic books in their
coats or newspapers, trying to switch comics they'd brought in for the
ones they'd paged, and the actual theft of The Amazing Spider-Man no.
1. By the time Spider-Man had been missed, the local comic book store
had already bought and resold it, all within about one hour. Soon
thereafter some new steps were taken. Coats and other clothing must
be placed on a coat rack. Backpacks and briefcases may not be kept near
the reading table. The reader's other books and papers, except what is
needed for taking notes, are no longer allowed with the reader at the
table. Although it makes collectors in the private tradition cringe, the
comic books are now rubber-stamped with a fairly small but very no-
ticeable ownership stamp. Local dealers are aware of the stamp and
pledge not to buy our comic books; in fifteen years of stamping no fur-
ther thefts have taken place. The stamp appears at the bottom of page
one of each issue, and appears to have removed our holdings from the
collectibles market.
Policies need to be established that will allow the researcher to use
the collection to best advantage. Typically, since comics are a mass
medium, the researcher will need to compare, contrast, or even read
large numbers of comic books. The recreational reader, on the other
hand, will sometimes want to read The Uncanny X-Men from start to
finish uninterrupted, which can easily take three weeks. Both users will
require big investments of staff time in retrieving large numbers of
comic books, supervising their use, and reshelving them. Sooner or
later the librarian will discover that it is more satisfying to help develop
a thesis on the presentation of the Korean War in American comic

books, than to cover the same miles from shelf to reading room in pur-
suit of the original first appearance of the Swamp Thing, which the
reader might then attempt to steal. The current policy at the Michigan
State University Libraries is to restrict recreational users to three comic
books at any one time, and to a maximum of twelve issues per day.
Research users (whether working on high school term papers, disserta-
tions, or articles for publication) have no such restrictions.
Preservation by Careful Handling.
Perhaps the following could go without saying, but certain warn-

ings about handling comic books seem appropriate, and worthy of being
phrased as commandments. It is normal to treat rare books with respect
for the physical item, but it is a rare reader or librarian who will
automatically treat a comic book with the same respect. The average
plain old comic book is probably more fragile than the average Guten-
berg Bible, after all.
The paper in comics is fragile. Do not let the readers fold the spines
of comic books backwards, or roll them up, or wave them around.
"Spine curl" and wrinkling and tearing will result. Comic books should
be opened flat on the table or held open gently if necessary.
Ink pens, including ballpoints and all kinds of felt markers, are
dangerous. Do not let the readers use any kind of ink pen to take notes
while reading the comics. Occasionally someone gets the idea to copy
a drawing from a comic book or strip, and will bring art supplies to the
reading room. Let them sketch in pencil, or let them have a photocopy
to work from. Ink spills and smudges are forever.
Food and drink should be kept out of the room. Do not let the
readers eat, drink, smoke, chew, dribble, or even have dirty hands while
reading the comics. Let the readers put their backpacks or briefcases
on a shelf far enough away from the reading table so that they can't
sneak refreshments from a hidden can or candy bar. Strawberry jam
stains are forever, too.
Some ~erfectlynormal office supplies are very dangerous. Do not
let the readers (or the staff) put little yellow stickies on the covers or
the pages that they want to have photocopied. Sometimes those things
lift images. Paper clips will tear brittle paper and should not be used
with comic books at all.
Comic books are extremely vulnerable during photocopying. The

lights are bright and repeated copying of the same page will cause
yellowing. It is better not to photocopy on one of those machines that
moves the original back and forth. Unless you can jam the cover down
to hold the comic book in place, it's likely to get torn on the return trip.
If you jam the cover down, on any sort of photocopier, the staples in the
spine are likely to tear through some of the pages. Safe photocopying
takes practice, and should be done by the staff and not self-service by
readers.
Do not use regular sticky tape to repair comic book covers or
pages, or to strengthen the paper around the staples. There are archival
supplies that can help with some limited do-it-yourself mending, but
plain old tape is bad news. If an ordinary comic book gets badly torn,
it can sometimes be replaced inexpensively at the local comics store. If
a rare item is torn, it's better to photocopy it and let the readers use the
photocopy than to introduce dime-store glue into a collection that is
supposed to last for many years. The glue is only now starting to let go
of the comic books that were repaired with tape in the 1950s, and even
in the luckiest cases there is more visible damage from the tape than
from the problem it was supposed to have mended. Today's tapes may
be better in the long run, but we don't know that. Collectors in the
1950s didn't have Mylar sleeves to hold the pieces together, but now we
do.
Do not use tape to seal comic books into plastic bags. When comic
books are being taken out of bags that have been taped, remove the tape
completely first. If the tape is left hanging on one side of the bag, it will
usually try to snag the comic book and rip a little piece off. A bit of
research encountered not too long ago proposed a startling thesis, that
wristwatches were invented so that comic book collectors would have
a place to stick the tape while they slide the comic book out of the bag.
That's not a bad idea, but afterwards, throw the tape away!2
Storage Containers.
Since research libraries do not allow library users direct browsing

access to their special collections, storage can be in relatively compact
form. Archive boxes or filing cabinets can be used as long as appropriate
finding aids have been prepared to lead the staff to desired items
efficiently.Large boxes and cabinets are likely to cause ~ r o b l e m sin a
rapidly growing collection, however. The larger the number of items

that needs to be disturbed each time a single item is retrieved, the more
routine wear is introduced to the collection. When additional donations
or purchases are filed into an existing system, efficiency requires that
all the issues of a given title be stored together. This can mean that
boxes are constantly being shifted and relabeled, with the accompany-
ing risk to the contents. Archive boxes are designed for static collec-
tions, or collections to which it is appropriate to add new material by
adding a new box at the end of the row. Comic books need to be clas-
sified, or at least alphabetized, and thus require a more flexible storage
scheme.
At Michigan State University, the comic books are shelved stand-
ing up on normal library shelving, in magazine files called Magafiles. A
Magafile can hold between twenty and thirty comic books. Flaps inside
the box hold the contents firmly upright, for safe intershelving with
other boxes and books of various sizes. As a shelving and retrieval unit,
a Magafile is small enough to handle easily and large enough so that re-
quests for consecutive issues can usually be filled from a single box.
Magafiles have closed tops, so that dust and light are kept away from the
contents. The only drawback to Magafiles is that they are not made of
acid-free material. They are normally used for temporary storage of
periodicals prior to binding or disposal, and in fact most periodicals are
not on particularly acid-rich paper, as are comic books, so it normally
doesn't matter.3
Although there is room in the supplies market for an acid-free
equivalent to the Magafile, the boxes as they are need not be seen as
chemically dangerous. For now the solution to the problem of the acid
content of Magafiles, for comic books, is always to enclose individual or
small numbers of comic books in acid-free envelopes or Mylar sleeves
before putting them in the boxes. Both envelopes and sleeves are easily
available through library and archival supply channels. Besides giving
the comics additional protection against acid, light and dust, this in-
terior packaging gives the individual comic book an important little bit
more support to help it stay upright, thus preventing the warping that
can happen in almost any kind of storage. The main ~racticalvirtue of
individual packaging, though, is that it makes it possible to transport
comic books back and forth from shelf to reading-room table without
damage either to the desired item or to the items shelved around them.
The drawback to this system, if it is a drawback, is that extreme care
is necessary in sliding fragile items in and out of their sleeves. In a way
this can have a good effect overall, because it helps the staff per-
son to focus on the moment of finally peeling off that last layer of protec-
tion in the presence of the reader. Getting comic books in and out of
sleeves and envelopes safely is a skill that takes practice. The staff
member should do it, not the reader, but it doesn't hurt the reader to
see that the materials are being treated with almost exaggerated
care.
The call number system described in Chapter 4 was set up to take
advantage of the uniform-sized units that result when a single size of
Magafile is used. Items classified within the range from PN6728.1 to
PN6728.6, which takes in all of the special "non-Library of Congress"
numbers, are restricted to comic books that measure 28 cm. (magazine
size) or 26 cm. (normal comic book size), with few exceptions. Both
sizes fit into the same envelopes and boxes, so that shelves can be placed
a uniform distance apart throughout the range. By excluding books or
magazines that are larger or smaller, much potential damage during
shifting and other handling is avoided. In the two sections where
smaller comic books are the rule, PN6728.15 (8-pagers) and 6728.55
(mini-comix), the little comic books are placed in larger envelopes to
keep them from getting lost. This system was developed with the idea
in mind that some form of compact shelving might have to be used
eventually.
At the Michigan- State University Libraries, flexible plastic bags of
the kind commonly used by private collectors are used for temporary
storage only. Temporary storage is in open-top, angle-cut magazine
boxes. The title of the comic book is visible through the transparent
plastic bag, making it possible to alphabetize new acquisitions rapidly
into the temporary shelf. This visible temporary storage is an efficient
way to sort comics before they are cataloged and labelled, and still give
them some protection against handling accidents.
Labelling for permanent storage is done by typing the call number
on an acid-free bookmark and hanging the bookmark on the final leaf
of the comic book. If the paper is too fragile to support a bookmark, the
bookmark~labelis dropped into the Mylar sleeve, the sleeve is put inside
an acid-free envelope, and the call number and title are typed on the
envelope. The call number and title are typed directly on all acid-free
envelopes in the MSU collection. Ordinary labels, like those used for
manila folders, were at one time used, But they have begun to peel off
by themselves after only about fifteen years. If we're in it for the long
haul, adhesive labels should be avoided.
For permanent storage, plastic bags do offer basic protection

against dust and accidental damage, but they do not provide the stiff-
ness that is needed for optimal upright shelving. Plastic bags can be
used inside Magafiles if the Magdle is always going to be kept full or
nearly full, but otherwise even inside the Magafile the force of gravity
will begin the permanent bending of the comic book. The Overstreet
guide5 says that most plastic bags used for comic book storage "contain
harmful acids." If this is true, this adds a chemical reason to the already
good physical case against using plastic for permanent storage. There
is also some concern that ordinary polyethelene or other plastic will
allow acid to "migrate" through it from container to comic book, or from
one comic book to another. The situation is not really well understood
to date, because claims by sellers of various products have tended to
conflict. It is certainly true that most plastic bags turn yellow and get
sticky after a few years, and need to be replaced if only for appearance's
sake.
Acid-free (and sometimes just plain cardboard) backing boards are
commonly used by collectors. These are placed inside the plastic bag
with the comic book to provide stiffness. The backing boards with the
plastic bags are fine for display purposes, and they do provide needed
physical protection. When Mylar and or acid-free envelopes are in use,
however, the backing boards are unnecessary.
Acid Content.
The problem of the acid content of typical comic book and
newspaper paper was a concern of private collectors for years before
libraries began to be involved. In a sense librarians can afford to feel less
urgency about acid content, since our profession is presumably working
around the clock to solve the problem in our collections at large. This
wasn't always true, though, and when the comics collectors began to
understand the problem they felt a justifiable panic. There were no
libraries that seeked to feel that comics were worth collecting and
preserving, and even those libraries that did have significant holdings
of bound newspapers containing comics pages, or comic books obtained
through copyright depository, were leaving them on open shelves ex-
posed to constant light, mutilation and pilferage. Libraries were seen
as the enemies of comics preservation by comics collectors of the 1960s
and earlier, and the stigma has by no means been completely removed.
Bill Blackbeard, who is a comics scholar and curator of a pri-

vate library of comics, goes so far as to blame the " m y t h of self-
destructing newsprint on librarians. Librarians have spent the past
century or so storing acid-rich paper in broad daylight or under
constant fluorescent light. Naturally, since light dramatically accel-
erates the yellowing of newsprint, all this old paper turned yellow.
Blackbeard can produce plenty of examples of old newsprint from
his collection that had been stored for decades in the dark and
is still white and strong. Librarians, he is apt to say if you rub
him wrong, are suddenly crying about a problem that's their own
fault.
If and when deacidification becomes available to research libraries
to some practical degree, decisions will have to be made about what to
deacidify. Meanwhile, Bill Blackbeard's implied advice is clear and
relatively inexpensive: Keep the comics out of the light when they're
not being used.
Preservation by Reproduction.
Preservation by reproduction may ultimately be the only solution

that libraries can realistically adopt. Reprints on good paper, in well-
bound volumes, are obviously a very fine solution. It's predictable that
such activity will proceed slowly, though reprinting has accelerated
during the latter half of the 1980s.
Microfilming is another ~ o s s i b i l i which
t~ seems attractive. Some
microfilming projects are being done, or have been done, but the uni-
verse of comic books represents a real big project, and to do it right it
has to be done in color. The AMS Press filmed some daily strips, and
announced a project in 1973 to film all of Marvel Comics, but the pro-
ject apparently was discontinued before it began.5 An article in the
Comics Buyer's Guide recently announced that a company called
Microcolor International is considering a project to produce and sell
color microfiche of "the most celebrated titles of a major publishers."6
Both the AMS and the MicroColor projects, even if they were com-
pleted as planned, would be drops in the bucket compared to the mag-
nitude of the preservation problem faced by libraries. The approach in
both cases was to choose those titles most desired by collectors. The
catch is that libraries need the titles the collectors don't care about, as
well, and there are more of those. The comic books that the collectors
don't want are probably deteriorating even more rapidly than the col-
lectible ones, since they have fewer friends. The marketplace is not yet
working on the side of libraries, at least not directly.
Two major private microfilming projects, one on black and white
16mm film and one on color fiche done by slipping 16mm film into jack-
ets, are currently underway. Both have impressive lists of golden age
(1930s and 1940s) comic books already filmed, but neither project is
commercial. The work is being done to share among collectors, who
have basically given up on libraries.
One important practical strategy that should not be overlooked is
photocopying. Sometimes an old and interesting comic book is so fra-
gile that even reading it once is sure to destroy large parts of it. In this
case a good photocopy should probably be made for library readers, and
the remnants of the original should be sealed in Mylar against the
possibility that someone will benefit from seeing the published frag-
ments. Color photocopies are currently good enough to satisfy almost
anyone, if the comic book in question is scarce enough to justify the ex-
pense. In any event, photocopies or facsimiles (of which dozens have
been professionally or semiprofessionally published) should always be
given to the casual or recreational reader in order to prolong the life of
the fragile originals.
Saving Multiple Copies.
From the beginning of the Comic Art Collection at Michigan State

University, the collection has had a tradition of keeping the best two
copies of each comic book or other item printed on newsprint, or
published nonprofessionally. This began because the first two large ac-
quisitions that began the collection were practically duplicates of each
other, and nobody knew what to do with the extras. Soon it was noticed
that this was a handy thing, in that if a coupon was clipped from one
copy, the other copy was likely to have that particular page intact. If one
copy was missing the center four pages, the other copy might be cover-
less, and so on. For the time being, it was easier to store both copies
than to look through each of the 6,000 comic books to be sure each was
absolutely complete.
Besides helping to ensure the availability of complete copies, this
policy turns out to have preservation implications. For popular series
of comic books, copies can be rotated to reduce the handling of a given
item by 50 percent and thus extend its life. For certain series, and here
The Uncanny X-Men must be mentioned again, three copies are main-
tained to good effect. In the long run, this kind of depth can be used to
provide copies for microfilming or other kinds of preservation by
reproduction.
Preserving Strip Collections.
Collecting newspaper comic strips is, in the private sector at least,

a hobby that is almost completely separate from comic book collecting.
The most common way of collecting newspaper strips, in both personal
and library collections, is to collect books that assemble and reprint the
strips. For a research collection or an advanced collector, however, the
incompleteness and haphazard editing of book collections in general
make it necessary to collect and preserve strips in newsprint form. OC-
casionally syndicate proofs and original art do become available, and
the library lucky enough to own comic art in these forms will need large
flat shelving or map cases.
The usual collection of daily comic strips consists of strips clipped
and arranged chronologically, and kept in bundles in boxes. Private col-
lectors find this satisfactory because they have nobody coming around
to put them out of order by fumbling through them. Although pri-
vate collectors do not currently recommend gluing strips in scrap-
books, collectors have not always been in close enough communi-
cation with one another to pass such recommendations back and
forth. The major comic strip collections at the State Historical So-
ciety of Wisconsin and at the Michigan State University Libraries
are in scrapbooks as assembled by private collectors. Even if scrap-
books are not the best way to go, because of the adhesive being
introduced to their environment, for example, they are extremely
easy to use. So far the strips seem to be holding up well, some
of them for over fifty years. A collection that is donated in well-
organized and durable scrapbooks can hardly be improved upon except
to ask for more.
What should a library do when a collector donates comic strips in
a shoebox? Glueing them into scrapbooks, even with the help of work-
study students, seems too labor-intensive, but bringing them to the
reading room in little bundles is bound to be nerve-wracking both for
user and for staff. The answer seems to be clear, given present
I I
I l l
I I
I 54 Comics Librarianship.
technology: quality photocopies need to be made, preferably a week to

a page in chronological order so that the pages can be collected in a con-
venient notebook. (Before doing this, find out if another library listed
in Chapter 7 of this book might want to pay for a copy. It's an opportun-
ity to cooperate, and five or six copies can be made as easily as one!) The
originals should then be placed in (acid-free) shoeboxes and kept out of
the light against the time when the photocopies are worn out and new
first-generation copies need to be made.
Collecting Sunday comic strips is yet another specialty with yet
another set of storage problems. Typically a whole page or even a whole
Sunday section will be preserved intact, since cutting out an individual
strip is likely to mutilate another strip or strips on the other side of the
leaf. Photocopyi~lgis not yet an attractive solution because the Sundays
are in color. The best strategy seems to be to keep the complete sections
chronologically in boxes (big, flat, acid-free boxes). If the sections are
all from the same newspaper, chances are the user will be able to follow
a given strip by looking in the same position in each successive piece.
The Sunday sections can to some degree be placed inside one another,
for example, a month at a time, to minimize the amount of page turning
necessary to follow a given strip. No academic library is currently col-
lecting Sunday comics in a systematic way.
Library Binding.
One available technique that could be applied to the preservation
of both comic books and strips is binding. Some collectors and comics
professionals have had runs of comic books bound and find them conven-
ient, but most do not bind their collections because the resale value of
rare comic books is drastically diminished by either sewing or glue-
ing. Binding daily comics pages with or separately from Sunday comics
sections is also a possibility. Binding might be a good option for a library,
with enough in its budget, especially if the books or strips are bound
without trimming, in a style that will allow them to lie flat for no-hands
reading and safe photocopying. On the other hand, newsprint is not
strong and the temptation would be to treat these volumes like other
books. They would still have to be kept out of the light to keep the edges
from yellowing, and would have to be handled more carefully than
regular books. Upgrading the collection would be a problem as well.
When magazines or pages are stored separately, a damaged or faded
copy can be replaced by a better one easily when the opportunity

presents itself. This is a basic practice of good collecting that would be
defeated by binding. Although a row of tastefully decorated spines
might make for a more elegant-looking collection than a row of
dull brown Magafiles, for purposes of collection management and
preservation binding is unlikely to be a good strategy. Binding is
not all bad, however. Binding makes shelving and retrieval more
convenient for libraries as well as for collectors. Volumes bound
by collectors are finding their way into libraries, and they are a
welcome addition to the store of research material available to the com-
ics scholar.
Attitudes on Preservation.
It should be said at this point that almost any kind of publicly

available collection, regardless of whether it is optimally preserved,
stored, or organized, is of great value in a field so ~ o t e n t i a lvast
l ~ but
which has had so little library support in the past. Our heritage of comic
art is fragile, but not so fragile that we don't have some time to experi-
ment with how best to preserve it. If each library collects what it can
and stores and preserves it as it seems sensible to do, we'll soon work
out what's best. Binding and mounting into scrapbooks may not be our
preservation techniques of choice, but if somebody does it for us there's
no need to look a gift horse in the mouth. Few questions of preservation
and storage have final answers so far.
Serious private collectors are apt to see normal library procedures
as insensitive to preservation needs, whereas in most cases library pro-
cedures have been arrived at through years of practice and experience
and are better than the critics understand. A call-number label may
deface a small portion of a cover or spine, for example, but the main
negative effect is in the reduction of the collectibility of the piece. At-
tached labels of any kind are not recommended, of course, but the point
is that collectibility is not a library criterion at all. A messy workroom
may have comic books sitting around in piles waiting to be processed.
The room should be straightened up, but a library works from chaos
towards order in a professional manner that may not be apparent to
someone who has not worked in libraries.
If it becomes necessary to explain or even defend a proced ure (to
a potential donor, for example) the best tack is to make it clear from the
beginning that whatever the apparent problem, the intent is to preserve

the material in the best possible way. Until the nonlibrarian is con-
vinced that we're acting in good faith, he or she won't want to believe
that we're working at or near the state of the art for research libraries.
And the state of the art for research libraries is the same as it probably
was in the Middle Ages: keep your stuff out of bright light, out of damp
basements, and handle it carefully. All the promises of better preserva-
tion through space-age chemistry don't change that advice. It'll be a
long time before either color reproduction or mass deacidification gets
around to the less collectible comic books, and even then, who knows
if the first few attempts at high-tech preservation will even work?
Notes to Chapter 3.
1. Overstreet, Robert M. Oficial Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide,
no. 19. New York: House of Collectibles, 1989. p. 120. The
twenty-seventh issue of Detective Comics featured the first
ever appearance of Batman, and has truly exceptional collec-
tors' value. Detective Comics no. 26 is nothing special content-
wise, and is likely to be worth less than $500, but the person
being impressed need not know that!
2. The idea of using a wristwatch to hold the bag tape while reading a
comic book is a good idea. The idea that wristwatches were
invented for that purpose is a wonderful idea, and would be
credited here if the source could be found. It probably comes
from an issue of the Comics Buyer's Guide, which through no
fault of its own is unindexed. An index to CBG is badly needed.
3. Magafiles are produced by the Magafile Company of Box 66, Van-
dalia, Missouri 63382, and available through normal library
channels. Size " 8 - D holds about two dozen comic books in
individual 9 by 12 inch acid-free envelopes or individual
"super golden age" size Mylar ("Mylar" is a registered trade-
mark of the DuPont Company) sleeves. "Archival quality
Mylar envelopes," size 8 % by 10% inches, and "acid free
perma/dur archival quality envelopes," size 9 by 12 inches, can
both be ordered from University Products, Inc., P.O. Box 101,
Hol~oke,Massachusetts 01041, and also through other sup-
pliers.
4. "Storage of Comic Books" in Overstreet, Robert M. Official Over-
street Comic Book Price Guide, no. 19. New York: House of
Collectibles, 1989. p. A-16. Based on the best available infor-
mation, Overstreet updates his recommendations about stor-
ing, preserving and restoring comic books in each annual edi-
tion of this title. Sources of supplies and companies that do
restoration work are also listed.
5 . "Now You're Taking Us Seriously." New York: AMS Press, 1973. A
poster printed to announce and advertise a project to micro-
film comic books and comic strips, with an essay by Stan Lee.
6. Thompson, Maggie. "Old Comics for $5 Each? Go Fiche!" Comics
Buyer's Guide no. 821 (August ll,1989), p. 60,20. It is a sign of
the times, and a good one, that a firm is seriously considering
quality color microfiche of old comic books. Whether some
even more permanent format of the kind now under develop-
ment might be better, such as some kind of digital storage, is a
question we need not wait to answer. No project is going to
be "complete" in our lifetimes, and we should support what
preservation efforts there are. Libraries are the obvious poten-
tial customers for this kind of product, but the people ex-
pected to show interest are apparently the collectors and fans.
This was a front page article in the Comics Buyer's Guide,
which is not a publication primarily directed toward libraries,
and indeed libraries are not mentioned. Whether news of this
project has appeared or will soon appear in a library publi-
cation is doubtful.
Chapter 4.
Cataloging Comics.
The idea of deliberately assembling comic books and other comics

material for a permanent collection in a library dates back to about
1970. At the beginning of 1990, there are over 40 libraries with perma-
nent comics collections. Research libraries have devoted large amounts
of expensive storage space to comic books with the expectation that
these collections will prove to be resources for cultural investigation.
Now that these collections are becoming well established, research
librarians are beginning to consider the possibilities for cataloging
comic books.
It is discouraging to note that for the past 50 years, when American
comic book companies have been building up a phenomenal publishing
record (at least 5,000 titles), most American research libraries have
done almost nothing to record the medium bibliographically. Catalog-
ing of comics will have to be done before large collections can be used
efficiently, because the universe of comics is large and potentially be-
wildering. Serious research can scarcely be expected to flourish until it
is possible to gauge the completeness and extent of a given collection
in some detail. To date, the Michigan State University (MSU) Libraries'
collection of over 60,000 comic art items is the only major collection
being systematically cataloged. Insights, practices, and examples de-
rived from experience with the MSU collection follow.
Books of Comic Strips.

Bibliographically speaking, comics are a little more complicated
*
than most entertainment media. The naturally occurring "unit" of
59
I/ 60 Comics Librarianship.
publication is the comic strip, which is not published by itself but ap-
pears inside some other bibliographic entity: a newspaper, book, or
I
1 , magazine. Of these three common formats, only the book form has a
, long history of cataloging by libraries.
I
I
I Comic strips published in books are usually reprint collections
1 1
from newspaper or magazine comics. A typical book collection will
1 i display a strip title either as the title of the book or as a series title. Occa-
sionally the strip title is less prominent, but it should still be traced by
the cataloger when known. The Library of Congress (LC) is the leading
supplier of cataloging and cataloging rules to research libraries, and has
given instructions to this effect, in an interpretation of rule 21.30Jof the
Anglo-American Cataloging Rules1:
When cataloging an item that is about or consists of selections from a

comic strip, single panel cartoon, etc., make an added entry for the title
of the comic strip, etc., if this title does not also begin the title proper for
the item being cataloged. If necessary, justify the added entry by a note.
Trudeau, G.B., 1948-
[Doonesbury. Selections]
Stalking the perfect tan. . .
I. Title. 11. Title: Doonesbury.
l l 1 1 11 1
I I 11 I
It's kind of amazing that such a specific instruction had to be
liIl I printed in order to get the most basic unit of all comics, and the most
important identifier of any comic strip, its title, into the catalog. It
;
I I I
I
should be noted that the strip title, even when it is not presented by the
book publisher as a series title, often functions similarly to a series title.
I
The strip title can usually be recorded and searched as a series title
much more elegantly than through the rather unfriendly uniform title
I
construction. Unfortunately, the series title for fictional works in series
is not universally made searchable either, and although that is another
discussion, it is a related blind spot of traditional library cataloging.
Some of the problems with comics cataloging are special cases of library
attitudes towards all fiction cataloging, and the strip titlelseries title
I mechanism, though well-established in publishing and marketing of
1 1 popular comics and fiction, is a good example.
1
1
I
The instruction to trace the strip title somehow is vitally important
I i l l 1
for all book collections of newspaper strips, and equally important for
1 the relatively new "graphic novel" format. Even though the material
I I may be original and not reprinted from a newspaper strip or comic
book, it will often have a strip title as well as book and or episode titles.
Cataloging Comics. 61
In a relatively new development, books that reprint comic book

stories are now being published in some quantity in the United
States. Some of these approximate the "graphic album" format. The
"graphic album" is the same as the "graphic novel" format except
that, based on the French tradition, the word "album" implies re-
print material. Strip titles are usually involved in the case of album-
type reprint books. Some of the reprint books are more strictly col-
lections or "treasuries" of comic book stories. If the stories all have
the same strip identification, the strip title needs to be searchable as
well.
The Library of Congress, and a few other research libraries, have
contracted the habit of attaching the qualifier "Comic strip" to strip
headings for some books of reprints. Using this for the works of Charles
Schulz-"Peanuts (Comic strip)"-makes sense, because there is an
herb whose seeds are roasted to feed elephants which is spelled the
same way. Why they should be using the forms "Doonesbury (Comic
strip)" or "Goofy (Comic strip)" is hard to fathom. There are no
vegetables named Doonesbury or Goofy with which to confuse the
terms. Actually there never was a "Goofy" comic strip that I know of,
and this heading should be changed to "Goofy (Fictitious character),"
if the number of Goofies in the catalog has indeed grown so large that
distinctions need to be made.
The qualifier "Cartoon character" was formerly used by the Li-
brary of Congress, but for newly cataloged characters the qualifier
has been changed to "Fictitious character." The Library of Congress
has been convinced that any character famous enough to have a
book printed about him or herself, is probably a multimedia char-
acter already, and shouldn't be given the more limiting designation.3
It makes no sense to add either "(Comic strip)" or "Fictitious char-
acter)" routinely to a distinctive name or title, however. When such
qualifiers are added without a particular reason, the implication seems
to be that the cataloger who set up the entry for the title was un-
familiar with comics, or expected the catalog user to be unfamiliar
with comics. Perhaps the idea is to protect the basic formality of
the catalog by not admitting comics titles on the same footing as titles
of "real" books, but that's probably an unworthy suspicion. If the boss
requires it, or if there's a vegetable or something with the same name
that could cause confusion, go ahead. Like a lot of cataloging rules,
these things are just a matter of attitudes, and don't do any real
The Comic Book Format.

About a half-dozen research libraries have begun to catalog comic
books on the OCLC network as of the end of the 1980s, and it turns out
they're not so difficult after all. Still, they have some peculiarities that
need to be mentioned. Comic books can be thought of as "magazines
devoted to the publication of comic strips," which emphasizes that strip
titles are involved here as well as with reprint books. The overwhelming
majority of comic books are serials which are published in monthly,
bimonthly, or quarterl y cycles. Ordinary serials cataloging methods
have theoretically always been available for libraries to use in cataloging
comic books, but no library in the United States had cataloged more
than a handful of titles before 1980. When the present writer, not yet
fully fledged as a cataloger himself, raised the prospect of cataloging
comic books with some serials catalogers in 1974, he was surprised at
the level of surprise he provoked. "Can they really be cataloged?" asked
the catalogers. "Do they even have numbers?" It was as though they
were being asked to catalog Barbie dolls, or feathers from birds, or corks
from wine bottles. That comic books were even produced as part of the
normal publishing industry seems not to have been common knowledge
in research libraries in the middle 1970s.
Comic books do, however, have titles and numbers and except for
the massive volume of uncataloged material that they represent, they
are no particular problem to catalog. Luckily, libraries do not have to
start completely from scratch. Most collections of twentieth-century
media products are "by the numbers," and collectors have done a good
job with comic books. The price guides compiled by collectors provide
publishing information that is vital for cataloging accuracy and com-
pleteness. For United States comic books, the Overstreet, Kennedy,
and Lowery guides are indispensible, and guides for Canadian, British,
German and Norwegian collectors (and catalogers) also exist.2
Comic books are often published with whole numbers and months
on the cover, and a more complicated system of whole numbers plus
volume numbers, months and years listed in the masthead or "indicia."
Many long-running comic books have been "volume 1" for hundreds of
issues, and others change volume numbering while keeping the whole
numbers going, instead of beginning each volume with issue one. A few
comic books, often those on the ~ e r i p h eof r ~the industry, have treated
volumes "normally," beginning each with a first issue and ending after
a predictable number of issues. Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, a
Catholic Guild educational comic book, is an example of this renegade

practice of publishing one volume per year.
The serials cataloger, knowing that the industry standard has
been to use whole numbers consistently and treat volume numbers
capriciously, will want to use the note "Has also volume number-
ing" regularly. Before 1980, this could have been a blanket instruc-
tion to comics catalogers, but the development of the direct dis-
tribution system has made the situation more complicated. It has
been discovered that, in the collectors' market, first issues sell better
than second or subsequent issues. The opposite was true on the
newsstand, with dealers sometimes returning unfamiliar titles without
displaying them, because display space was limited. In the past, this
quirk of the newsstand led to a general scarcity of first issues, and
translated to a general premium on "number ones" among collec-
tors. To cash in on this in the direct market, which has a very
high percentage of collectors as its customers, publishers have been
looking for ways to produce more first issues. One of the ways that
publishers have been using to create first issues is to suddenly decide,
when the story takes some novel turn, to begin "volume two" in the
small print, and start the cover numbering over. For "living" serials,
therefore, it has become unpredictable whether a volume will last
forever or for just a few issues. Another relatively new development
(1980s) is the "limited series," which should be the job of a monographs
cataloger to catalog. They are easy to identify, as they will normally bear
numbering like "no. 1of a special limited collectors' series of 6!!"or "no.
6 in a 12-issue maxi-series!!!" on the cover. Sometimes these will also
have volume numbering, raising the spectre of series within series. It's
perfectly true, these things happen. As a further complication, though
it's not a new development, catalogers should be aware of the practice
of reviving long-dead titles. It doesn't happen every day, but it happens
often enough that it's not worth "ceasing" a comic book title in the
catalog unless it has been defunct for at least a decade at the time of
cataloging.
The most interesting feature of descriptive cataloging of comic
books is choosing the main entry. Since with AACR2 they are nearly all
entered under title, this might not seem to be worth mentioning, but
it seems that the comic book industry has developed its own traditions
that do not mesh particularly well with library rules. The convention in
the comics industry is to keep the indicia or masthead title constant and
to allow the editor some flexibility with the cover title. Once this is
known, the cataloger will have little difficulty identifying even very
complex-looking titles. This publishers' practice is explained at the
beginning of the alphabetical listing in each year's Oficial Overstreet
Comic Book Price Guide. Unfortunately for comic book catalogers in
libraries, the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. (AACRS),
specified that the cover title should be preferred as a source of informa-
tion over the masthead title.4 A more recent interpretation (quoted
below) has eased the situation, but common sense and flexibility are still
required to keep the cataloger from creating silly and unnecessary title
changes where none may have actually occurred. The bottom line rule
has to be this: Always at least trace the indicia title (the part conven-
tionally printed in all capital letters) because that's how standard
bibliographies outside the library are going to cite the title.
The following exchange of letters reprinted from the MSU comics
newsletter gives an example, quotes the new interpretation, and il-
lustrates the depth of the problem.
From Catherine Yronwode, Editor-in-Chief
Eclipse Comics
December 7,1987
An official note on catalog procedure- the title of a comic is what's in
the indicia, not a conflation of cover blurbs and title logo. Thus Scout is
"Scout," not "Timothy Truman's Scout." Please read the indicia. If the slug
above the logo were part of the title, you could validly establish several
other entries for new titles in the run of this series:
Extra-Length Special Issue! Scout (#6)
The Adventure Continues Scout (#7)
Premiering This Issue Monday: The Eliminator Scout (#11)
Monday: The Eliminator and Scout (#17)
Special 3-D Issue! Scout (#16)
Special Flexidisc Inside! Full Soundtrack by Tim Truman Scout (#19)
Most fans would be able to tell the difference between the blurb and the
logo, and you should be able to do likewise.
I From Randall Scott, Catalog Librarian

/ I MSU Libraries
December ll, 1987
We don't really have a disagreement, but as a cataloger I serve two
masters. On the one hand are the editors-in-chief like yourself, who have
evolved a consistent system of titling their comic books, and on the other
hand there are the Anglo-American cataloging rules, 2nd ed. (1978), and
their interpretations. The rule for serials says that the title should be taken
from the title page, cover, caption, masthead, editorial pages, colophon,
or other pages, in that order of preference. What we in comics call "in-
dicia" come closest to being a "masthead in this list. Since comics almost
never have title pages, until recently the cover was the only legal choice
and exceptions had to be carefully justified. A 1986 rule interpretation
now states:
In anv instance in which the item has two or more different titles and
the title that appears in a less preferred sources is known, because of a
trademark or other symbol that appears with it, to be the stable title that
does not vary from issue to issue, use the source with the stable title as
the title page substitute. Apply this exception also in any instance in
which two or more issues are at hand and the title appearing in a less
preferred source remains stable from issue to issue (e.g., if the masthead
title remains stable but the cover title changes from issue to issue, use
the masthead title as the title page substitute) [LCRI Cumulated
12.OBl:CSB34].
So, you are correct. The title Timothy Truman's Scout should be cataloged
as just Scout, and the rules now allow for that. Unfortunately, I did it in
1985.
There is another aspect of the question, however. You saw the title in
a partial listing and not in our full catalog. There is an entry for just Scout
in our complete list and in our computer database. If I were doing this title
over again, I would put it under Scout, but then I would give an added en-
try or Timothy ~ r u k a n ' sScout, because almost every issue has that phrase
prominently on its cover. Whether you call it a slug, a blurb, or whatever,
if it appears consistently in title position, especially grammatically tied to
the title, I have to transcribe it as a title. It needn't be the main title, but
it is reasonable for a searcher to look under it. The difference between
"Timothv Truman's Scout" and "Walt Disnev's Comics and Stories" is not
obvious to everybody. It isn't my business to penalize anybody because
they don't know the comics publishers' system.
From Catherine Yronwode, Editor-in-Chief

Eclipse Comics
December 1987
Thanks for the prompt response to my letter. Whatever heat you
perceived in my first letter arose through my dislike of dumb jokes made
possible by the incorrect title ("Timothy Truman's Scout? I wonder what
Timothy Truman's Comic Book looks like!").
The problem with cataloguing comic book titles by their cover copy in
preference to masthead copy seems to have arisen because the LC or
whoever writes the rules does not realize that both over-the-logo and
under-the-logo copy are advertising material. Any comic book editor will
tell you that. Sometimes these slugs actually look like ad matter, but even
when they don't, they still are. Rather than ask for an exception to be made
in cataloguing comics, to determine the title from the indicia instead of

the cover copy, one might try to determine the root of the problem. Why
are these errors being made? I believe the answer is that cataloguers
become confused as to what on a comic book cover is a logo and what is
ad copy because the appeals made by the ad copy ("buy Tim Truman") are
obscure to the non-comics-reading public, unlike similar ad copy on a
mass-market periodical ("buy salads").
To further confuse things, there is that rule about looking for a "to de-
termine which word or phrase is the logo. This flatly will not work on a
comic book when the ad matter concerns another character or series
title-you'll just have two TM notices affixed, one for the logo and one for
the ad slug, especially in material of recent vintage, since protection has
become big business in the comics field.
In short, unless one is a comic book expert who has memorized a great
deal of unwritten comics history prior to cataloguing, one should at least
try to check the cover copy against the indicia, because otherwise
mistakes will be introduced into the system.
Please pass these comments along to the Library of Congress, or
whomever is making the rules around here. As the daughter of a retired
librarian, I have more interest than most comic book editors in how my
products are catalogued. I realize that asking for an exception to be made
in the case of comics (to check the indicia rather than the cover-copy) is
probably futile; however, it seems that it would not be taken amiss if one
were to disseminate a warning to the effect that confusing over-the-logo
and under-the-logo ad copy with title logos is more common with comics
than with other magazines.
From Randall Scott, Catalog Librarian

MSU Libraries
Early 1988
Before I became a cataloger I was a clerk in a comic-book store. In that
capacity I assisted dozens of collectors in learning how to tell what the ti-
tle of a comic book is. Based on that experience, I have to say that the in-
dustry's efforts to be consistent are laudable but that a lot of people don't
get it. Those same people use our library. As a cataloger, I examine dozens
of titles every month. Especially with all the new publishers lately, there
are lots of wrong indicia, or comics without indicia. Even with all the rules
and all the industry conventions, it often comes down to me guessing what
the thing will be known by. There's plenty of opportunity for decision-
making. The most important rule, in terms of access, is to make an entry
for every reasonably "title-like" phrase. In the computer databases we are
beginning to use, I doubt if the concept of a "main entry" is going to last
long anyhow. When you're searching, if YOU can get a hit with the first title
you try, that's good enough. The whole business of preferred sources of
title information is a holdover from single-entry lists and card catalogs.'
Cataloging Comics.
Files of Newspaper Strips

and Comics-Related News Clippings.
Newspaper comic strips have never been accorded entries when

cataloging newspapers, and are not normally accessible through news-
paper indexes either. It is convenient, however, to collect clipped
comic strips in files (or shoe boxes) and to catalog those files. Similar
files can be made of newspaper and magazine articles about a given
comic strip or comics-related topic. When such a file reaches the point
that it constitutes a likely information source for researchers, the library
has assembled something important and worth cataloging. This is par-
ticularly important to be able to do in a new field like comics, because
there are so many topics on which no books or even journal articles have
been written.
The OCLC MARC format allows libraries to create records with
the designation "bib lvl c," which can be translated to mean "a locally
assembled collection, not a published work." Here are some samples
from the MSU ~ a t a l o g . ~
SpecColl
Sports comics : clipping file. -- [19--1-
PCVF 1 portfolio ; 25 x 38 cm.
COMICS Collected at Michigan State University in the
Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection's Popular
Culture Vertical File (PCVF).
1. Sports comics--History and criticism. I.

Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection
SpecColl
Women characters in comics : clipping file. --
PCVF [19--I-
COMICS 1 portfolio ; 25 x 38 cm.
Collected at Michigan State University in the
1. Women in popular culture. 2. Superheroine

comics--History and criticism. 3. Women in art.
4. Women in literature. I. Russel B. Nye Popular
Culture Collection.
SpecColl
Mosley, Zack.
PCVF Zack Mosley : clipping file. -- [19--1-
COMICS 1 portfolio ; 25 x 38 cm.
Collected at Michigan State University in the
Includes material on Smilin' Jack.
1. Mosley, Zack. 2. Aeronautics--Comic books,

strips, etc.--History and criticism. I. Russel
B. Nye Popular Culture Collection. 11. Smilin'
Jack. 111.Title.
SpecColl
Underground comics : clipping file. -- [196-1-
PCVF 1 portfolio ; 25 x 38 cm.
COMICS Collected at Michigan State University in the
1. Underground comics--History and criticism.

I. Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection.
Librar y of Congress Subject Cataloging.

The Library of Congress' classification schedules are the standard
for most researh libraries, and are generally thought of as practical tools
for shelving rather than as an intellectual system. Likewise the LC sub-
ject headings are the basis for most of our subject catalogs, and they are
demonstrably "practical," if by that is meant, inconsistent and difficult
to figure out. Before launching discussions on the classifying and sub-
ject cataloging of comics material, it's time to go on record with a rather
ambivalent "defense" of the LC system and way of doing things.
The idea that knowledge or information can be divided up logically
in some "correct" way that will satisfy all thinking people has a certain
nineteenth-century charm. Bookstore managers will testify, however,
that no matter how much thought you put into a system of grouping
books, somebody is going to complain that it makes no sense. Not only
that, but typically each complainer will have a different complaint, and
they'll cancel each other out.
Complaining about LC's classification and subject headings is a
popular occupation among librarians, and as information professionals

our complaints usually have good substance. That LC continues to hear
our complaints, and sometimes to act on them, is a tribute to its essen-
tial strength and stability as an institution, and proof enough of its con-
tention that no evil theory or ideology lies behind the many insulting
and discriminatory categories it has perpetuated.
Change
- in the LC subject system, both call numbers and subject
headings, is more likely to occur in response to practical considerations
than to theoretical considerations. Since the responses can be very
slow, they are by definition conservative, and can logically be taken for
ideological enmity toward progress of every kind. However, because
this "practical" bent ultimately wins out most of the time, and because
of basically good management, the LC system has been able to grow
with the twentieth century, and find room for some of its novelties. If
LC really was stuck in a nineteenth-century paradigm (decimals, for ex-
ample) things could be much worse.
The History of LC Classijication of Comics Material.

At some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s, LC inaugurated a
special range of classification numbers for comics. It took approxi-
mately 70 years to get around to, but we have it now and let's not com-
plain! The new range "PN6700-PN6790" is part of "General literature,"
and provides for shelving most comics and related material, but for
many years comics were a "lost" art. Early LC cataloging of books of
reprint comics are found shelved with the individual cartoonists of a
given nationality, arranged by the cartoonist's last name. Plenty of
"Pogo" books, for example, can be found at "NC1429.K..," which is the
section for individual American graphic artists producing "pictorial
humor and satire." We might never know whether the art librarians ob-
jected to comics in their "fine arts" classification, or some literature
librarian attuned\to comics noticed that they seemed out of place
among the endless cartoon books. The change was for the better.
The question of PN (literature) or N C (caricature) has not been
settled in research libraries, however. The nature of the distribution
heme for cataloging is that older call numbers are still being
stributed for older books, and a comics library is just as likely to get
book classified in "NC" as one in "PN"when it comes through a normal
ataloging department. This gives rise to some real discouragement. If
Walt Kelly's books are scattered, not only theoretically because of

historical development in the schedules, but in practical terms are to
be found on shelves all over the room or building, what good is having
them cataloged? Why not just put them all in a box, and put a sign over
it. On one side of the sign, write "Kelly, Walt," and on the other side,
write "Pogo." This kind of situation is an everyday frustration for
research libraries. Although it's possible and desirable, most catalog
departments will not be willing to go through wholesale and change the
old NC "art" numbers for the new PN "literature" numbers. This kind
of thing happens in every field, not just comics, and is just part of doing
business. It's probably reasonable to expect that some of the worst old
numbers can be changed, however, if arguments are made in terms of
the amount of time wasted and number of extra steps required by hav-
ing two systems in operation at once.
As a sidelight that has probably puzzled more than one librarian
and researcher, the peripatetic art of comics did not move directly from
art to literature in the LC scheme of things. There was a brief but
noticeable stop in journalism along about 1965, just long enough for
Jules Feiffer's book The Great Comic Book Heroes (New York: Dial,
1965) to get itself shelved at "PN4784.C68." This is a number, since
disallowed, that placed comics among special topics in practical jour-
nalism. Proof that in once existed can be found on research library
shelves, and in Nancy B. Olson's 1974 i n d e ~ e s . ~
Another byway from the Olson indexes is a hint that Buck Rogers
can be found at "NC1426.3.B8." This seems to have been used briefly
for comic strips that the classifier could not prove to be the work of a
single cartoonist. Problems with trying to list every comics item under
the name of a cartoonist are probably the reason that a separate section
for comics was eventually established. If there is a single "correct" way
to list comic strips, it has to be by title. Cartoonists change, writers
come and go, but the strip title identifies a continuity from beginning
to end. This is not the kind of thing the art schedules were set up for,
and especially not to classify the works by writer's name. The new sec-
tion for comics introduces the concept of "authorship" of a comic book
or strip, and does not mention art or cartooning at all.
The apparent lapse of recognition that comics do contain some
aspects that might be considered art, as opposed to literature, was soon
corrected. The numbers "NC1764" and "NC1764.5" were created for
"works on how to draw comics," and can be found in the Gale ~ e s e a r c h
Company's cumulated additions and changes for the fine arts schedule,
published in 1987.8 Although this development did give catalogers a

place to put "how to draw" books, it splintered the medium again. There
will probably be future developments in the art versus literature dialec-
tic that seems to be unfolding. Whether future changes make sense or
not, there is enough history permanently embedded in the system that,
like the correct spelling of the English language, it will never really
I make sense.
Current LC Class$cation of Comics Material.
An outline of the Library of Congress classification schedule for

comics appears below.g
1 Comic Books, Strips, Etc.

PN 6700 Periodicals, societies, etc.
6702 Congresses
! 6705
6707
Exhibitions, museums, etc.
Encyclopedias. Dictionaries
6710 General works including history
6712 Moral and religious aspects
6714 Other special topics
i 6720 General collections
By region or country:
I 6725-6728 United States
6731-6734 Canada
6735-6738 Great Britain
6745-6748 France
I 6755-6758 Germany
6765-6768 Italy
6775-6778 Spain
6790 Other regions or countries, A-Z
1
This system divides the four numbers for each country as follows:
(1) History
(2) Collections
(3) Individual authors or works, A-Z
(4) ~ndividualcomic strips by title, A-Z
The application of this system presents some difficulties. What do

you do with a book that collects and criticizes the "Donald D u c k stories
by Carl Barks? It could be argued into any of the four categories. Most
books that reprint comics appear to fit into any of the three latter
categories, because they are collecting material from various places of
original publication and because they focus on a single writer, a single
artist, and a single strip.
What do you do with the comic book Walt Disney's Comics and
Stories (WDC&S) which has published dozens of different strips (by
dozens of different writers and artists) that cover more than 40 years?
WDCGS is a perfectly typical comic book, but it appears to be left out
of the Library of Congress scheme. The second category, "collections,"
is typically used for reprint books and reprint serials that collect more
than one strip title, whether from comic books or newspaper strips.
Some comic books could fit there, but most comic books are not collec-
tions in this sense. The third category, "individual authors or works," is
usually used for books about single writers or artists and for collections
of their works that go beyond reprinting a single strip title. A comic
book is rarely the work of an individual, although there are some cases
in which a monographic comic book might be classified as an individual
author's work.
The fourth category, "individual comic strips, by title," catches
most of the reprint collections of newspaper comic strips, since they are
typically edited by collecting a single strip. This fourth category is prob-
ably the most nearly logical place to put comic books, although they
would have to be entered by comic book title and not by strip title. This
works well for small collections and can be used especially for countries
that do not publish very many comic books. It would be best to add a
I
fifth category specifically for comic books, and indeed the way the
schedule is constructed it would be possible for the Library of Congress
to add one someday. A solution to the problem has been adopted by the
Michigan State University Libraries and has been working well for over
I a decade, as enumerated below.
I The four-number ranges do work passably well for Great Britain,
I
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The Canadian numbers are a new
I
addition, and although it would have been logical to separate the French
and English industries in Canada, this is certainly better than trying to
wedge all Canadian comic books into "PN6790.C3.."as before. It would
make even more sense to set up four-number ranges for Japan and Mex-
ico, since their comic book industries are so large and productive.
Cataloging Comics.
LC Classijication Numbers
Outside the Basic Comics Schedule.
HQ784.C6 is the Library of Congress call number for books about
comic books and children. This places such books among other special
aspects of child life and child development, in the general area of "the
family," within s o c i ~ l o g y . ~ ~
HV9076.5 is the Library of Congress call number for books about
special topics in juvenile delinquency. This is not restricted to comic
books, but comic books are the only example given. This places such
books among other books on penology, criminal justice administration,
in the general area of social pathology within sociology.10
N8217.C475 is the Library of Congress call number for books
about comics as a special subject of art. This places such books between
clocks and cookery in the general area of the visual arts."
NC1764 is the Library of Congress call number for works on how
to draw comics. The next number, NC1764.5, is for works on how to
draw comics arranged by region or country, A-Z. Under each region or
country, works are grouped with general works first, and then works by
individual artists listed alphabetically by artist. This places comics art
(drawing only) next to the art (drawing only) of movie cartoons, within
the area of pictorial humor and satire. The general category NC is draw-
ing, design, and illustration, and both animation and comics cartooning
are by implication thought of as illustrating stories rather than as being
storytelling technique^.^
NK7500.C65 is the Library of Congress number for books about
comic strip character clocks and watches. This places such books with
other books about clocks and watches, in with jewelry in the general
area of applied arts.12
Z5956.C6 is the Library of Congress number for bibliographies of
comics. This places bibliographies on comics in with special topics in
visual fine arts or arts in general.13
The LC Comics Schedule: Examples and Suggestions.

The MSU call number system differs from the LC schedule mainly
in its treatment of United States comic books. Grouping is by decade
in which a serial begins, with subgrouping by publisher. With this
System, the &elflist becomes a tool for chronological studies as well as
a publisher index to the collection. Items in the classifications PN

6728.1 through PN6728.6 are restricted for the most part by size to the
normal comic book dimensions of 26 or 28 cm., and thus shelving of this
massive collection can be done with uniform shelf spacing. Odd-sized
comics, such as tabloids, digests, and Big Little Books, are grouped in
the LC class number PN6728 by inserting a publisher cutter. Following
is an annotation of the LC schedule from the viewpoint of MSU practice.
PN 6700 Periodicals, societies, etc. Class here only the most
general of periodicals about comics. Since each coun-
try has its own number for history, periodicals about
the comics of an individual country should get the indi-
vidual numbers. PN6700 is almost never used.
PN 6702 Congresses. Class here convention programs, arranged
by the name of the convention, which is often also the
name of the city in which it takes place. Examples in
use:
.C47 Chicago Comic-Con
.C56 Comicon (London, England)
.D44 Detroit Triple Fan Fair
.S3 San Diego Comic-Con
I
PN 6705.AlA-Z Exhibitions, museums, etc. General works.
.A2-Z Exhibitions, museums, etc. By region or country
A-Z. Individual institutions are classed by country
without further subdivision. Examples in use:
.A8 J6 John Ryan Collection (National Library of
Australia)
.B4 C6 Comic Strip Art from Belgium (Centre Belge
de la Bande Dessinke)
.C3 S75 The Structure of Comics (Winnipeg Art Gal-
lery)
.G7 M3 22 Comic Artists (Manchester Polytechnic Li-
brary)
.U5 A5 The American Comic Book (Ohio State Univer-
sity Libraries)
PN 6707 Encyclopedias. Dictionaries. This is an excellent new

addition to the schedule, and is being well-used:
.B76 Bronson, P. Guide de la ~ a n d Dessinbe
e
Cataloging Comics.
.G5 Gifford, D. Encyclopedia of Comics Characters

.R6 Rovin, J . Encyclopedia of Superheroes
PN 6710 General works, including history. This would be an im-
portant number if there were more works that were
international in scope. A few have appeared, but so far
this number is underutilized:
.C65 Comics and Visual Culture: Research Studies
from Ten Countries
.G5 Gifford, D. The International Book of Comics
.H5 Historia de 10s Comics
PN 6712 Moral and religious aspects. This classification supposes
a literature will develop around these issues. It has not
yet happened, and this number is scarcely used at
MSU. Similar numbers exist for radio and television,
but not for movies. Examples:
.C6 Comics und Religion: eine interdisziplinare Dis-
kussion
.F3 Facts about the Comics Code
PN 6714 Other special topics (not A-Z). This number has been
used to good advantage for books that are international
in scope and focus on a single aspect of comics. It is also
sometimes used for works that treat topics limited to
one country, but not provided for in the schedules for
individual countries. Examples:
.B4 Benton, M. Comic Book Collecting for Fun and
Profit
.C635 Comics Career Newsletter
.H677 Horn, M. Sex in the Comics
.H68 Howard, D.W. Investing in Comics
PN 6720 General collections. This classification supposes that
there will be collections of comic books or strips that
are international in scope. This has not happened, and
this number is not used, at least at Michigan State
University Libraries.
PN 6725 History of the comics of the United States. At MSU, this
number is used for bath history and criticism, and for
both monographs and periodicals. This is the normal
classification number for comics fanzines that are not

amateur comic books themselves, whether or not the
content of the fanzine is, strictly speaking, history or
criticism. Monographs of history and criticism, plus in-
dexes and other works about specific titles, are in-
cluded here and grouped under the author of the criti-
cism, history, or index, rather than grouped with the
title in PN6728. This keeps the 6728 number "all
comics," and helps the library be able to gauge the ex-
tent of the works about comics in comparison to works
of comics. Examples:
.A47 Amazing Heroes
.C17 D3 Cannon, M. Dark Knight: An Analysis
.C4753 Classics Journal
.S55 Small Press Comics Explosion
.V33 S5 Van Hise, J. Silver Surfer: An Analysis oflssues
#1-9
.W34 T4 Ward, M . Oficial Teen Titans lndex
PN 6726 Collections of the comics of the United States. Here are
entered anthologies and periodicals that are retrospec-
tive collections, and that are not based on a single
comic strip or on the work of a single person. Current
comic books that might be thought of as anthologies
(because they feature the works of various persons,
doing various comic strips) are classed in PN6728
rather than here. Examples:
.B4 Best of the Tribune Co.
.C6 Comics Revue
.M5 Mighty Marvel Team-Up Thrillers
.M58 Menomonee Falls Gazette
.T4 Teen-aged Dope Slaves and Reform School Girls
,PN 6727 Individual authors or works of United States comics, A-2.
LC reminds us to "prefer classification of comic strips
by title," by which is meant "books of comic strips."
Graphic novels by American writers and artists are
logically classed here. The MSU practice is to enter and
classify by the first name on the title page, when a
graphic novel is presented as by an artistlwriter or a
writerlartist team. A new wrinkle is that some of the

graphic novels, though clearly self-contained works
mainly by one or two people, also have strip titles, such
as "Thor" or "Beetle Bailey." Whether to put these in
6727 or 6728 is not critical, since a reader is as likely
to request books by strip as by artist or writer. Since
most graphic novels fit in 6727 it probably makes more
sense to put doubtful cases here too. This section in-
cludes biographies, checklists or bibliographies of the
works of individuals, and artist portfolios. Some exam-
ples of "author" cutters in use:
.A3 Adams. Neal, 1941- .K4 Kelly, Walt

I .A722 Aragones, Sergio
.B35 Barks, Carl, 1901-
.K53 Kirby, Jack
.K58 Kirchner, Paul
I
I .B354 Baron, Mike .K59 Knerr, Harold H.
.B356 Barr, Mike W. .K8 Kubert, Joe
I .B36 Barry, Lynda, 1956-
.B43 Berg, Dave
.K83 Kurtzman, Harvey
.M33Mantlo, Bill
.B45 Beyer, Mark .M37Martin, Don
.B6 Bode, Vaughn .M39 Marx, Christy
1 .B9 Byrne, John .M44Messner-Loebs, Wil-
.C3 Caniff, Milton Arthur, liam
1907-1988 .M48Miller, Frank
.C65 Corben, Richard .M54 Moench, Doug, 1948-
.C7 Crumb, R. . 0 5 O'Neill, Dan
.C73 Cruse, Howard .P4 Perez, George, 1954-
.D56 Ditko, Steve .R46 Roberts, Scott Alan
.E35 Eisner, Will .S15 Sakai, Stan
3 3 7 Feazell, Matt .S47 Shanower, Eric
.F4 Feiffer, Jules .S49 Shooter, Jim
.F7 Frazetta, Frank .S554 Simon, Joe
.G35 Geary, Rick .S73 Stevens, Dave
.G73 Grell, Mike .W48 Wildey, Doug
.H4 Los Bros. Hernandez .W49 Williams, J.R. (James
.H6 Howarth, Matt, 1954- Robert), 1888-1957
.J3 Jaffee, A1 .W6 Wood, Wallace
.J6 Jones, Bruce .W7 Wrightson, Berni
.K27 Kane, Gil
PN 6728 Individual comic strips or comic books of the United

States, by title, A-Z. Use for books of reprints of indi-
vidual strips, early comic books (before 1935) and
comic books in unusual formats, e.g., Big Little Books
and tabloids. If useful to group unusual formats on
shelf, cutter by ~ublisher,then by entry. Examples of
comic strip cutters in use:
.A15 Abbie an' Slats .F8 Funky Winkerbean

.A28 Agatha Crumm .G28 Garfield
.A43 Alley Oop .G63 Gordo
.A5 Amazing Spider-Man .G74 Green Lantern
.A72 Archie (books) .H3 Hagar the Horrible
.B14 B.C. .H33Half Hitch
.B3 Barnaby .H4 Heathcliff
.B37 Batman .H5 Hi and Lois
.B4 Beetle Bailey .J64 Johnny Hazard
.B44 Belvedere .K37 Katzenjammer Kids
.B55 Blondie .K7 Krazy Kat
.B57 Bloom County .K8 Kudzu
.B67 Brenda Starr .L49 Life in Hell
.B68 Brick Bradford .L5 Li'l Abner
.B7 Bringing Up Father .L535 Little Lulu
.B74 Broom-Hilda .L55 Little Orphan Annie
.B8 Buck Rogers .M3 Mad ( ~ a ~ e r b a c k s )
.C25 Calvin and Hobbes .M372 Mark Trail
.C26 Captain America .M379 Marvin
.C32 Casey Ruggles .M46Mickey Mouse
.C37 Cathy .M353 Male Call
.C65 Conchy .M375 Marmaduke
.C9 Cynicalman .M475 Mike Hammer
.D4 Dennis the Menace .M62Momma
.D5 Dick Tracy .M63Moon Mullins
.D63Donald Duck .M72Mother Goose &
.D65Doonesbury Grimm
.E932 Eyebeam .M9 Myra North
.F27 Family Circus .P4 Peanuts
.F37 Far Side .P47 The Phantom
$55 Flash Gordon .P57 Pogo
9 6 4 Foxy Grandpa Popeye: see .T5
.P7 Prince Valiant .T5 Thimble Theater

.R4 Red Ryder (Popeye)
.R535 Rip Kirby .T516 Tiger
.R58 Robotman .T57 Tizzy
.S22 Sally Forth (G. .T7 Travels with Farley
Howard) .T8 Tumbleweeds
.S36 Secret Agent X-9 .U2 U.S. Acres
.S47 Sherlock Holmes .U5 Uncle Scrooge
.S475 Shoe .W374 Wee Pals
.S56 Smilin' Jack .W475 Winthrop
Spider-Man: see .A5 .W5 Wizard of Id
.S8 Superman .W62 Wonder Woman
.S97 Sylvia .W7 Wright Angles
.T27 Tank McNamara .X2 X-Men
.T4 Terry and the Pirates .Z48 Ziggy
.T46 There Oughta be a .Z52 Zippy
Law
Publisher cutters in use:
.A385 Alcoholics Anonymous
.A7 Archie (digests)
.C29 Campus Crusade for Christ
.C47 Chick Publications (Jack T. Chick)
.M378 Marvel Comics (tabloids and digests)
.M6 Modern Promotions
.N333 NationallDC Comics (tabloids and digests)
.W47 Whitman and Western (Big Little Books and di-
gests)
.W6 World Syndicate
PN 6728.1 Golden Age comic books of the United States, titles
beginning in the years from 1935 and 1949, by pub-
lisher, A-Z, then by title. Publisher cutters in use:
.A2 Ace1A.A. Wynn .E5 Enwil
.A5 American Comics .F3 Fawcett
Group (ACG) .F5 Fiction House
.A7 ArchielMLJ .F6 Fox Features
.A85 Avon .G5 Gilberton
.C6 Columbia .G55 Lev Gleason
DC: see National .H3 Harvey
.D4 Dell .H5 Hillman
MLJ: see Archie .P7 Prize

.M25D. McKay .Q3 Quality
.M27Magazine Enterprises .R8 Rural Home
.M3 TimelylMarvel .S73 Standard
.M4 Melverne .S75 Street & Smith
.N3 National (DC) Timely: see Marvel
.N4 Nedor .US United Features
.N6 Novelty Wynn, A.A.: see Ace
.P3 Parents Magazirie .Y6 Your Guide
PN 6728.15 "Eight-pagers" or "Tijuana Bibles": pornographic
comic books illegally using newspaper comic strip
characters of the 1920s through 1950s, by title.
PN 6728.2 Fifties comic books of the United States, titles begin-
ning in the years from 1950 to 1959, by publisher, then
by title. Publisher cutters in use:
.A3 Ajax .F3 Fawcett
.A5 American Comics .G5 Gilberton
Group (ACG) .H33 Harvey
.A7 ArchielRadio .M25Magazine Enterprises
Atlas: see Marvel .M3 MarvelIAtlas
.A85 Avon .N3 National (DC)
.C47Charlton Radio: see Archie
.D4 Dell .Q3 Quality
. E l 4 E.C. .Z5 Ziff-Davis
PN 6728.25 Propaganda, educational and giveaway comic books,
published in the United States, by publisher, A-Z, then
by title. Educational and propaganda comics are some-
times classified by subject matter elsewhere in the LC
schedules. Since the subject matter is always search-
able through subject headings, a preference has been
formed at MSU for classifying these together in PN
6728.25, because the genre "educational and propa-
ganda comics" is in itself of interest to some re-
searchers. Publisher cutters in use:
.C3 Catechetical Guild .G4 General Electric
.C6 Consumers Power .G5 Gilberton
.D3 DC Comics .H6 Howard Johnson's
.F4 Fearon .K5 King Features
.L5 Literacy Volunteers of Society of America

Chicago .T93 Tyndale House
.P6 Ponderosa, Inc. .U5 United States govern-
.R3 Radio Shack ment
.S6 Socialist Labor Party .W3 Walt Disney
.S62 Soil Conservation
PN 6728.3 Silver Age comic books of the United States, titles be-
ginning in the years from 1960 to 1969, by publisher,
A-Z, then by title. Publisher cutters in use:
.A7 ArchielRadio I.W.: see Super
.C47Charlton .K5 King Features
DC: see National .M3 Marvel
.D4 Dell .N3 National (DC)
.E32 Eerie Publications Radio: see Archie
.F5 Fitzgerald (Golden .S8 Super1I.W.
Legacy) .T6 Tower
.G56 Gold Key .W3 Warren
.H3 Harvey
PN 6728.4 Seventies comic books of the United States, except
undergrounds, titles beginning in the years from 1970
to 1979, by publisher, A-Z, then by title. This category
includes some religious publishers that were classified
before PN6728.25 was set up, and some "ground level"
publishers that if classified later might have been
placed in PN6728.55. Publisher cutters in use:
.A7 Archie .H3 Harvey
.A8 Atlas .M3 Marvel
.C47 Charlton .N3 NationallDC
.C48 Chick Publications .R4 Fleming H. Revel1
(full-size comic .S53 Skywald
books) .S74 Star*Reach
DC: see National .W33 Warren
.E32 Eerie Publications Western: see Gold
.G56 Gold KeylWestern Key
PN 6728.45 underground comic books of the U.S., titles beginning
in the years from about 1967, by publisher, A-Z, then
by title. Sample publisher cutters in use:
. ~ Publisher
2 unknown .A3 Adam's Apple
.A6 Apex Novelties .L5 Limestone Press

.A8 Austintatious .N3 Nanny Goat
.C3 California Grimpet .P4 Harvey Pekar
.C35 Cartoonists Co-op .P7 Print Mint
.C6 Company and Sons .Q3 Sal Quartuccio
.D7 Dragon Seed .R4 Recycled Reality
.E25 Ecomix .R5 Rip Off Press
.E87 Everyman .S3 San Francisco Comic
.F7 Fragments West Book Co.
.F8 Fuller .S33 Saving Grace
.G7 Warren Greenwood .S5 Siege1 & Simon
.H5 C.P. Himes .S75 Stampart
.K3 Karma Komix .Y3 Yahoo
.K5 Kitchen SinklKrupp .Y4 Yentzer & Gonif
.L3 Last Gasp
PN 6728.5 Eighties mainstream or color comic books of the United
States, titles beginning in the years from 1980 to 1989,
by publisher, A-Z, then by title. The distinction be-
tween this classification and the following one (PN
6728.55) is not always clear, as publishers passed back
and forth from color to black and white, or developed
from direct-only to newsstand distribution. At the be-
ginning of the 1990s, each surviving publisher will be
reassigned a number in PN6728.6 for new titles in
standard comic-book format, whether in color or black
and white. Publisher cutters in use:
.A5 AC/Americomics .F5 First
Apple: see WaRP .G45 Gladstone
.A7 Archie .H3 Harvey
.B2 B-Movie .H4 Hero
.B55 Blackthorne .K5 Kitchen Sink
.C47 Charlton .M3 Marvel
.C6 Comico National: see DC
.C63 Continuity .N4 New Media
.D3 DC (formerly Na- .P3 Pacific
tional) .P5 Pioneer
.E25 Eclipse .R35 Renegade
3 2 8 Fantaco .R4 Fleming H. Revell
.F3 Fantagraphics . S5 Silverline
.W3 WaRPlApple .Z6 Ray Zone

.W47 Western
PN 6728.55 New wave comix, minis, other amateur and self-pub-
lished stripzines of the U.S., including black and white
explosion comic books. Titles beginning about 1980, by
publisher or creator, A-Z, then by title. Publisher cut-
ters in use:
.A2 Publisher unknown .H6 Matt Howarth
.A3 Adventure .J3 Jabberwocky Graphix
.A36 Aircel (California ad- .M3 Rick McCollum
dress) .M335 Malibu
.A47 Amazing .M5 Mirage Studios
.A53 Antarctic .N6 Not Available
.B53 Blatant Image .N63 Now
.B55 Blue Comet .P34 Paragraphics
.B6 Jacques Boivin .P47 Phantasy Press
.C48 Chrome Tiger .P9 Pyramid
.C6 Comix World .R9 J. Ryan
.D34 Dark Horse .S5 Jim Siergey
.D345 Darkline .S65 Spotlight
.D5 Clark A. Dissmeyer .S7 Starhead
.E83 Eternity .W45 Steve Willis
.F25 Fandom House .Y3 E. Yarber
.F46 Fictioneer .Z4 Zeke Publishing
PN 6728.6 Nineties mainstream comic books of the U.S., titles be-
ginning in the years from 1990 to 1999, by publisher,
A-Z, then by title. Publisher cutters in use:
.A6 Apple .E83 Eternity
.D3 DC .F5 First
.E25 Eclipse .M3 Marvel
PN 6731-6734 The comics of Canada, both French and English
language. These four numbers are so new that no MSU
examples are available. Most Canadian comics are
still squeezed into the numbers PN6790.C3 to PN
6790.C34.
PN 6735 History of the comics of Great Britain. This section in-
cludes criticism, and also British comics famines, of
which there are many. British comics fanzines tend to

emphasize the American comics scene in their content,
but are still normally classified here by MSU, for their
British content. Some examples:
.B38 Barker, M. A Haunt of Fears
.F3 Fantasy Advertiser
.G5 Gifford, D. Stap Me! The British Newspaper
Strip
.S63 Speakeasy
.U12 U.K. Comicdon
PN 6736 General collections of British comics. Examples:
.C6 Comics at W a r
.G5 Gifford, D. Happy Days: A Century of Comics
PN 6737 Individual authors or works of British comics, A-Z. In-
cludes biographies and artist portfolios. Sample author
or artist cutters in use:
.B4 Bellamy, Frank .L3 Lawrence, Don
.B7 Briggs, Raymond .M6 Moore, Alan
.E57 Emerson, Hunt .W5 Wilson, Roy
.G3 Gaiman, Neil
PN 6738 Individual British comic books or comic strips, by title,
A-Z. Sample title cutters in use:
.A43 Ally Sloper .J8 Judge Dredd
.A5 Andy Capp .M6 Modesty Blaise
.B8 Bunty .N4 Nemesis the Warlock
.C3 Captain Britain .R88 Rupert
.D27Dan Dare .S63 Spider-Man
I
.F7 Fred Basset .T3 Tammy
.G3 Garth .T9 2000 A.D.
.J26 James Bond .W3 Warrior
PN 6745 History of the comics of France. It has been decided for
the MSU collections that the whole Franco-Belgian
comics world will be included here, so that the range
PN6745-PN6748 is used for all European comics that
originate in the French language. The LC numbers for
Belgium, in PN6790, are therefore not used. Examples
of works on French or Belgian comics:
.B7 Brun, P. Histoire du journal Spirou
.C5 Chaboud, J. Quai des bulles: Le train duns la

bande dessinde
.H5 Histoire de la bande dessinde en France et en Bel-
gique des origines h nos jours
PN 6746 General collections of French or Belgian comics. Ex-
amples:
.D4 La Ddcouverte du monde en bandes dessindes
.N3 National Lampoon Presents French Comics
PN 6747 Individual authors or works of French or Belgian comics,
A-Z. Includes biographies and artist portfolios. Sample
author or artist cutters in use:
.A2 Adamov .H4 Herg6
.B5 Bilal, Enki .J3 Jano
.B7 Bretkcher, Claire Moebius, 1938- : see
.C3 Caza .G5
.D7 Druillet, Philippe .L4 Letendre
.D8 Durand, Ren6, 1948- , 0 3 4 Ollivier, Jean
.G5 Gir, 1938- .R34 RamaYoli
Giraud, Jean: see .G5 .R6 Rosinski
.G6 Goscinny, 1926-1977 .T7 Tronchet
.H3 Harley, Laurence .V5 Vink
PN 6748 Individual French or Belgian comic books or comic
strips, by title, A-Z. Sample title cutters in use:
.A4 Ah! Nana .P47 Picsou
.B8 Bufalo Bill, le conqud- .P53 Pilote
rant du far west .S57 Smurfs (Schtroumpfs)
.C53 Circus .S65 Spirou
.F6 Fox et Crow .T48 Tintin (magazine)
.H8 Hulk .T483 Tintin
.J77 Judge Dredd .V3 Valerian
.L8 Lucky Luke .Z5 Zig et Puce
PN 6755 History of the comics of Germany. Austrian works are
included here by MSU practice. This section includes
criticism, and also German language comics fanzines,
of which there are many. Although European comics
fanzines tend to emphasize the international comics
scene in their content, they are still normally classified
here by MSU, for their German content. Some ex-

amples:
.C6 Comic Forum .TI4 Tschernegg, M. Das
.N4 News Panel war Zack
.S63 Die Sprechblase
PN 6756 General collections of German comics. No examples
available.
PN 6757 Individual authors or works of German comics, A-Z. In-
cludes biographies and artist portfolios. Sample artist
cutter in use:
.B6 Bonvi
PN 6758 Individual German comic books or comic strips, by title,
A-Z. One problem in classifying German comic books
is also noticeable in the cataloging of most other Euro-
pean comics, except those of Great Britain: many of the
comic books on the stands are translations of comic
books from other countries, and are therefore not
strictly speaking "German" works. It would be possible
to group the "Superman" or "Uncle Scrooge" comics
from every country and in every language in PN6728,
by analogy to what is done with translations in the cata-
loging of literature. However, the cataloger is often not
able to discover whether the stories are actual transla-
tions. It is sometimes the case that comic book stories
represent the licenced use of American or other char-
acters for stories otherwise wholly created in another
language. The policy at the MSU Libraries is to shelve
comic books which are or may be translations, with the
publications of the country in which they are pub-
lished. Thus "Superman" comic books can appear on
the shelves with the comics of any number of different
countries. Collections of comic strips in book form,
even if they are translated, are shelved with the lan-
guage they originated in, because this ambiguity is
usually not present with books. Thus "Peanuts" paper-
backs, although appearing in many languages, are all
found together in PN6728. Sample title cutters in
use:
Cataloging Comics.
.A37 Akim .M4 Micky Maus

.B8 Bufilo Bill, der Held .P7 Prinz Eisenherz
des Wilden Westens (Prince Valiant)
.F3 Falk .S62 Die Spinne (Spider-
.F5 Fix und Foxi Man)
.G4 Der Gewaltige Hulk .S63 Spuk Geschichten
.I4 lllustrierte Klassiker .Z3 Zack
PN 6765 History of the comics of Italy. This section includes
criticism. Example:
.Z3 Zanotto, P. Grande libro del Fumetto
PN 6766 General collections of Italian comics. No example avail-
able.
PN 6767 Individual authors or works of Italian comics, A-Z. In-
cludes biographies and artist portfolios. A problem
raised in cataloging Italian comics is apt to appear else-
where as well: The Italian comics master Hugo Pratt's
most famous work, "Corto Maltese," is written in
French, with original publications both in France and
Belgium at different times. Because of the way this
schedule is devised, this second most famous of all
French adventure story comics appears on the shelves
with the Italian comics. If nationality were strictly
regarded, however, the American comics artist and
writer Sergio Aragones (born in Spain, raised in Mex-
ico) should not be classified in PN6727. This is not an
air-tight system, and until the day that comics are
considered an international phenomenon, problems
like this will continue to appear. Sample author or ar-
tist cutters in use:
.B5 Biagi, Enzo, 1920- .M38Mattotti, Lorenzo
.C7 Crepax, Guido .M5 Micheluzzi, Attilio
.G5 Giardino, Vittorio .P3 Patrito, Marco
.L5 Liberatore, Tanino .P7 Pratt, Hugo
.M36Manara, Milo, 1945- .S35 Scarpa, Laura
.M37Mattioli
PN 6768 ~ndividualItalian comic books or comic strips, by title,
.B3 Batman .R3 RanXerox

.C6 Corto Maltese .T6 Topolino
PN 6775 History of the comics of Spain. This section will include
criticism, and also Spanish comics fanzines. Example:
.C6 Comicguia
Ill 1
PN 6776 General collections of Spanish comics. No examples

available.
PN 6777 Individual authors or works of Spanish comics, A-Z.
Includes biographies and artist portfolios. Sample
author or artist cutters in use:
.F4 FernBndez, Fernando .R5 Riera, Marti
.G5 Gimknez, Juan .S3 SBnchez Abuli, E.
.M6 Moreno, Pepe .S4 Sergrelles, V.
.N3 Nazario .T6 Torres, Daniel, 1958-
.P6 Pons
PN 6778 Individual Spanish comic books or comic strips, by title,
.C34 CapitBn Amkrica
.C8 Curro Jimknez
.H6 Hombre Arafia (Spider-Man)
.I45 Ilustracidn + Comix lnternacional
.T6 T6tem el Comix
.V4 Los Vengadores (The Avengers)
.V5 El Vibora
.Z6 Zona 84
PN 6790 Other regions or countries, A-Z. Each country, other
than those itemized above, gets a cutter number that
is expanded as in this example for Argentina:
.A7 History
.A72 Collections
.A73 Individual authors or works, A-Z
.A74 Individual comic books or strips, A-Z
Some of these numbers are quite crowded, particularly
those for Canada (which has recently moved) and Mex-
ico, which probably produces more comics than any
other country. Country numbers in use at MSU:
Cataloging Comics.
.A4 Algeria .J6 Japan

.A7 Argentina .K6 Korea
.A8 Australia .L29 Latin America
Austria: see PN6755- .M4 Mexico
PN6758 .M6 Morocco
Belgium: see PN .N4 Netherlands
6745-PN6748 .N5 Nigeria
Canada: see PN6731- .N6 Norway
PN6734 .P47 Philippines
.B7 Brazil .S4 Senegal
.C4 China .S5 Sierra Leone
.C47 Chile .S6 South Africa
.C6 Colombia .S9 Sweden
.E34 Egypt .T77 Tunisia
.F5 Finland .U34 Uganda
.G7 Greece .V4 Venezuela
.I5 India .Z3 Zaire
.I9 Ivory Coast
Subject Headings.
I
The heading C O MI C BOOKS , STRIPS, ETC. is the central Library
of Congress term for comics material. It can be used both as a primary
heading, and as a free-floating subheading. The MSU practice is to apply
the heading, alone or with subheadings, to anthologies. Works about
comics are given the subheading HISTORY AND CRITICISM or other
appropriate subheadings. The Library of Congress uses the subheading
HISTORY AND CRITICISM part of the time and does not apply the
heading COMIC BOOKS , STRIPS, ETC. to anthologies. The result is in-
consistent and serves to minimize the number of items found in the sub-
ject catalog.
' In its Subject Cataloging Manual (1988) the Library of Congress
spelled out a policy of not using the subdivision C O MI C B OO K S , S TRIP S ,
ETC. under individual literary authors. Catalogers are instructed to use
the phrase [AUTHOR'S NAME] IN FICTION, DRAMA, POETRY, ETC. in-
tead.l4 The disadvantage of this practice is that it conceals the comics
rmat by lumping it in with fiction, drama and poetry, not even preser-
the word "comics" in the subject listing. In libraries that particu-
y wish to emphasize the comics format to their users (and this
probably includes many public libraries and all serious special collec-
tions), this LC instruction should probably not be followed. (Actually,
a comic book about a literary author is rarely seen. The matter is men-
tioned here to show that the possibility is recognized by the Library of
Congress but only in order to present an instruction telling us not to use
the term! The idea that comics might be a unique and important literary
and artistic medium is only very slowly penetrating the nation's most
conservative thesaurus.)
Comics can be fiction (stories) or nonfiction (educational or prop-
aganda). Whichever is the case, every comic book or reprint collection
that through its setting, characters or theme gives insight into a place,
a person or a topic, should have the name of that place, person or topic
assigned to it as a subject heading with the subdivision C O MI C BOOKS,
STRIPS, ETC. The kind of information that is conveyed by fictional and
nonfictional comics is different than that conveyed by the typical nonfic-
tion text-oriented book. We owe it to our readers to flag as much as we
can of this underrepresented format. Comics already have their own
readership, which will appreciate the service. It also can't hurt to sur-
prise people that comics exist relating to the topic in which they are
interested.
The most important distinctions in subject matter among comics
themselves are recognized in most bookstores, but rarely make it into
the subject catalog. They are spelled out in the genre labels that most
comic books carry. The genre designations (such as "western") are just
as informative to the prospective reader as the word "chemistry" on a
chemistry book. The Library of Congress has allowed six generic head-
ings to be born, but most such distinctions are not acknowledged in the
LC subject headings. The most common genres (and the recommended
headings) are R O MAN C E CO MI C S , S U P E R H ER O COMICS, WESTERN
COMICS, WAR COMICS, UNDERGROUND COMICS, SCIENCE FIG-
TI O N C O MI CS , F U NN Y A N I M A L COMICS , F UNN Y KI D COMICS, and
TEEN HUMOR COMICS. Most of these headings fit in nicely with ex-
isting Library of Congress headings that describe other kinds of
storytelling.
Subject Headings for Comics Material.

These headings are applied to both monographic and serial comics
items. Works about these kinds of comics are given the appropriate
Cataloging Comics.
heading as below, with the added subdivision "- HISTORY A N D

CRITI CI SM" or other appropriate subdivision. Of the headings listed
here, only those six which have the form " COMIC BOOKS,
STRIPS, ETC." are used by the Library of Congress. The remainder are
local practice of the Michigan State University Libraries.
Adventure story comics
xx Comic books, strips, etc.
sa Prehistoric adventure comics
Jungle adventure comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that involve travel or exotic loca-
tions, and that concentrate on stories that do not fit into the
other adventure genres, or that include stories in three or
more of those genres. Examples: Indiana Jones, Tintin.
Afro-American comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips directed to an African American
readership. Example: Golden Legacy.
Career girl comics
xz Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips about women in the workplace,
usually young and single. Examples: "Brenda Starr," Nellie
the Nurse.
Comic book artists
xx Artists
Cartoonists
SCOPE: Use this heading for works about artists who draw comic
books
I
Comic book writers
xx Authors
SCOPE: Use this heading for works about writers who do plots or
scripts for comic books.
Comic books, strips, etc. -Publication and distribution
xx Publishers and publishing
NOTE: The LC subdivision "Publication and distribution" is not
free-floating, but is used regularly at MSU with the heading
"Comic books, strips, etc." Example: Plant, B. Distribution
in the Direct Market (1984).
Detective and mystery comic books, strips, etc.

x Mystery comics
Crime comics
Detective comics
Crime and criminals - Comic books, strips, etc.
Detectives - Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips about police, private detectives,
or crime. Example: "Dick Tracy."
Erotic comic books, strips, etc.
Sex- Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips purposely erotic, or discussed as
such (with subdivision "History and criticism"). Example:
Barbarella.
Fantasy comics
sa Sword and sorcery comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that take place on alternate
worlds where magic or different physical laws operate.
Example: The Wizard of Oz graphic novels.
Funny animal comics
Animals- Caricatures and cartoons
SCOPE: Comic books and strips with anthropomorphic animal
characters, whether strictly funny or not. Examples: Crit-
ters, "U.S. Acres."
Funny ghost comics
Funny horror comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips featuring ghosts as sympathetic,
humorous characters. Example: Casper, the Friendly Ghost.
Funny horror comics
Horror comic books, strips, etc.
sa Funny ghost comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips, except Funny ghost comics, in
which normally frightening characters and situations are
treated humorously. Examples: The Munsters, Hot Stufthe

Little Devil.
Funny kid comics
sa Rich kid comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips in which most of the characters
are children. Examples: "Peanuts," "Wee Pals."
Funny military comics
x Military comics
Funny soldier comics
Funny war comics
War comics
sa War comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips about military life, treated hu-
morously. Examples: Sad Sack, "Beetle Bailey."
Girls' comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips directed toward a readership of
girls. These are more commonly British than American.
Examples: Mandy, Debbie.
Gothic romance comics
x Love comics
Romance comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that combine a dark, threatening
atmosphere with a romantic story. There are not a lot of
these. Example: The Sinister House of Secret Love.
sa Gothic romance comics
Funny horror comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips with scary stories, about mon-
sters, graveyards, bug-eyed aliens, and more. Examples:
Shock SuspenStories, Swamp Thing.
Jungle adventure comics
Adventure story comics.

SCOPE: Comic books and strips with stories that take place in
tropical jungles. Examples: "Tarzan of the Apes," Rima, the
Jungle Girl.
Kung fu comics
x Martial arts -Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips with stories that center on or in-
volve oriental martial arts. Examples: Judomaster, Karate
Kid.
New wave comics
x Nuwave comics
Underground comics
SCOPE: Self-published comic books, or comic strips published in
alternative periodicals, from about 1980. Example: Morty
Comix.
Prehistoric adventure comics
x Caveman comics
Adventure story comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories set in pre-
historic times or conditions. Examples: "Alley Oop," Turok,
Son of Stone.
Robot comics
xx Science fiction comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips featuring robot characters. EX-
amples: Silverhawks, "Robotman."
Romance comics
x Love comics
sa Gothic romance comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories of love and
romance, usually without involving adventure. Example:
M y Secret Romance. (1950)
Science fiction comic books, strips, etc.
sa Robot comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories of space
travel, future life, or other scientific of pseudo-scientific ex-
trapolation, except for superhero comics. Examples: Planet
Comics, "Buck Rogers."
Sports comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories of athletes and
athletics. Example: "Joe Palooka."
Spy comics
x Espionage - Comic books, strips, etc.
Spies - Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories of espionage,
secret agents, and cold war intrigue. Example: "James
Bond."
Superhero comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature male or mostly male
characters with extraordinary personal powers, usually
wearing strange costumes and fighting evil. Examples: Su-
perman, Super Goof:
Superheroine comics
Women's comics
sa Women's comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature female or mostly
female characters with extraordinary personal powers, us-
ually wearing strange costumes and fighting evil. Examples:
Wonder Woman, Supergirl.
Sword and sorcery comics
Fantasy comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories of fantasy in
which magic operates, and modern weapons are not avail-
able or do not operate. Qxamples: Conan the Barbarian,
Groo the Wanderer.
Teen humor comics

SCOPE: Comic books and strips featuring stories about the lives
of teenagers in humorous situations. Examples: Archie,
"Harold Teen."
Underground comic books, strips, etc.

x Head comics
Comix
Underground press
sa New wave comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips connected with the underground
comix movement beginning in the 1960s and which took its
name from the alternative newspapers of that time. Ex-
ample: Zap Comics.
War comics
x War-Comic books, strips, etc.
Military comics
Funny military comics
sa Funny military comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories set in a real-
istic (or at least not mainly humorous) context of war and
military life. Example: Sgt. Rock.
Western comic books, strips, etc.

x Cowboys - Comic books, strips, etc.
SCOPE: Comic books and strips that feature stories set in the "old
west" of America. Example: "Cisco Kid," Kid Colt, Out-
law.
Women's comics
x Feminism - Comic books, strips, etc.
Superheroine comics
sa Superheroine comics
SCOPE: Comic books and strips directed to a women's readership.
Example: Wimmen's Comix.
Cataloging Comics.
Sample Catalog Records from the MSU Libraries

SpecCoU
Mills, Pat.
PN The A.B.C. warriors. Book 1 / by Pat
6738 Mills, Kevin O'Neill and Mike McMahon.
A2 -- London, England : Titan Books, 1983.
M5 79 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.
1983
1. Science fiction comic books, strips,
etc. 2. War comics. I. O'Neill, Kevin.
11. McMahon, Mike. 111. Title. IV. Title:
The ABC warriors.
SpecColl
Fantastic four. -- New York : Marvel Comics Group,
PN v. : col. ill ; 26 cm.
6728.3 Began with no. 1 (November 1961), cf. Official
.M3 Overstreet comic book price guide.
F3 All issues also called v. 1.
1.Superhero comics.
SpecColl
The history of natural gas / prepared
PN by the Educational Service Bureau,
6728.25 American Gas Asssociation. -- New
.A53 Your : American Gas Association, 1960.
H5 15 p. : col. ill. ; 26 cm.
1960 Cover title.
1. Gas, Natural--Comic books, strips,

etc. I. American Gas Association.
SpecColl
Hot Rod King. -- No. 1 (Fall 1952) --
PN Chicago, Ill. : Approved Comics, 1952.
6728.2 1 v. : col. ill. ; 26 cm.
.Z5 Bimonthly.
H6 Ziff-Davis comic group.
Title from cover.
1. Sports comics. 2. Automobile racing--

Comic books, strips, etc.
SpecColl
Mason, Brenda D.
George Foster : man of dreams, man with a
purpose / [written by Brenda D. Mason ;
story layout and character art by Morrie
Turner ; lettering and color by Ray Salmon].
-- [Tempe, Az.] : George Foster Enterprises,
1982.
[16] p. : col. ill. ; 26 cm.
Title from cover.
Caption title: George Foster, a dream comes
true.
Received through CAPA-alpha.
1. Foster, George, 1948 Dec. 1- --Comic
books, strips, etc. 2. Baseball players--
Biography--Comic books, strips, etc. 3. Sports
comics. I. Turner, Morrie. 11. Title.
SpecColl
Shelton, Gilbert.
Six snappy sockeroos from the
archives of the fabulous furry Freak
brothers and Fat Freddy's cat / Gilbert
Shelton. -- San Francisco, CA : Rip Off
Press, 1980.
[48] p. : ill. ;26 cm. -- (Fabulous
furry Freak brothers ;no. 6)
Title from cover.
1. Underground comics. 2. Funny

animal comics. I. Title. 11. Title:
Fat Freddy's cat. 111. Series.
SpecColl
Tarzan wa-La'nat al-APa. -- [Cairo] :
PN Matb'at al-Ma'rifah, [1978?]
6790 17 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
.E344 Title from cover.
n In the Arabic alphabet.
1978 Tarzan comics translated to Arabic.
1. Jungle adventure comics. I.

Tarzan. Arabic.
Cataloging Comics.
SpecColl
Wonder Woman. -- New York : Wonder
PN Woman Pub. Co.,
6728.1 v. : col. ill. ; 26 cm.
.N3 Quarterly, Monthly.
W6 Began with no. 1 (Summer 1942);
title from cover.
Description based on no. 6 (Fall
1943)
1. Superheroine comics.
Notes to Chapter 4.
1. Library of Congress. Cataloging Service Bulletin no. 27 (Winter 1985)
p. 24.
2. Bell, John. Canuck Comics. Montreal, Quebec: Matrix Graphic
Series, 1986.154 p. Price guide and bibliography covers both
English language and French language Canadian comic
books.
Eide, Knut, and Stig Kjelling. Norsk Tegneserie Index. Bodo, Norway:
NTI. Biennial. Plenty of cover reproductions to help those of
us who don't speak Norwegian. No. 3 (1988189)has 354 pages.
Gifford, Denis. The Complete Catalogue of British Comics, Including
Price Guide. Exeter, England: Webb & Bower, 1985. 224 p.
I
Hethke, Norbert, and Peter Skodzik. Allgemeiner Deutscher
Comic-Preis Katalog. Schonau, West Germany: N. Hethke
Verlag. Annual. Includes cover reproductions. Nr. ll (1986)
has 254 pages.
I
Kennedy, Jay. The Oficial Underground and Newave Comix Price
Guide. Cambridge, Mass.: Boatner Norton Press, 1982. 273 p.
Unfortunately, this guide is out of print and plans are not cur-
rently being made for another edition. Nevertheless it covers
the biggest years of underground comix production and is in-
valuable.
Lowery, Larry. The Collector's Guide to Big Little Books and Similar
Books. ~ a n v i l l e ,Calif.: Educational Research and Applica-
tions Corporation, 1981. 378 p. An illustrated descriptive bib-
liography and price guide for Big Little Books, which are pre-
cursors to comic books, and often created from the plots and
pictures of newspaper strips. They are often found coverless

or missing title pages, and this bibliography can usually iden-
tify them. Plans for a second edition are unknown, but this is
a pretty stable list and will never really be outdated as a
bibliography.
Overstreet, Robert M. The Oficial Overstreet Comic Book Price
Guide. New York: House of Collectibles. Annual. The Over-
street guide is cited in nearly every chapter of this book, and
is a boon in every area of comics librarianship, but for cata-
loging it is the bible. Please, catalogers, if you find something
in your collection that contradicts bibliographical information
in Overstreet, send in a correction with photocopied proof just
like you would to OCLC. The Overstreet guide is carefully
re-edited and corrected each year, and is a fine way to share
bibliographical information with other comics librarians.
3. Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings, 3rd. ed. Washington,
DC: Library of Congress, 1988. Page H1430h-2. This gives
the instructions for using the qualifier "(Fictitious character),"
with the example given being "Snoopy (Fictitious character)."
4. Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd ed. Chicago: American Li-
brary Association, 1978. Page 249. And 2nd ed., revised. Chi-
cago: American Library Association, 1988. Page 276. Rule
12.OB1. The more liberal interpretation from Cataloging Ser-
vice Bulletin 34 (1986) did not get itself included in the new
edition of AACR2.
5. This exchange appeared in Comic Art Collection no. 38 (May 2,
1988), p. 5-6. Comic Art Collection (MSU Libraries, East Lan-
sing, Michigan 48824-1048) is the quarterly newsletter of the
Michigan State University Libraries' Comic Art Collection,
available free to comics librarians.
6. Online Systems Books Format. Dublin, Ohio: OCLC, 1984. Page
FF-3. Bibliographic Level code "c" applies to collections ar-
bitrarily formed by the cataloging or inputting library, when
. the cataloging library does not consider the individual items
significant enough to warrant separate cataloging. One of the
beauties of this practice is that once a file has been started,
for example, for Jim Davis's "Garfield comic strip, that little
toy Garfield on a skateboard from McDonald's can be dropped
into the file and forgotten. Also the Garfield bedroom slippers.
A few "realia" can thus be added to the collection without
Cataloging Comics.
having to bother the cataloger who knows the audiovisual

I format.
7. Olson, Nancy B. Subject Keyword Index to the Library of Congress
Classijication Schedules 1974. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Histori-
cal Documents Institute, 1974. Both examples given here
were found on p. 778 of volume 2.
8. Library of Congress. Classijication, Class N, Fine Arts, 4th ed.
I Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1970. Page 140. When
this was published, the numbers for drawing movie cartoons
(NC1765-NC1766) were present, but comics were still stuck
in with general cartooning.
Savage, Helen. Class N, Fine Arts: Library ofCongress Classijication
Schedules, a Cumulation of Adds and Changes through 1986.
Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Page 121is the source of the new
NC1764-NC1764.5 section on drawing comics, which also
appeared in LC Classijication Additions and Changes, list 222
(1986), page 56.
9. Library of Congress Classijication, Class P, Subclasses PN, PR, PS,
PZ, 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1978.
Pages 88-89 present the basic comics schedule.
Savage, Helen. Class P, Philology G Literature, Subclasses PN, PR,
PS, PZ: Library of Congress Classijication Schedules, a Cumu-
lation of Additions and Changes through 1981. Detroit: Gale
Research, 1982. Page 21 adds the number for encyclopedias
and dictionaries to the schedule.
LC Classijication Additions and Changes, list 230 (1988). Page 87 is
the source for the new range of Canadian numbers.
10. Larrabee, James. LC Cumulative Classijication Series: Sociology,
HM-HX. Albany, Calif.: Livia Press, 1986. Page HQ-12 places
comics within child life, but refers us to juvenile delinquency
in the same breath, as it were. Page HV-87 shows comic books
as a special topic in juvenile delinquency and gives no other
examples, but refers the user on the next line to a number for
"Alcohol and youth." An old advertisement for Ripple wine
included the catchy phrase, "travels in the same circles with
beer." Add comic books to that list, I guess!
11. LC Class$cation Additions and Changes, list 230 (1988). Page 72 is
the source for the number for comics as a special subject of
art.
12. LC ~lasst$cationAdditions and Changes, list 229 (1988). Page 57 is
the source for the new special number for works about Felix
the Cat clocks and Mickey Mouse watches.
13. Library of Congress. Classification, Class Z, Bibliography and Li-
brary Science, 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress,
1980. Page lLl.The reason for footnoting all these ins and outs
of the classification schedule and its cumulations, additions,
and indexes, will probably be clear to anyone who has gotten
to the 13th note and is still reading. Most people will be ignor-
ing these notes because the LC schedules are such a labyrinth
to go through for such small apparent reward, and reading
about the page numbers where the fine points appear is not
real healthy. Better to be crouched i11 a corner reading comic
books.
14. Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings, 3rd. ed. Washington,
DC: Library of Congress, 1988. Page Hll55.416. This manual
includes a section called "Comics and comic characters" (p.
H143011-2) which addresses only the cataloging of books
about comics.
Chapter 5 .
Being the Comics Expert.
Once a comics collection has been established, whoever's in

charge becomes a de facto expert. A reputation among other experts
may take time to establish, but regular people assume that the librarian
has read all the books. A certain generation of users will expect you to
know what's happening with the X-Men, and another generation will
want to know what you remember about "The Outbursts of Everett
True." As with any specialty in librarianship, we can't be all things to
all readers. Still, it is preferable to know something!
Journalists will naturally want to interview someone when they get
on the track of a comics-in-a-library story, and they too will assume that
the person in charge is an expert. Print journalists will write down
everything you say and quote you whether you know anything or don't.
People will come to you later and remark about the inaccuracy of the
"facts" in the resulting articles. Sometimes you will be able to blame the
reporter, and sometimes that won't be fair. Inexpertise in broadcast in-
terviews is not so easy to cover up, but even television interviews can
be handled without significant in-depth knowledge. Mistakes are easy
to make even for an old hand, since comics is a big field and nobody can
display a real expertise in all parts of it. Still, it's not pleasant to hear
yourself spreading misinformation on television!
A comics librarian needs to start with a general idea of the land-
marks and directions of comics history. This a minimum requirement
for doing a good job of selection, organization or reference, the three
main intellectual functions of librarianship. Actually, looking at it
cynically, selecting and organizing can be done indifferently well and
the public need never find out, because those processes are invisible to
the user and any deficiencies can be blamed on budget problems.
103
Reference work is where it really comes down to cases. To really help

a sophisticated user with a specific research need, it can be necessary
to know quite a bit of stuff. There are few really excellent reference
books available in the comics field, because library attention to the field
is so new. Only the simplest questions can be looked up directly, and
then sometimes it's hard to know where to look. This chapter presents
a minimum of information about the history, scope, and current issues
of the comics world, that will give the new comics librarian a reasonable
chance. This is not taught in library schools. This is written not by a
historian but from the practical perspective of a librarian with fifteen
years of experience in the library working with comics, and two years
before the mast in a comic book specialty shop.
The History of Comic Strips.

Comic strips are a twentieth-century phenomenon, with a few thin
roots in the nineteenth century and earlier. Two eccentric comics
historians, Denis Gifford and David Kunzle, have made the point at
length that graphic storytelling and humorous illustration did not begin
with what we now recognize as comic strips.' If there is a point in in-
sisting that something existed before it was invented, then these two
scholars may not be so eccentric. Perhaps, on the other hand, if the idea
is that comic strips are not a separate medium of communication but
simply the logical development of cave painting and the rebus, comics
never were invented.
An emphasis on the eternal presence of graphic storytelling in
human history is not useful for a librarian in charge of a collection of
comics. If there is a fine arts library somewhere that has included all of
modern comics (Sad Sack, Little Dot, and Baby Huey too) in its collect-
ing scope, such a continuity might be believable, but art librarians and
art historians ordinarily have very little trouble in excluding comics
from their purviews. It is appropriate that a collection of comics should
have its own unique content, and its own tradition of research to nur-
ture. Studies of the history ofgraphic humor, caricature, and the history
of European broadsides are not new and separate in the way any serious
study of twentieth-century comics will necessarily be.
It is also convenient that the scope of a comics collection should
have a beginning, and the logical beginning is likely always to be with
the publication of the first of Richard F, Outcault's "Yellow Kid"
in 1895.2The Yellow Kid was the first continuing character of a batch

that by 1910 included Mutt and Jeff, Foxy Grandpa, and the Katzenjam-
I mer Kids. As has happened again and again in the brief history of com-
I1 ics, a rash of imitators and variations on a theme is the surest way to spot
an innovation.
The first two decades established the medium as something
1 unique, and masterpieces followed. Big names like "Krazy Kat" (1916)
and "Little Orphan Annie" (1924) stand out among hundreds of strips
that flourished or faded before World War 11. The 1930s were a kind
of golden age for comic strips, with "Buck Rogers" (1929), "Blondie"
\
(1930),"Dick Tracy" (1931),"Tim Tyler's L u c k (1928),and many others
going strong.
The generation of comic strips that began after the war, typified by
"Pogo" (1948),"Peanuts" (1950),and "Beetle Bailey" (1950),downplayed
storytelling in favor of the gag-a-day format which had always existed
side-by-side with the continuing type. Although "Pogo" and "Li'l Abner"
(1934) flirted with political issues, it was "Doonesbury" (1970) that
brought explicit politics to the comics page and is still the most suc-
cessful merger of political cartooning and the comics.
Currently there are only a handful of continued adventure or
drama strips running, but newspaper comics as a medium are very
healthy. The strip "Calvin and Hobbes" (1986) had reinvolved a lot of
readers with the comics page, and proved that innovation is still possi-
ble in a syndicated strip for a general audience.
A current issue of concern among newspaper strip creators,
readers and collectors, is that comic strips have been steadily shrinking
in size, and decreasing legibility has forced reduction of detail in some
strips. Many cartoonists and readers have complained to newspaper
editors about this, but the trend toward reduced space for individual
strips seem to be continuing.
Meanwhile, in the 1980s a new style of strip has been evolving,
usually carried by weekly arts or alternative papers in metropolitan
areas. The name "new wave" is sometimes applied to these strips, which
are commonly drawn more idiosyncratically than the established syn-
dicates were at first willing to embrace. Some are local, and appear in
only one newspaper, and some are self-syndicated to similar papers
elsewhere. There is a new market, in other words, outside the channels
of syndication to major daily newspapers. Some success stories (now ap-
pearing in paperback) from this new tradition are Bert Dodson, Matt
1 Groening and Lynda Barry.
The most important reference book for the librarian to have on

hand, in order to be able to distribute facts and identify names and titles,
is Maurice Horn's The World Encyclopedia of Comics. This book is
essential to the reference function of a comics library, for information
both on comic strips and on comic books.3
The History of Comic Books.

The comic book as a distinct medium dates from the mid-1930s.
Before then, there were reprint collections of newspaper strips that
began to appear around the turn of the century. These were mostly in
stiff covers and were distributed as children's books or as premiums for
newspaper readers. The physical comic book format that we know to-
day began as collections of reprinted strips as well, with the first
regularly published title being Famous Funnies starting in 1934.4 The
second title to remember is Action Comics. The first issue of Action
Comics, dated June 1938, contained the first appearance of Superman.
Superman was the first comic book superhero, and spawned a host of
imitations and derivations within a very few years. A few notable ex-
amples of early super-characters are Batman (1939), Captain America
(1941), Captain Marvel (1940), and Wonder Woman (1941). The super-
hero formula became nearly synonymous with the popular idea of a
comic book before long, and is certainly a major contribution of the
comic book medium to world literature. The period from 1935 to about
1950 is usually called the Golden Age of comic books.
After the Second World War the superhero genre of comic books
lost momentum for several years. The 1950s were distinguished by ex-
perimentation with the crime, war, western, and romance genres, and
are particularly memorable for the anti-comic book crusade of Fredric
Wertham and others, and for the horror comic books published by E.C.
Comics. The situation basically involved well-meaning parents and
educators expressing alarm over the content of a medium that had
grown in popularity by communicating to young people without adult
supervision. The situation was (and is) similar to the concern some
parents feel about the content of television broadcasts. Comic books
were the first mass medium that kids could claim for themselves, and
in general not have to worry too much about parental interference.
Newspaper comics didn't raise concerns to anything like the same
degree, because they were published in an adult medium. Motion
pictures, phonograph records and radio broadcasts, which arrived on

the scene at essentially the same time as comic strips, do not seem to
have provoked initial moral objections as media. This probably in-
dicates that adults were participating along with the kids the whole time
and weren't taken by surprise. Television and comic books also arrived
together. To complete the picture up to the present, the newest kids'
media are role-playing games, MTV, and videolcomputer games, all of
which are under suspicion by the adult world.
The 1960s are usually referred to as the "Silver Age" of comic
books. There is some disagreement and indecision about whether the
Silver Age has ended, and if so, when. The landmark issue of the Silver
Age is Fantastic Four no. 1 (dated November 1961). This comic book
marked Marvel Comics' re-entry into the superhero genre, and was
soon followed by The Incredible Hulk (1962), "Thorn (1962), The Amaz-
ing Spider-Man (1963), and The X-Men (1963). Under the editorship of
Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics Group set a more informal tone than had
yet been seen in superhero comic books, and sparked the interest of a
whole new generation of superhero fans.
The next comparably influential landmark on the comic book
newsstand involved a move away from the newsstand, when Dean
Mullaney of Eclipse Enterprises ~ublishedthe Sabre graphic novel in
1978. Distribution was through the new network of comic book shops,
and Eclipse allowed the creators to retain the rights to their creations.
Within a few years dozens of ~ublisherswere publishing graphic novels,
as well as regular comic books, for the specialty store market and were
offering more favorable terms to creative personnel, including royalty
payments and retention of rights. The 1980s are distinguished by the
five-part move to specialty distribution, more small publishers, less at-
tention to the comics code, better quality paper, and more creator
rights. Sabre by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy innovated, or par-
ticipated in the innovation of, all five trends. Some of the newer
publishers are now moving toward adding newsstand and bookstore dis-
tribution for some of their products, and currently it appears that
parallel systems are a permanent state of affairs. The Comics Code
Authority still exercises some control over the content of the newsstand
comic books, but the direct market for the most part ignores the comics
code.
Since comic books printed in black and white are relatively cheap
to ~ r o d u c e ,there have been "alternatives" to the newsstand comics
k since the beginning. Pornographic "eight-pagers" or "Tijuana Bibles"
lasted from the 1920s through the 1950s. Propaganda comics have ap-
peared regularly, against such things as communism and drug abuse
and in favor of such things as electricity, soil conservation and eternal
salvation. Educational comic books exist in great numbers as well, in-
cluding the famous Classics Illustrated. Recently there have been
dozens of comic books about AIDS.
Beginning in the late 1960s the underground comics movement
showcased a new generation of creators and publishers operating with
an almost unprecedented lack of restraint. Zap Comics no. 1, a landmark
first issue by R. Crumb, appeared in 1967. Underground comics were
at first distributed through counterculture bookstores and head shops,
and this channel contributed to the setting up of the direct distribution
system years later. The underground comix are not dead yet, and Zap
Comics no. 12 appeared in 1989, but they are an attenuated strain in the
comic book world today. The spelling "comix" has been adopted by
most people to mean undergrounds and the later "mini-comix" of the
1980s.
With the 1980s, the next wave of alternative comic books arrived
with yet another distribution system. The 1980s alternatives were the
self-published mini-comix, typically produced on photocopy machines.
These little comix are the vehicle for another generation of creators
freed not only from social constraints, but also from financial con-
straints. They cost almost nothing to produce, and are distributed by ex-
change through the mail. Creative control has been achieved.
The most recent comic-book publishing phenomenon, which took
place in 1985 and 1986, was called the "black and white explosion." A
few enterprising creators had had good success publishing black and
white comic books for the direct market, notably Cerebus the Aardvark
(1977) and ElfQuest (1978). After the appearance and wild success of
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984, dozens of small presses sprouted,
providing what at first seemed like a rich flowering of the medium. Un-
fortunately most of the new black and whites were not very well done,
if only in terms of number of misspelled words per page. The price per
issue was typically more than the standard color comic book on the
newsstand, and the comics-buying public soon ran out of money and pa-
tience. Comic book stores were stuck with boxes of expensive nonre-
turnable comic books and began cancelling orders for future issues. The
"explosion" was renamed a ''glut" by early 1987. Comics librarians were
left with the mission, if we decide to accept it, of collecting and catalog-
ing at least a thousand new short-lived titles.
Being the Comics Expert. 109
Currently new titles do appear, both in color and in black and

white, through newsstand, direct, and other distribution plans. Several
smaller publishers have suspended publication, or merged to become
slightly larger publishers, but the comics racks are neither empty nor
overloaded. The quantity is sufficient to overwhelm any single serials
catalog librarian, but the situation seems stable, for now.
Some Thoughts on Censorship.

Censorship is a curious issue, and since it often comes up in con-
nection with comic books, it seems appropriate to comment. Censor-
ship is when someone with the power to do so (a censor) makes deci-
sions about what someone else can read or view, based on the moral or
political standards of the censor. Librarians are fond of being against
censorship, but in practical terms probably do more censorship than
any other occupational group (besides evil dictators). It is usually con-
sidered unobjectionable to censor the reading matter of children, but
"adults only" messages are a kind of censorship. Comics librarians are
likely to become involved in frustrating discussions like the following,
and it can't hurt to get a head start.
Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent (1954) blamed
juvenile ~ r o b l e m from
s blackheads to murder on comic books, and ad-
vocated censorship for those reasons. This kind of accusation is still
delivered seriously, and is difficult to sort out. There is no question that
comic books contained racist, sexist, and sadist attitudes in the 1940s
and 1950s, and these sins can still be found in today's comics. Comic-
book stories are works of imagination, but not everyone is willing to
make a firm distinction between imagination and reality. Demonstrat-
ing that imaginary evils exist within a piece of fiction, and concluding
that such fantasies encourage similar evils in real life, is for some people
an obvious step. Campaigns against war toys and pornography are the
results of similar conclusions about the power of directed fantasy.
Research of the type that correlates incidences of particular crimes with
movies or television shows that depict them is interesting, but whether
such correlations help to prove anything in general about cause and
effect is hard to say.
There are other ways to look at the relationship of literature to ac-
tions. Literature, including comic books, is part of a universe of human
creation that also includes music, mathematics, science and visual art.
This people-made universe is like another dimension that stands beside

our reality. It is a dimension in which people can describe, interpret,
and make sense of the things and happenings of physical and social
reality. The ephemeral can be made eternal by good description, moti-
vations can be ascribed that the participants in history were scarcely
aware of, sequences can be established that sound more logical than
what really happened, and all in all this abstracted dimension is a very
useful tool for dealing (or not dealing) with life. The literature dimen-
sion is mutable in ways that our more real reality is not. We can all fly
with Superman, because the laws of gravity can easily be suspended.
We can go places nobody else has ever seen by describing those places
ourselves. Dreams, passions, revisions of history, whatever, all can find
fruition in the literary dimension.
Because the universe that humans have built is so complex and
complete, and so nearly corresponds to and so apparently shapes our
understanding of reality, there is a temptation to confuse the abstrac-
tion with the reality. For many people the confusion is a permanent
state of affairs. Frustration at dealing with reality can lead a person to
wage a campaign in abstraction, hoping that the results will transfer.
The cataloger in the library, for instance, may tell you that getting infor-
mation well-organized is a way of doing something about the chaos in
our society. This amounts to an attempt at sympathetic magic. Sticking
pins in comic books in the hope that juvenile delinquency will say
"ouch" is another case in point.
Whether censorship of comic books, movies, television, or of any
repulsive (to the censor) fantasy is justified in terms of social results is
ultimately a matter of faith. Believing that religion is an opiate is a far
cry from believing that religion is the cause of unfair distribution of
wealth, however. Similarly, the main social effect of directed fantasy
may be similar to the effect of daydreaming on an individual. Collective
fantasy gives the society a chance to confront issues and possibilities
safely. The fact that similar things really happen only proves that the
content of the fantasy is relevant to real life. People who look at fantasy
as a possible cause of war and crime are, as likely as not, blaming a
messenger. Comic books can be studied for insight into how the real
world works, but to prevent the reading of comic books will not change
how the real world works. Greed and economic inequity, which are
more likely than comic books to be real-life villains, cannot be changed
through censorship.
Unfair or demeaning representations of minority and majority
women and men in mass media and not usually the reasons adults
give for censorship. Too much violence, sex, or profanity are more
normal complaints, but in any case the object of the censorship
seems to be to prevent children from adopting behaviors and atti-
tudes that are portrayed in the media. If the transference was direct,
immediate, and uniformly bad, there would be nothing to discuss,
but the influence of the mass media is not so easy to pin down.
Young children spend major parts of their lives looking for role models,
however, and it's a natural impulse to try to provide the best ones
possible.
When kids look to comics or television for role models, they are
comparing the suggestions they see there with the realities they see
around them. Real adults count more than fictional ones in this regard,
because children can tell the difference. How real adults react to the
media images is an important clue that children can use in evaluating
both the real and the fictional possibilities.
An adult who is willing to censor the reading or viewing of
children is providing a model for censorship. This can be done in
a spirit of discussion and explanation, in which case the child will
be learning about rational censorship. If the explanations are be-
: lievable, the child will be impressed with how powerful and dan-
gerous fantasy can be and with how wise and persuasive adults can
be. If rational censorship is not the approach, either because the
kid doesn't believe the explanations or because the adult doesn't feel an
explanation is necessary, the child will be learning about irrational cen-
sorship. The child will also be learning about how powerful and in-
scrutable adults can be. The stuff that is being forbidden is apt to seem
all the more attractive and mysterious. Both kinds of censorship amount
to an imposed denial of the natural desire to find out about the world
in as many ways as possible. Being burned by a hot stove is worth
preventing, but being shocked by a comic book doesn't normally leave
scars. Children will usually avoid things that they find unpleasant.
Adults who insist on censoring the information intake of children, ra-
tionally or not, are telling children that they shouldn't trust their own
perceptions, and that the real role models around them are not secure
enough in their own right to counteract the negative parts of fictional
role models.
The International Comics Scene.
Although the United States can claim to have originated the

newspaper comic strip in its modern form, and likewise the superhero
in its comic-book form, in the international context the United States
does not play the only leadership role in the production, consumption
or study of comics. American comic books and strips are actively ex-
ported to most European and Latin American countries, where they are
received as contributions to rich comics traditions that most Americans
are completely unaware of. The European comics world is particularly
fertile, with creators and publishers in Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Scandinavia, and Spain, but especially in France and Belgium. Belgium,
with a built-in market in France, has released two major contributions
on the face of world literature: Tintin (1929) and The Smurfs (1957).
A typical kind of European comic book is on slick paper with
features from various countries serialized. When enough episodes of a
given feature have appeared to make a 48- or 64-page album, the album
appears in hardcover format, full color, in bookstores. Newsprint comic
books exist as well, but the top of the line comic books are a medium
of unbelievable quality when compared to the throwaway productions
of the American industry until very recently. Through the direct
market, translations of European graphic albums have begun to appear
in the United States. The British tradition is somewhat different, with
a predominant format being weekly comic papers on newsprint and
only partly in color.
The Japanese comic book industry is large, producing weekly
200-page issues of many different manga, as they are called. Until
recently Americans have had little contact with the Japanese medium,
but again with the direct market to support the ventures, since 1987
several series are being translated and published for U.S. readers.
Latin America, and ~articularlyMexico, is big comic book country.
There is a distressing tendency to introduce this fact with the gratuitous
opinion that comic books are so often read in Mexico because "the level
of literacy is so low." This "explanation" is never brought forward to ac-
count for the comic book industries of Europe, Japan, or the united
States, so perhaps it needs to be rethought. There is a tradition of adults
reading comic magazines, to a greater extent than in the United States,
throughout Europe, Japan, and Latin America. This probably says no-
thing about anybody's level of literacy. For a librarian in charge of a
comics collection to argue that comics are a subliterature for sub-
1 literates anywhere is a bit self-defeating, particularly if the librarian

wants to remain on good terms with creators, publishers, and potential
donors who typically will not trust someone with that attitude.
Fotonovelas are an important medium in Latin America, as well as
in France and the rest of Mediterranean Europe and North Africa.
Fotonovelas appear and are produced similarly to comic books, except
the word balloons are pasted on photographs rather than included in
p drawings. Actors and actresses can build reputations by appearing in
fotonovelas, and it is not uncommon for popular singers or other
celebrities to appear as guest stars. Most fotonovelas, or photoromans
as they are called in French, are of the romance or soap opera kind,
targeted at adult women readers. Since research collections don't exist,
it is probably a good idea to look out for them and include them at least
as samples in any comics collection.
Besides Japan, several Asian countries have comic book industries
and most countries have at least something similar to comics. Comic
books from Hong Kong, the Philippines, and South Korea have the
highest visibility in the United States. It is likely that improving interna-
tional communications will bring even more significant cross-
pollination among the comics traditions of the world. Even countries
without advanced printing, film or television facilities can produce com-
ics and fotonovelas. Research librarians need to look with care at both
domestic and Third World illustrated publications that may appear to
have been stapled together after hours in the back room of a discount
print-shop. In the new era of decentralized publishing, these may be
and probably are state-of-the-art comics.
The Anatomy of Comics.

There is plenty of terminology unique to comic books and strips,
and the collectors' guides by Mike Benton, Marcia Leiter and Krause
Publications each present glossaries. Another important (but quite
different) guide is Mort Walker's The Lexicon of C o m i ~ a n aThe
. ~ terms
and concepts presented here are, hopefully, the ones librarians will
need first when faced with scholars, readers, or donors who might seem
to be slipping off into another language occasionally. For more com-
I prehensive coverage, and sometimes for contrasting opinions, please
[ consult one or more of the works mentioned above.
The topics and concepts presented here are not alphabetical,
but they can be found listed in the index at the back of this book. As
a cataloger, the present writer finds it irresistible to apologize for
presenting a glossary in other than alphabetical order.
Panel Art.
The structure of a typical comic strip is a good place to start explor-

ing for terminology. A strip is usually divided into three or more suc-
cessive pictures, called "panels." Comic book pages are similarly sub-
divided into panels most of the time, and comics art in general is
sometimes called "panel art." Some scholars have styled themselves
"panelologists." There are some syndicated features which appear on
the daily comics page, such as "Dennis the Menace," "Family Circus,"
and "Frank and Ernest," that are not subdivided into panels. These are
commonly called "single panel" features. The "panel borders" around
each panel are straight for real or current narrative, and curved, wavy,
or otherwise different for flashbacks or dream sequences.
Words in with the Pictures.
Within the panels, characters are likely to communicate using

"word balloons," which have sharp tails pointing to the originating
speaker. "Thought balloons" are for communication directly from the
character to the reader, and usually have a little row of bubbles rather
than a sharp point reaching toward the originator of the thought. Non-
words or dramatic sounding words like "Bam!" "Pow!" and "Shazam!"
are used as "sound effects," a practice probably adopted from radio
serials. These are not usually enclosed in balloons, though they may ap-
pear in clouds of smoke or flashes of lightning for emphasis. ~ c t u a l l y
these are not sound effects, because no matter how hard you listen and
no matter how close to your ear you put the page of comics, you can't
hear anything. They are just called sound effects, okay? If the story has
a narrator, the narration can be in squared-off boxes which can be called
captions. Some strips, for example "Prince Valiant," use captions that
are essentially separate from the pictures and do not use word balloons.
The use of captions in newspaper comics has declined with the de-
cline of the continued strip, but comic books use the convention
regularly.
r Episodic by Nature.
A single day's portion of a comic strip is called an "episode" by Bill

Blackbeard and some other comic scholars, but the word is also used
to mean the several days, weeks or months of a continued strip that
make up a single plotline. Newspaper episodes divide naturally into
"dailies" and "Sundays," and in some cases dramatic strips will have
separate plotlines or "continuities" for dailies and Sundays going
simultaneously. Comic books are organized into "stories," which may be
episodes of a continuing saga, stand-alone stories involving continuing
characters, or completely separate stories. A single issue of a comic
book may contain from one to several stories. A unique "story title" may
be found identifying the current issue's story, and a "strip title" may also
be present identifying the continuing series of which the story is a part.
European comic books often present episodes of a feature that are only
a few pages long, but the American convention is to run stories that are
anywhere from 6 to 64 pages in length and are more or less complete
in themselves even if they are continued.
The Splash and the Indicia.
A comic book story typically begins with, or has near the begin-
ning, a "s p lash page or panel on which the individual story title, the
strip or series title, and the credits will be displayed. Splash pages have
been giving relatively full lists of credits only since the mid-1960s. In
earlier comic books there were always pages or large panels that
presented the title of the story, but typically only an artist's signature
would appear, if any credits at all were given. Writers labored in relative
obscurity for the first 30 years of comic books. Early splash pages did
not always give a unique title for stories in a series. When citing a story
from an early comic book, it is often necessary to mention the name of
the villain or some other salient feature of the story for positive iden-
tification.
The small print usually found at the bottom of the first page of a
comic book is called the "indicia," and serves the functions of a
masthead by listing addresses, corporate officers, copyright information
and ~eriodicity.The indicia almost always begin with the title of the
comic book printed in all capital letters, and this title is the basis for
consistency in comic book bibliography. The cover title of a comic book
may seem to vary wildly to the uninitiated, but the indicia title is conser-
vative about changing.
Division of Labor in the Credits.
Newspaper strips are usually done by one or two people, who will
often sign their work. Newspaper cartoonists who are doing well will
sometimes hire assistants, who normally work under close supervision
and are not credited. A comic book, on the other hand, may seem to
have been done by a committee. The credits on the splash page may in-
clude up to a dozen or so people, or all of the functions may be per-
formed by as few as one or two. The job of writing a comic book story
is often divided between a "plotter" and a "scripter." Sometimes the
script is not actually produced until the story has been completely il-
lustrated from a plot outline. The word "writer" will usually include
both plotting and scripting, but the word "storyteller" is likely to cover
some or all of both writing and drawing. Some writers produce a script
that looks much like a playscript, with instructions to the artist that
make it seem that the writer considers the artist a hired hand. Some art-
istlwriter teams appear to consider the medium as integrating words
and pictures to an extent that neither verbal nor graphic creativity is
primarily responsible for the product, and "storyteller" is a neutral word
that calls attention to this mode of cooperation.
The drawing of a comic book is commonly divided between a "pen-
ciler" and an "inker." The degree of detail provided by a penciler to the
inker varies, but the penciler at least roughs out the pages, designs the
flow of the story and laces the figures in the panels. The inker finishes
the product with pen and brush, to make it ready for printing. Some-
times the story is prepared for the penciler by another person, who
might be a more experienced penciler or who might even be the writer,
doing "layouts" or "breakdowns," which to one degree or another begin
the arrangement of events into pages and panels.
The coloring and lettering of a comic book are typically handled
by specialists. Many beginning collectors confuse the function of col-
orist with that of inker, but the two are rarely done by the same person.
Although colorists and letterers are normally given less critical atten-
tion and credit for creativity in the production of a comic book, both
have crucial influence on how the final story looks. The editor of a comic
book story is also listed in the credits. An editor is an overseer who
handles the workflow and whose job it is to maintain perspective on the

story.
Genre Distinctions.
The standard twentieth-century popular fictional and film genres

or formulas are all represented in comic books and strips. They are com-
monly applied to a series by the publisher and explicitly named or
transparently implied right on the cover. Readers often approach com-
ics, as well as other fiction, in this way, and publishers use the labels to
attract those readers. These terms are also of use in the library, and the
list of genre names used as subject headings in Chapter 4 is pretty near
complete.
'I
i
Above All, Read!
To get (and keep) a firm idea of what the comics world is all about,
it is necessary to read. The information given here should help the
beginning comics librarian to more efficiently start learning about com-
ics. Three reading chores are necessary to be reasonably current: (1)
read at least one newspaper comics page per day, (2) read, or at least
leaf through, a couple of comic books each day, one of which is some-
thing new, and (3) read something about comics every day in a book or
magazine. Even this will not finally make you an expert, but you will
have the tools to assist the experts intelligently, and the tools to help
budding scholars develop expertise. As a side-effect, you will be able to
deal with reporters and curiosity-seekers easily. You will probably find
that the more you know about comics, the more fascinating a world they
become.
Further Reading.
This is a short list of books that should appear early on the reading
list of the new comics librarian. These seven books, with follow-ups to
,I most of them, have been chosen not because they are perfect and com-
plete even in the areas each covers, but because taken together they
constitute a thorough introduction to much that is the best, and to some
of the most diverse reading the field has to offer. Besides these, new
volumes by Mike Benton (a history of American comic books) and Mar-
tin Barker (on cultural politics of comics) have been announced for
1990. Based on the previous works of these authors, both of these books
merit attention. None of these are reference books, but rather they are
books that should be read and experienced as background.
Barrier, Michael, and Martin Williams, editors. A Smithsonian Book of
Comic-Book Comics. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press; New York: H.N. Abrams, 1981. 336 p. Enough comic books
are reprinted here to give the flavor of the Golden Age of comics,
and the selection is broad and well-done. As a companion volume,
if these reprints spark your interest, the books All in Color for a
Dime (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1970; 263 p.) and its
sequel The Comic-Book Book (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington
House, 1973; 360 p.), both edited by Dick Lupoff and Don Thomp-
son, are a series of essays in appreciation of some of the same
features reprinted in the Smithsonian book.
Blackbeard, Bill, and Martin Williams, editors. The Smithsonian Collec-

tion of Newspaper Comics. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institu-
tion Press; New York: H.N. Abrams, 1977. 336 p. A selection from
about 100 comic strips, showing the whole scope of American strips
from 1896 through 1976. Once through this book, you still haven't
seen everything, of course, but this is the best general collected
volume. An earlier book in a similar vein edited by Thomas Craven,
Cartoon Cavalcade (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943) is also
excellent.
Brabner, Joyce, and Alan Moore, et al. Brought to Light: A Graphic

Docudrama. Forestville, Calif.: Eclipse Books, 1989. 78 p. Two
Christic Institute cases involving covert U.S. and Contra action in
Nicaragua are treated in what is the comic book equivalent to a
documentary film. This is something different, and an important
statement about the possibilities of comics as an alternative educa-
tional and informational medium. This might be compared to the
I
I
U.S. government's comic book, Manual del Combatiente por la
I Libertad (no imprint given, of course, but published around 1984)7
11 which advises Nicaraguan citizens to help bring down their gov-
ernment by dropping typewriters and other petty and not-so-petty
acts of sabotage. Comics are in the thick of things.
Jacobs, Will, and Gerard Jones. The Comic Book Heroes. New York:
Crown, 1985. 292 p. This is the only book to date that focuses on
the Silver Age of U.S. superhero comic books, essentially from the
beginning of the 1960s on. These are the world's most collected
comic books, and most large donations to libraries will fall into this
category. Acquiring minds need to know. The next step in com-
prehending the Silver Age is to get acquainted with some early
1960s Marvel Comics. Stan Lee's book Origins of Marvel Comics
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976; 253 p.) provides reprints of
the origin stories of the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk,
Spider-Man, Thor, and Doctor Strange. Lee's introductions give
enough of the flavor of the original informality in the presentation
of the stories to make this book the next best thing to reading the
originals.
Robbins, Trina, and Catherine Yronwode. Women and the Comics.
Guerneville, Calif.: Eclipse Books, 1985.127 p. Although the scope
of this book is so broad that many women comics writers, artists,
editors, and publishers are only mentioned, for most it is the first
time they have been included in comics history. It is a real eye-
opener to see so many women identified (over 500), with samples
of the work of most of those that are or were artists. Jerry Robin-
son's The Comics begins its less than one-third of a page of text on
women artists and writers with the line, "The female contribution
to newspaper comics has been more than merely decorative." Like-
wise Maurice Horn's Women in the Comics (New York: Chelsea
House, 1977; 229 p.) is an illustrated history of women comics
characters (Robbins calls it a "compilation of pinups") which ap-
pends a short list of female cartoonists.
Robinson, Jerry. The Comics, An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art.
New York: G.P. Putnams' Sons, 1974.256 p. The illustrations over-
shadow the text in this volume, which consists of chronological
chapters that cover twentieth-century American comic strips, with
plent y of samples. Ron Goulart's The Adventurous Decade (New
Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1975; 224 p.) covers most of the
ground of one of Robinson's chapters (on the 1930s) in more detail.
Goulart supplies separate chapteis on "Wash Tubbs" and "Tarzan,"
~ l u chapters
s organized by the different kinds of adventure strips:
E
science fiction, detective, aviation, sports, westerns, and military
strips.
Wertham, Fredric. Seduction of the Innocent. New York: Rinehart, 1954.

397 p. This is the first book on comic books. It is also the most
negative book about comic books that has ever been written. Most
people do not take it seriously as investigation, but some of the
arguments will not go away. Few people who argue against it have
actually read it. It faces complicated issues and deserves careful
consideration. As follow-up, Martin Barker's A Haunt of Fears
(London: Pluto Press, 1984; 227 p.) describes and analyses the anti-
comic book campaigns in Britain during the 1950s, and investigates
the ideologies of Wertham and of the British Communist Party.
The anticomics movement, both in Britain and in the United
States, seems to have included an uneasy alliance between com-
munists and ultraconsewatives.
Notes to Chapter 5.
1. Gifford, Denis. Victorian Comics. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1976.
144 p. Mostly reprints from British humorous papers of the
nineteenth century, connected through annotations to the de-
velopment of the comic strip.
Kunzle, David. The Early Comic Strip: Narrative Strips and Picture
Stories in the European Broadsheet from c. 1450 to 1825. (His-
tory of the Comic Strip, vol. 1.) Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1973.471 p. The second volume of this work, sub-
titled "The Nineteenth Century," appeared in late 1990. Books
on comics published by university presses are vanishingly
rare, and it is to be hoped that better library collections
will encourage more of this.
2. Olson, Richard D. The Yellow Kid Notes: The Oficial Newsletter of
the Yellow Kid Society vol. 1, no. 1 (March 1989). According to
this newsletter, the first panel appeared on February 17,1895,
in the New York World. Previous researchers have listed the
first Yellow Kid appearance as 1896. The earlier date an-
nounced in this newsletter moves the centennial of American
comics one year closer. Librarians, prepare your exhibit cases!
3. Horn, Maurice. The World Encyclopedia of Comics. New ~ o r k :
Chelsea House, 1976. 790 p. Many of the dates given in this
chapter were found or confirmed in this encyclopedia. In a
fast-moving field like comics, a fourteen-year-old book is to
some degree outdated by new developments in the industry

and by new discoveries about comics history. Work has begun
on a new edition, but the library that does not yet have this
title should not wait.
4. Inge, M. Thomas. "A Chronology of the Development of the Amer-
ican Comic Book," Oficial Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide,
no. 19, p. A-66 to A-70. New York: House of Collectibles, 1989.
This summary of the history of the comic book is updated an-
nually. This feature in the Price Guide does a thorough job of
identifying landmarks in comic book history, but it is too com-
pact and detailed to be an introduction to the field.
5. Benton, Mike. Comic Book Collecting for Fun and ProfEt. New York:
Crown, 1985.149 p. A very good general guide for the private
collector, though it is now dated.
Krause Publications. The Guide to Comics Collecting, 4th ed. Iola,
Wisc., 1989. 28 p. Free upon request by writing to "Guide to
Comics Collecting," 700 E. State St., Iola, Wisconsin 54990.
Although this is a brief introduction to comics collecting, it is
updated often and sufficient for most purposes.
Leiter, Marcia. Collecting Comic Books. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983.
162 p. This book is in some way outdated, but can be used to
compare advice with other sources. Some of the terminology
is suspicious, as for example the guide it provides to "over-
ground" comic books.
Walker, Mort. The Lexicon of Comicana. Port Chester, N.Y.: Mu-
seum of Cartoon Art, 1980. 95 p. This is not a verbal, but
rather a visual lexicon. The terminology here is more than
suspicious, it is fabricated out of whole cloth. But though the
words started out in fun, the real conventions they describe
mostly have no other appropriate vocabulary and some have
apparently been taken up by other comics professionals. This
is a serious catalog of the tricks of the newspaper cartooning
trade, but reading it is almost as much fun as reading comics.
Chapter 6.
Suggested Research Topics.
Although a recent bibliography was able to list almost 1,000

separately published English language items that might be considered
contributions to the history and criticism of comics, the number of
"substantial" (meaning book-length treatments of book-length topics)
works is considerably smaller.' A recent international bibliography of
about the same size includes periodical literature worldwide, but does
not reveal any massive tradition of scholar~hip.~ Dozens of writers, art-
ists, editors and other comics industry personnel in every country
should have book-length biographies and analyses done about them,
but few have appeared. Dozens of comic strips need volumes of discus-
sion and analysis by someone who has studied the full run, but even
fewer books of this sort have appeared. Books that collect and reprint
the complete run of a comic strip are extremely rare, although in the
latter half of the 1980s a movement to publish well-printed and com-
plete sets seems to be taking hold. This is important because availability
of complete sets is a precondition for much of the historical and
analytical work that needs to be done, especially if it is to be done well.
Most of the scholarship that has been done and published has ap-
peared in fanzines. The best single source for critical articles, inter-
views, and in-depth reviews of comic books is The Comics Journal,
published by Fantagraphics Books.3 Nemo, a journal from the same
publisher, covers the field of newspaper comic strips better than any
other, but these are not typical of the fan publications of the past 30
years.4 Most of the time the more-or-less informal world of fanzine
publishing naturally emphasizes the concerns of the amateur en-
thusiasts who publish them: collecting comics more intelligently and
getting to know the professionals in the comics industry. Older fans may
even be motivated by nostalgia, which gets books published but does

not usually satisfy the nonfan scholar.
Over the years most nearly scholarly fanzine products, generally
speaking in terms that the "mundane" or nonfan world can recognize,
have been "indexes" and interviews. A fannish index usually has as its
basis an attempt to list the contents of a comic book or strip series, or
to list the work of a single artist, in order to guide collectors in assemb-
ling collections. These indexes may include elaborate abstracts and
cross-indexes, and so become valuable for more genera1 purposes. Fan
indexes that list the work of a particular artist are the beginnings of
biobibliography, but they are only rarely done with the idea of giving
insight into the life and work of their subject. The idea is often mainly
to build and show off a collection.
Nevertheless, interviews with comics professionals are common in
fanzines and some of them are quite long and detailed. These inter-
views, along with thousands of journalistic interviews that have ap-
peared over the years in magazines, syndicated stories and local
newspapers, are of potentially great value as raw material for future
scholars.
The comics librarian is in the middle, between fandom and the
mainstream academic world. Although we are part of academia, we are
the collectors and hoarders of academia and some of our motivations are
similar to those of the private collector. We provide and organize
material for others to use, and the checklists and appreciations written
by fans help us to do that job. When academic researchers complain
that collectors have not done the work that a "real" scholar would have
done, they are only pointing up the fact that fans and collectors have not
consulted professors before putting ink to paper. Up to now, collectors
have been the ones with access to the material, and it's no surprise that
the concerns of collecting show in the ~ublicationsthey ~ r o d u c eThe .
opposite mistake, that of putting ink to paper without a collection to
consult, is at least not made by collectors.
Academic dissertations on comics are few and far between, and
major published works from university scholars or university presses
are even more rare. There are articles about comics in the journal
literature of several fields, which can be found using standard indexes,
but university libraries are in general ahead of other university depart-
ments in accepting the need to document and understand comics. To
some degree this is because scholars trained in the stud y of literature,
art or other social phenomena are at a loss when faced with all three
Suggested Research Topics. 125
rolled into one package. The current generation of high-school and col-
lege students is interested in studying comics, and we need to help
them use our collections to practice on. It is not uncommon for teachers
to send students who are interested in doing papers to a comics li-
brarian for help in choosing or refining a paper topic.
The following list of possible research topics is presented with the
hope that it will help librarians encourage thought, research and writing
about comics. It is likely that we can learn lessons about the life and art
of the twentieth century from comics that might not be as clearly visible
in other media. Comics librarians are in an ideal position to help puz-
zled students get started, or to encourage recreational readers to chan-
nel their interests productively. There are questions here that will prob-
ably appeal to whatever bent a prospective scholar possesses, be it
nostalgic, sociological, artistic, bibliographical, comparative, or struc-
tural. The topics are suggestions that can usually be adapted, limited or
expanded to fit any level of study, and the topics are recyclable. Even
if a topic is found to be already covered in the literature, a high school
student could base a report on it. Even if a topic seems impossibly
broad for actual research, a paper of intelligent speculation is often as
useful.
This list was developed over several years and through several
brainstorming sessions. A letter to the editor published in the Comics
Buyer's Guide, no. 642 (March 7,1986), brought long lists of suggestions
from Elizabeth Holden, Ron Schwartz and Ken Kirste. Smaller but still
valuable lists came from Roger Dutcher and Leonard Rifas. Ed Buch-
man and especially Lynn Scott also contributed ideas that appear here.
Thanks to all these people.
And librarians: If you help somebody with a paper and it looks like
it's going to be a good one, don't forget to ask if your library can have
ii a copy!
Questions of Defining the Medium.

1. Write a definition of comics. What are the essential character-
istics that distinguish comics from illustrated prose, or from any series
of pictures that tells a story, such as an illustrated instruction manual?
2. Are single-panel illustrated features, such as "Dennis the
Menacewor "Ripley's Believe-It-or-~ot,"comics?
3. Is the Bayeux Tapestry, which tells in pictures the sequence of
events surrounding the Norman invasion of England in 1066 A.D., a

comic strip?
4. Some comic strip creators rely more on words or more on pic-
tures, as for example most of Jules Feiffer's work might seem to em-
phasize text, and Carl Anderson's "Henry" mostly avoided words. What
are the extremes, in terms of balancing words and pictures, that are still
accepted as comics?
5. Who first used the term "comic strip," and when? In Britain
comic strips are also called "strip cartoons," and in France they are
"bandes dessinkes." What other names have they been called? Is the
fact that new vocabulary had to be introduced some kind of proof that
comics were recognizably something new?
How the Medium lmpacts the Message.
6. How does the physical format of the comic strip help to struc-
ture its content?
7. Examine the history of reductions in the size comics are
printed. Have full figures given way to talking heads? Is there less detail
in the drawing, in general? Can you draw a graph to show the way
newspaper strip size has changed over several decades?
8. As strip size has decreased, has the number of panels per strip
also decreased? What has this done to the rhythm of the humor in gag
strips?
9. With decreasing strip size, devoting a whole panel to "what has
gone before" may have become too much of a luxury. Have new strat-
egies been developed by creators of continued strips to help readers
remember what's been going on?
10. What differences are there between the drawing, pacing, etc.,
of a daily strip and its Sunday counterpart? How do these differences re-
late to the strips being a different size, and the use of color on sunday?
11. Examine definitions of the novel. Can a comic book, some of
which are called "graphic novels," really be a novel? Why or why not?
Have any been published that fit the definitions, such as Alan Moore
and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen (New York: DC Comics, 1987; 413 p.),
for instance?
12. How do printing and production techniques affect comic book
art? Do different methods of printing, latem making, etc., or different
qualities of paper produce noticeable changes in the way an artist works?
13. How is color used in comic book art? Background colors,

monochromatic backgrounds, shades, contrasts and intensity are all
deliberately manipulated in comic books. Catalog these techniques and
others, with examples.
14. Compare a comic book story in its original form printed on
cheap porous paper, to a reprint of the same story printed on shiny,
more expensive paper. What differences appear? Are there reasons
to prefer one form over the other? How much has bad quality pa-
per contributed to the ambience of comic book reading over the
years?
15. Based to some extent on pricing strategies, and on the avail-
ability of paper, the length of the "standard American comic book story
has varied widely over the years. How does length affect the content of
a comic book story, in terms of such things as number of subplots,
number of chatacters, or other variables?
The Plot and Its Progress.
16. What plotting conventions are unique to comic strips? Is the

daily (or weekly in the case of some Sunday strips) episodic structure
of continued strips consistently different from that of soap operas, sit-
coms, epic poetry, or other forms of serial fiction?
17. Trace the decline of the continuity newspaper strip as more
and more of the story line strips yield to the gag-a-day variety. Is this
tendency mainly concurrent with the decline in strip size, or are other
factors such as decreasing attention span, sunspot activity, or com-
peting media, involved?
18. How are classic tales, such as myths, fairy tales, epic poems,
Shakespeare, or old "Honeymooners" episodes, influential in comic
book stories? If fiction is based on the retelling of old plots with new
settings, what are the characteristic comic-book plots in a given genre,
and where did they originate?
19. Are comic books, with their wide distribution among young
: and impressionable readers, creating new myths in twentieth-century
cultures? For example, is protecting the secret identity from the in-
quisitive girlfriend, which is a characteristic of the Superman myth in
the popular mind, new and important enough to be considered an
analytical key to our society?
The Medium Conscious of Itself.

20. A1 Capp once had a "Terry and the Pirates" character seek
work in the "Li'l Abner" strip, and did takeoffs on Mary Worth, Dick
Tracy, and others. Sam of "Sam's Strip" consistently met characters
from other strips. Berke Breathed's Bill the Cat is considered a parody
of Jim Davis's Garfield. Find and compare occasions when one comic
strip creator references another strip or creator.
21. When a comic strip comes to an end, the characters are some-
times aware that something is happening, and sometimes not. Compare
the ending sequences of various strips.
22. A few comic books, for example, Mad, Not Brand Ecch and
Normalman, feature parodies of other comic book and comic strip
features. Compare a parody with its referent, to discover and evaluate
what the parodist thought were the distinguishing features or contradic-
tions within the original.
23. Especially in comic books, panel borders are sometimes used
for other purposes than for separating distinct and sequential drawings.
The apparent panels may form part of a larger design, for example, or
characters may be able to see and comment on action taking place
elsewhere on the page. Find and discuss a number of examples of atypi-
cal or violated panel borders.
Language in the Comics.
24. What writing conventions are unique to comics? Based on in-

terviews or other evidence, do comics writers consider their craft to be
a genuine specialty? A good source of interviews is the monthly
magazine Comics Interview (New York: Fictioneer Books, 1983- ).
25. How does language used in comic books differ from that used
in other fiction? Do word counts, for instance, show consistent differ-
ences in the size of the vocabulary used in comics and other fiction?
26. How does the language used in comic books differ from natu-
ral speech? When Spider-Man and a villain exchange more words than
blows during what otherwise seems to be a rapid and desperate strug-
gle, how and why is this different from the communication that might
occur during a real physical confrontation?
27. In the comic strip "Pogo," and to some extent in other strips,
different styles of lettering are used to establish that certain characters
Suggested Research Topics. I29
speak differently. Examine different styles, and discover what typefaces

they are meant to represent and what sort of character or emotional
state each variant is used to evoke.
28. The comic book character Thor speaks, although with doubt-
ful grammar, using the archaic English second person singular forms
"thee" and "thou," and an occasional " h a t h or "doth." What does this
practice add to the character and ambience of Thor comic books? Are
there other examples of consistently different speech patterns used to
create character identity in comics or other media, and how do they
compare?
29. How is baby-talk handled in the comics? Compare "Rose Is
Rose," where baby-talk is just defective speech directed from child to
parent, "Mother Goose and Grimm," where baby-talk is an obnoxious
attempt by an owner to express love for a pet, and Sugar and Spike,
where baby-talk is a complete language used for private commu-
nication among babies. Are there other uses for baby-talk in the
comics?
30. What words, compound words, or names are used more fre-
quently in comics than elsewhere? The refixes "super-" and "spider-"
come to mind, but are there others? What is the origin of each as
specialized comics vocabulary?
31. From listing and comparing examples of onomatopoeic sound
effects in both comic books and strips, can rules for their construction
be deduced? Do different types of words appear for different situations,
such as falling onto concrete from a great height, getting burned to
a crisp by a dragon, or disintegrating a mighty spaceship in outer
space?
32. Illuminate the role of puns in Walt Kelly's "Pogo," and in other
comic strips such as Thaves's "Frank and Ernest," "Family Circus," or
the 1989 revival of "Pogo."
33. There was a time when it was common for every sentence of
a superhero comic book to end with an exclamation point, whether the
context made it appropriate or not. Most readers didn't notice this, but
it tended to add excitement to the experience of reading the story
nonetheless. When did this practice begin and end, and what in general
is the history of the use of the exclamation point in comic books?
34. early every history of comic strips mentions a few words or
phrases that were coined by cartoonists or comics writers and subse-
quently made their way into everyday speech. Compile a glossary of
these and discuss the etymology of each.
Anatomy in the Comics.

35. Discuss trends and differences in the treatment of human or
animal anatomy, comparing different kinds of comics (romance, funny,
or superhero comic books, for example) or different time periods, or
different artists.
36. How does the physical morphology of any given kind of comics
characters differ from reality, and why? Are all funny-animal ducks ex-
aggerated in the same way, for example?
37. Why do some characters have big noses, like Snuffy Smith, and
others have big feet, like Alley Oop? Is this a signal to the reader about
how seriously we should take them?
38. Why do so many comics characters, especially babies and
animals, have such enormous eyes? Compare eye size to head size and
head size to body size among funny kids and funny animals.
Graphic Styles.
39. What are the conventions, and what have been the trends, in
the graphic composition of a comic strip? The balancing of light and
dark areas, the use of close-ups, full figures, etc., and the use of perspec-
tive, are among the routine decisions that cartoonists make and can ex-
periment with.
40. Discuss the graphic composition of a comic book page. Do
some patterns sacrifice the overall look of the page in order to help the
reader follow the story? Is the opposite sometimes true? What is the
role of light and dark areas? Of color? Of varying perspective?
41. Study trends and patterns in the use of lighting in comic art.
Do different artists place shadows and apparent light sources differ-
ently? Are there different conventions for different genres, for example
horror versus romance comic books, or humor versus adventure strips?
42. Relate George Herriman's art style in "Krazy Kat" to the fine
art school of surrealistic painting and drawing.
43. What is Bill Sienkiewicz doing to comic book art?
44. What special conventions exist for the covers of comic books?
How do covers differ from interiors of comic books, and from splash
pages? Are certain subjects preferred or avoided?
45. What styles of lettering and placement are used for logos and
titles of comic books? Compare and contrast styles and effects among
different titles, different companies, or different decades.
Writing Styles.
46. Are the symbolic and metaphoric aspects of comic book

storytelling more likely to appear in the drawing than in the text? Does
the presence of integral illustration, in other words, decrease the use
of figurative language?
47. Does the superhero genre of comic books have a unique or
cognate symbolism? Why are some of the trappings of superheroism, for
example costumes and logos, so consistently applied as to almost define
the genre?
48. Examine relationship between writing and drawing of comic
strips. When the tasks are done by separate people, how is the workflow
arranged? When a single person produces the strip, are the results
likely to be consistently different in any way from strips produced by
collaborators?
49. Which comic book artists are also writers? Examine stories by
these artists to see if there are differences between the work they pro-
duce solo and the work they produce working with another writer.
The Characters.
50. How is characterization developed in newspaper comics?
How long does it take to establish a new character? Once established,
do characters evolve over time?
51. When writers or artists change, do comic strip characters nor-
mally become different as well?
52. Some long-running comic book series have had many writers.
Do characters routinely evolve or change when new writers are as-
signed? Examine and analyse a specific character, for example Wol-
verine, Jimmy Olsen, or Archie.
53. How does John Stanley's comic book treatment of Little Lulu
differ from Marge's original magazine cartoon character?
54. Some comic book characters appear simultaneously in more
than one title, handled by more than one writer and artist. How suc-
cessful are the editors at keeping these characters consistent? Examine
and analyse a specific character, for example Batman or Spider-Man.
55. Is characterization in comics established mainly through text?
What different roles do words and pictures play in delineating a char-
acter?
The Super-Characters.
56. What is the underlying psychology of the superhero? What are
the reasons why this character type is the most successful in the comic
book medium?
57. Batman seems to fight crime as a way to avenge the deaths of
his parents. Is it really more complicated than that? What are the
motivations of other crime-fighting superheroes?
58. Choose a villain from comic books, and investigate what
specific evils the character is designed to represent. Does Dr. Doom,
for example, personify a particular political persuasion, or is he an exag-
geration of the faceless bureaucrat type?
59. Compare super-villains with superheroes. Why are the
villains, superficially at least, often more interesting? Compare The
Joker with The Batman, or the Green Goblin with Spider-Man, for
example.
60. Why was there a need for superheroes to have sidekicks in the
Golden Age of comic books (the 1940s)? Why, most often, were they
humorous characters? Examples are Green Lantern's Doiby Dickles,
The Spirit's Ebony, The Flash's Three Clowns, Captain America's
Bucky, Batman's Robin, and Wonder Woman's Etta Candy.
61. What factors determine the design of superhero costumes?
How are characters and their costumes related? Are the colors used in
costumes significant?
62. Do superhero costumes reflect the time in which they were
designed, and how do they change with time?
63. Are there differences in criteria for the creation of superher-
oines' and superheroes' costumes?
64. Are superhero costumes used ~rimarilyto hide identities, or
to establish identities?
65. Is Superman really real?
The Non-Super-Characters.
66. Are there stock characters in the various kinds of comic books?
Write a generic dramatis personae for a particular type of comic book
story, such as the teen humor comic book, the rich kid comic book, the
group of superheroes working together conlic book, or the jungle ad-
venture comic book. Are there Jungian archetypes to fit the stock
characters?
67. How and why are anthropomorphic characters (funny

animals) used in comics?
68. How come Goofy can talk, but Pluto can't? What becomes of
the role of "pet" in a funny animal context? Consider also Snoopy,
Garfield and Odie.
69. Consider Garfield's ancestry. Trace the influences of earlier
comic cats on the appearance and style of Jim Davis' "Garfield." Cats
to consider might be Krazy Kat, Felix the Cat, Cicero, Fat Freddie's
Cat, and as a presumed "descendant" of Garfield, Bill the Cat. Consult
Great Comic Cats by Bill Blackbeard and Malcolm Whyte (San Fran-
cisco, Calif.: Troubador Press, 1981; 157 p.).
70. Examine why there has been a decrease in the popularity of
the all-American comics hero, such as Steve Canyon, Terry (of "Terry
and the Pirates"), etc.
71. How have cartoonists and writers translated the fame of var-
ious movie comedians into the comics? Comic strips featuring Charlie
Chaplin and Woody Allen were done, for example, and W.C. Fields ap-
peared in "Chief Wahoo." Comic books were devoted to the adventures
of Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.
72. Compare the screen versions of famous cowboys, such as Roy
Rogers, Monte Hale, and Red Ryder, with their comic book or comic
strip incarnations.
The Setting.
73. Examine and analyse the use of setting in a particular comic
, book or strip feature, or a particular kind of feature. Are there "average"
'
rural, urban, and small-town settings, and how similar are they to
reality?
74. Subterranean societies are a common setting in comics. Find,
analyse and compare some of these. What do they have in common?
How plausible are they?
75. Hidden nations are a common setting in comics. Find, analyse
and compare some of these. What seems to be the writer's purpose in
creating such a place?
76. Why has New York City been so often used as a setting in
superhero comics, and how accurately is it used?
77. ~ n a l y s eor map any coherent comic-book universe or special
setting. ~ x a m p l e smight be the world of the Legion of Super-Heroes,
I34 Comics Librarianship.
any DC universe, the Marvel universe, the Hyborean Age of Conan, the
world of Cerebus the Aardvark, the dimensions of Dr. Strange, the
worlds of American Flagg, Dalgoda, ElfQuest, or Dreadstar, or the alien
empires of the Skrull, Kree, or Shi'ar.
78. Compare the settings of two or more comic strips that seem
to have little else in common. Examples might be "Tumbleweeds" and
"Red Ryder," "Asterix the Gaul" and "Hagar the Horrible," "Brenda
Starr" and "The Amazing Spider-Man."
79. Study how comics in general, or some subset of comics, have
portrayed a given place or culture. Of interest might be portrayals
of Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, Ancient Egypt, Cleveland,
etc.
80. How do European comics portray North American places,
such as Chicago with its perennial infestation of gangsters, or Suburbia,
or The West? How do Japanese or Latin American comics portray the
same?
81. Prepare a gazetteer of comics geography, identifying recogniz-
able real or fictional settings as an aid to future studies about the set-
tings of comics.
How Comics Relate to Current Events.
82. Discuss the relationship between the then-current social con-

text and the comic books or strips of a given time period. How are war,
depression, recession, prosperity, new technology, political campaigns
and other social events and issues portrayed?
83. According to some, Milton Caniff had the ability to depict
future events in his comic strips, for example the 1944 invasion of
Burma, the 1972 kidnapping of Patty Hearst, the 1985 Beirut skyjacking
and the Mexican earthquake. Evaluate the claim. To get started, see
Peter Poplaski's article, "Comics Prophecy: Milton Caniff Sequence
Precedes Real-Life Hostage Crisis" in Comics Buyer's Guide no. 6U
(August 2, 1985), p. 3.
84. What is the international political role of Latveria, the op-
pressed fiefdom of Doctor Doom in Marvel comics (found especially in
Fantastic Four and Super-Villain Team-Up). How would it function
diplomatically in the real world of today? Who would be its enemies and
allies, and what would be its domestic and foreign policies? Compare
it with any modern state, or with the country in "The Wizard of Id."
85. Some comics have used historical settings or characters. Ex-

amine any example of such for historical accuracy. Examples might be
Caesar and the Roman legions in "Asterix," medieval Japan in Ronin or
Usagi Yojimbo, ancient Greece in Wonder Woman, World War I1 in Sgt.
Fury and His Howling Commandos, Viking culture in "Tales of Asgard,"
any of the time-travel stories involving Superman, any western comic
book or strip, or Christ and Biblical times in religious comics.
86. Trace the changes in certain strips as they updated to reflect
changes in society. For examples, Blondie goes from gold-digger to
housewife, Mary Worth goes from depression poverty to upper middle
class, and Gordo goes from peasant to sophisticated Lothario.
87. Would a fifty-year-old daily newspaper comics page, if repub-
lished today in a newspaper, be interesting or intelligible to readers?
Find such an old page and look for differences in social context that
seem to underlie any aspects that we would not expect to see in today's
strips. Are some differences due to change or evolution within the
medium itself? Are some types of strips more dated than others?
88. Africa has been thoroughly explored in comic books and strips.
What can be learned about Africa from portrayals in jungle adventure
strips and comic books such as "Tarzan of the Apes,""Tim Tyler's Luck,"
etc. Is Africa treated any more realistically than Mars as a setting for
adventure?
89. What can be learned about changes in North American at-
titudes toward the Third World by comparing images of Asia, Africa or
Latin Arrlerica over time in comic strips or comic books?
How Comics Relate to Politics.

90. Examine how various comics creators have incorporated
political comment into their newspaper strips. Likely examples to study
are A1 Capp, Berke Breathed, Jules Feiffer, Walt Kelly, and Garry
Trudeau.
91. Trace the apparent swing from liberal to conservative in A1
Capp's political stance as represented in his "Li'l Abner" comic strip.
Capp discusses this himself in the introduction to a book of selected
reprints from his strip, called The Best of Li'l Abner (New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1978; 190 p.).
92. Describe the ways in which Harold Gray's political philosophy
was communicated in his comic strip "Little Orphan Annie." Has this
aspect of the strip been carried over into the "Annie" strip of the
1980s?
93. Examine political ideology in comic books. For example, is
the progress of the Cold War visible in American comic books?
94. Examine the relationship between superheroes or superhero
teams and the United States government. When the relationship is
adversarial, how do the heroes manage to remain patriotic?
95. How has the United States' role in war been portrayed in
comic strips, from World War I through Vietnam? Have alternatives to
simple patriotism been shown?
96. Can the ideas behind democracy, pacifism, neutrality, fas-
cism, imperialism, and either revolutionary or Soviet communism be
understood or deduced through reading war comics?
97. Is the libertarianism so apparent in Steve Ditko's noncom-
mercial comic book work also detectable in his more mainstream comic
books? When Ditko is not the writer of the story, is a political aspect
still present?
98. Are United States party politics important to the plot of many
comic book stories and continued newspaper strips? How do writers
I disguise the parties involved so as not to offend the political sensibilities
I
I of their readers, or their parents?
I 99. How are single-issue politicians and groups portrayed in
I terms of sincerity or cynicism, and how are the issues they espouse
presented? Are political reasons for activism included, or are personal
I
reasons more common?
I
100. Compare comic books distributed as campaign literature for
and against political candidates. Do they address similar issues? Based
on the level of discussion and the points of emphasis found, is it possible
to determine why the comic book format was chosen?
101. How are labor unions ~ o r t r a y e din comic books and strips?
Is it possible to understand the basic reasons for the labor movement
from any comic book produced primarily as entertainment?
102. How was antiwar activism and protest portrayed in comic
books or strips during the time of the Vietnam War, and have the im-
ages since changed? Were antiwar characters treated differently in war
comics than in other kinds?
I
103. How are feminism and feminists represented in comic books
or strips? Have the images and motivations changed over the years? Are
feminist characters treated differently in romance comics than in other
kinds of comics?
How Comics Relate to Religion.

104. Do religious issues, or combinations of religious and political
issues such as abortion and capital punishment, appear as often in comic
books and strips as more strictly political issues? Why might this be
true?
105. How is the religious right, for example the Moral Majority or
political televangelism, portrayed in comics?
106. How is "real" religion used in the plots, settings or charac-
terizations of "supernatural" comic books such as Tomb of Dracula, The
Spectre, "Deadman," or "Dr. Strange"?
107. Is it appropriate to assume that most comic strips will exhibit
an individual religious philosophy, or is there a "generic" religious
philosophy that can be deduced from the comics page?
108. Is Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" a religious strip?
109. Compare images of the clergy in comic strips, for example
"Brother Juniper," the chaplain in "Beetle Bailey," the television
preacher in "Kudzu," and the priest in "Geech." What accounts for the
similarities and differences?
110. How is religion handled in the strip "Wee Pals," by Morrie
Turner, which is multicultural and multiethnic?
111. How are churches and organized religion portrayed in com-
ics? Compare depictions in religious or church-sponsored comics with
mainstream comics.
112. How is Hell portrayed in comics? Compare Stig's Inferno,
"The Far Side," Son of Satan, and others.
113. How are devils and demons portrayed in comic books? Is
there a generic profile for such characters? Compare Jack Kirby's The
Demon, the motorcyclist Ghost Rider, Blue Devil, Hot Stuf the Little
Devil, and others.
114. How are Eastern religions represented in comic books? Is
representation usually of a specific religion, or is there a generic one
available to writers? Is a "guru" more likely to be a bad guy than a good
guy? Why?
115. Is the Jewish religion accurately portrayed in comics? Are
Jewish holidays ever noted in newspaper comics, as Christmas and
Easter commonly are?
116. what could one learn about the Muslim religion from North
American comic books and strips?
How Comics Relate to Social Pathology.
117. Superheroes are commonly crimefighters who work outside

the law. How would charges of vigilantism be answered by particular
superheroes or superheroines?
118. How is vigilantism as a social problem dealt with in super-
vigilante comic books like The Vigilante and The Punisher?
119. Examine comic strips for depictions ofviolence. How has the
use of violence changed with time, for example in "Dick Tracy"?
120. How is violence used in comic books, in comparison with
other media such as live or animated television, movies, or novels?
121. How does the presentation of violence in comic books differ
from genre to genre, for example comparing western to science fiction
comics, or from company to company?
122. Comic books have sometimes been regarded as a social path-
ology in and of themselves. How have sociologists, psychologists,
clergy, et al. criticized comic books? Can a given criticism be proven
true or false?
123. How is drug abuse presented in comic books? Examine issues
of Cloak and Dagger, or Green LanternlGreen Arrow, or other stories
featuring drug problems.
124. Does the comic books Heroes for Hope (New York: Marvel
Comics Group, 1985), which was published to help the famine relief
effort in Ethiopia, adequately reflect the Ethiopian situation?
125. Study how newspaper strip creators responded to an appeal
to devote their 1985 Thanksgiving Day strips to the subject of world
hunger. The results of the "Cartoonists Thanksgiving Day Hunger Pro-
ject" were published in book form as Comic Relief (New York: H . Halt,
1986; 91 p.).
126. Using Chester Gould's "Crimestopper's Textbook ane el at
the top of each "Dick Tracy" Sunday strip, examine trends in American
concerns about crime.
127. Trace the decline of smoking in comic strips as Americans
change their attitudes about one of their longtime habits.
Family in the Comics.

128. Examine the portrayals of marriage in comic strips. Com-
pare, for example, the Flagstons and the Bumsteads ("Hi and ~ o i s , "
"Blondie"). Have their relationships changed over the years? A book of

selected "Blondie" reprints from 1930 to 1980 has been published,
edited by Dean Young and Richard Marschall: Blondie G Dagu;ood's
America (New York: Harper & Row, 1981; 144 p.). A book of selected
"Hi and Lois" strips, with selections dating from 1954 to 1986, has been
edited by Brian Walker as The Best of Hi and Lois (Bedford, N.Y.: Com-
icana Books, 1986; 140 p.).
129. Have the family relationships in "Gasoline Alley" changed
since 1919 in ways similar to the changes experienced by their readers?
130. Why do the kids in Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics
and cartoons have uncles and aunts, but no parents?
Weight and Fashion.

131. Compare and discuss characters who are kidded about being
overweight, such as Gordo, Humphry in "Joe Palooka," Hagar the
Horrible, and Fat Stuff in "Smilin' Jack." How do these characters com-
pare with the women in "Cathy" and "Sylvia," for whom weight is not
just funny?
132. Explore comics which display an unusually high respon-
siveness to fashion, from "Tillie the Toiler," who was so fashionable that
patterns were sold for some designs, to Katy Keene, who allows her
i
readers to dress her each month. What is the relationship between real
world fashion and its depiction in comics?
i
Science and Technology.
133. Discuss assumptions about future technology that are made
in order to make science fiction comic books and strips look futuristic.
Are architectural materials stronger, or have tastes just changed? Are
communications and transportation the main areas of change?
134. Are superheroes a kind of science fiction? Do the powers of
most superheroes derive from scientific possibilities, or are they mostly
135. postulate a genetic rationale for superhero mutants in
136. Discuss the scientific or technical explanations given in the

origin story of a super-character.
137. Albert Einstein, his theory of relativity, and especially the

formula "e = mc2," have become symbols in our culture for inscrutable
intelligence. Find and compare several references to Einstein or
relativity in comic books or comic strips. What could you learn about
relativity from comics?
138. The comic strip "Dick Tracy" is particularly full of inventions
and death traps. Is there in some sense a competition going on within
the strip between positive and negative images of technology?
139. Trace the relationship of Chester Gould's fantasy technology
in "Dick Tracy" to actual developments in scientific police work.
140. Compare images of the scientist as inventor, for example
Gyro Gearloose, Doc Wonmug in "Alley Oop," and Reed Richards in
The Fantastic Four. In general, how is the professional scientist re-
garded in the comics?
People and Peoples in the Comics.
141. Comics help to shape and reinforce images of the categories

of people that their characters represent. What have American comic
strips presented as the idealized self-image of the American? Has the
image changed in 100 years of comic strips?
142. How have American comic strips portrayed the enemies of
America, especially during wartime? What kinds of negative images
were produced, that emphasized or fabricated differences between
Americans and enemies?
143. Did the American self-image become more positive and
idealized than usual during World War 11, if comic books and strips are
an indication? If so, what characteristics were exaggerated?
144. Were Japanese stereotypes shown in comic books during
World War I1 harsher than those of Germans or Italians because of
racism?
145. Were there any positive images of Japanese, German, or
Italian people in comic books or strips during World War II?
-146. Compare images of German ~ e o p l in
e American comic strips
during the two world wars.
147. How are communists depicted in American comic books or
strips? Are they always foreigners? Are they ever portrayed sympa-
thetically?
148. How have comic books responded to the civil rights move-
ment? Can a general improvement in sensitivity in portrayal of minority

characters be documented?
149. Compare images of African Americans in 1940s and 1980s
comic strips. What has happened to the drawing styles used? Has the
social status of the African American character changed?
150. Compare Native American characters in superhero comic
books; for example, Danielle Moonstar in The New Mutants, Wyatt
Wingfoot in The Fantastic Four, and Dawnstar in Legion of Super-
Heroes.
151. How are Native Americans portrayed in traditional western
comics? Compare Tomahawk, The Lone Ranger, and others. What
differences exist when the title character is Native American, such as
in White Eagle Indian Chief, or The Lone Ranger's Companion Tonto?
152. Is the portrayal of Japanese people and culture in American
comic books changing as more and more Japanese comic books are be-
ing translated for the American market? Based on the content of the
translated comics, what are American readers learning about Japan and
the Japanese?
153. Examine the "yellow peril" mentality toward Asian peoples,
as found in World War I1 and Korean War era comic books, and in the
comic book Yellow Claw (1956-1957). Compare the images in the more
recent "kung fu" genre with the 1950s depictions.
154. Compare the images of Mexican people as found in the comic
strip "Gordo" and in the comic book Love and Rockets.
155. How do images of Mexican people in United States comic
books compare with the images found in Mexican comic books, for ex-
ample La Familia Burrbn or Los Agachados?
156. Explore how cartoonists and comics writers have depicted
women through the years. Are women's roles dependent or indepen-
dent, and have they changed? Choose a long-running strip and compare
two different years, or compare whole comics pages for different years.
157. The character Miss Buxley in Mort Walker's "Beetle Bailey"
is often pointed to as a sexist image. Some newspapers have dropped
the strip for that reason. Do you think such an action is justified? Mort
Walker presents some of the evidence in his book, Miss Buxley: Sexism
in Beetle Bailey? (Bedford, N.Y.: Comicana Books, 1982; 95 p.).
158. Investigate how gay and lesbian people are alluded to (or
avoided) in the comics, including the withdrawal of Winnie Winkle's
son announcing he was gay, Gay Comix, and treatments in strips such
as onesbur bury" and "Sylvia."
159. How are old people portrayed in the comics? Study "Gasoline
Alley," where characters age along with real time, and "Crankshaft,"
who has never been young. Are there many other examples?
160. Why are "funny k i d strips like "Peanuts," "Nancy," and "Wee
Pals" so popular? Why aren't the characters animals, or adults, instead
of children? Are these supposed to be like real children, or are they
mainly used to remove the setting from real adult life, like the funny
animals are?
161. Compare "imaginary friend strips "Barnaby" by Crockett
Johnson and "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson. Why are these
strips successful? What role do the adult characters play?
162. What is a "native"? Early adventure comics often visited
faraway places, sometimes identified as Africa, and came upon dark-
skinned, ignorant people with bones in their noses and a thing for boil-
ing people in pots. Where did this offensive stock character come from,
and does it still exist?
163. Analyse the portrayal of aliens in comics. Are humanoid
aliens used differentl y than reptilian, other mammalian, or
unrecognizable aliens?
Walks of L$e in the Comics.

164. Examine how specific professions and occupations are
treated in comic strips and comic books. Pirates, doctors, lawyers, spies,
bankers, bakers, judges, hitmen, taxi drivers, cooks, housekeepers,
dogcatchers, and real estate agents all appear, along with soldiers,
police, firefighters, garbage collectors, barbers, musicians, teachers,
bank tellers, psychiatrists, plumbers, sailors, professors, criminals, den-
tists, bus drivers and office workers. Any one of these occupations could
be studied in detail to produce a profile of its cultural image.
165. Prepare an occupational directory for comic books, comic
strips, or both, to help future scholars locate images of working people
in specific jobs more efficiently.
1.66. What lifestyles are shown in comics? How do family size, type
of dwelling, apparent income level, etc., compare with "real" statistics?
How do comics depictions compare with those in other media?
167. Examine characters and themes associated with royal or aris-
tocratic families in comics, e.g., emperors, queens, kings, and titled
nobility.
Fiction by Formula?
168. List and define the various formula-based categories that are
commonly used in comics, such as humor, underground, war, western,
funn y animal, funny kid, spy, detective, kung fu, funny ghost, funny
military, romance, science fiction, fantasy, horror, teen humor, or crime
comics. Are they all represented in other media?
169. Trace the popularity of the various categories of comic strips
or books by charting the number of, for example, detective strips that
were running at selected times, and the number of detective comic
books that were ~ublishedin selected months. Do the numbers in-
crease and decrease together?
170. Perhaps it is time to reexamine the relevance of the 1960s
revolutionary stance of underground cartooning. Are underground
comix still a recognizable genre, except historically speaking?
171. Bill Griffith's underground comix hero Zippy appears in such
papers as the San Francisco Examiner and the Detroit News. Has Zippy
changed? Have the establishment newspapers changed? Or has nothing
changed and is laundry still the only deeply viable antimetaphor?
172. Trace the history of the western story in comic books, from
Western Picture Stories in 1937, listed in the Oficial Overstreet Comic
Book Price Guide (19th ed.) as the first western comic book, to the
French parody Lucky Luke or to the hybrid westernlscience fiction
comic book Scout: War Shaman. Has the West been won in comic
books, or is there more to come?
173. Romance or love comic books have all but disappeared from
the American market, or have they? Have increasingly complicated and
dramatic personal relationships among superheroes and superheroines
attracted some of the readership that used to buy the soap-opera style
titles?
174. How did war comics respond at the time to the Vietnam war
(1961-1975)? Compare Tales of the Green Beret (1967-1969) with The
'Nam (1986- ) or Vietnam Journal (1987- ).
175. What war comics have portrayed the problems of Vietnam
veterans? How have other kinds of comics used this theme?
176. Compare and contrast humor strips across the nearly 100
I
years of newspaper comics. What has happened to ethnic, sexual, matri-
monial, or golf jokes?
177. IS Archie Andrew America's typical teenager? Has he ever
been? Trace the popularity of the teen humor comic book. When was
the heyday of Archie and his pals and imitators? Michael Uslan and
Jeffrey Mendel have edited a book that will be a good place to start: The
Best of Archie (New York: Putnam, 1980; 255 p.).
178. A new subgenre of fantasy comic books seems to have begun
with the publication of Conan the Barbarian no. 1 in 1970. This "sword
and sorcery" comic book soon had spinoffs and imitators. Trace the
development of this relatively new kind of comic book. Does it have
roots within earlier comic books? What is the connection with the
newer comic books based on "Dungeons and Dragons" and other fan-
tasy role-playing games?
Specialized, Educational, Propaganda,

and Pornographic Comics.
179. Find and describe a comic strip developed and produced for
a specialized audience. Examples might be, strips in military publica-
tions such as Stars and Stripes, strips in professional or occupational
journals, and strips in college newspapers.
180. The AIDS crisis has been the occasion for dozens of educa-
tional comic books, presumably targeted at high-risk populations. One
of the earliest educational comic books was Doc Carter VD Comics in
1949. What is the reasoning behind this choice of format to deliver in-
formation about sexually-transmitted diseases?
181. Examine any educational or propaganda comic book for ac-
curacy in the information it presents. Compare, if possible, two
different nonfiction comic books with similar themes.
182. Examine how comic strip characters were presented in the
highly graphic and overtly sexual "eight-pagers," small comic books pro-
duced in Mexico that plundered United States comic strips for their
characters.
Past'and Future in the Comics.
183. Dozens of strips set in the future treat our future as their past.
Sometimes time has caught up with the predictions. How accurately
has the future been portrayed in such strips as "Flash Gordon," rick
Bradford," and "Buck Rogers"?
184. How was the future foreseen in the comics of the 1940s? How
did or might the war have affected that viewpoint?
185. Examine the view (or views) of history presented in comics.
What historical periods seem to be of the most interest, and why?
186. Discuss time travel as a device for routine changes of setting
in the comics. Examples can be found in "Alley Oop," in Superboy join-
ing the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the treadmill used by The Flash.
187. Propose an anthology of time-travel stories that would show
the comic-book approach to this literary device to its best advantage.
International Scene.
188. Compare and analyse the differences in style between United
States comics and those of another nation, for example, France, Italy,
Spain, Norway, Japan, Mexico or Canada.
189. What special difficulties arise in translating comics into or
out of English? Compare comic books or strips that have been
translated, with their originals. Are some of the subplots missing in
translated comic books? Can humorous strips always be translated?
190. In translating to Hebrew or Arabic, how is the fact that these
languages read from right to left taken into account in the sequencing
of the pictures?
191. What is the influence of Japanese comics and animation on
American comics? Has this influence been seen in newspaper strips and
newsstand comic books, or is it so far confined to comic books in direct
distribution?
192. Trace the graphic album or graphic novel format from its
European origin to its adoption by most American companies.
193. Are there comics in China, the Soviet Union, or other social-
ist or communist countries? Examples that have been published in the
United States and labelled "comics" do not seem at first glance to be
connected to the rest of the international comics scene. See The People's
Comic Book (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1973) and Soviet Humor:
The Best of Krokodil (Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1989).
!
Relating Comics to Film, Video, and Theater.
194. Demonstrate the influence comics have had on the silver
screen by preparing an annotated filmography of comics characters who
have been translated into movies or serials. Examples are: Dick Tracy,
Blondie, Flash Gordon, Superman, The Batman, Howard the Duck and
Popeye.
195. What changes are made when a comics character's adven-
tures become the basis of a movie, television show or animated series?
Choose a character, like The Incredible Hulk, Dennis the Menace, Red
Ryder, or Wonder Woman, and compare its treatment in two or more
media.
196. Some artists have said that the study of cinematic technique
has been important in developing their own styles of graphic storytell-
ing. Find evidence in interviews and other sources, and in the work of
comics artists, that will illuminate the extent of this kind of debt to
another medium.
197. Analyse the treatment of any movie in a comic book adapta-
tion. How successful or unsuccessful was the change of medium? What
changes were made? For examples to study, see the titles beginning
with the word "movie" in the Oficial Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide
(p. 275-277 in the 19th ed.).
198. Are comics getting more sophisticated, as their publishers
periodically announce, or does this question even make sense? In com-
parison with television, what are the directions in which change seems
to be happening? How do the new comic book publishers and the new
distribution schemes compare with the advent of cable networks, in-
dependent stations, and public access television? If less sophisticated
shows or comics can be targeted toward a less sophisticated audience,
is the net result more sophistication?
199. Compare theater to comic books. The media are similar in
that the text is mostly dialogue. Can a reasonably successful comic book
be drawn from any reasonably successful play script, or do difficulties
arise which help to point out differences between the two kinds of
storytelling?
200. Compare various adaptations of Shakespeare's plays to comic
book format. Are they novelties, or do they succeed in making the plays
accessible to a wider audience?
'201. A number of comics characters have been used to make
musical comedies. Have these adaptations been similar in terms of
changes to individual characters, change -in cast of characters, or
other aspects? Examples of characters are Li'l Abner, Little orphan
Annie, Charlie Brown, Doonesbury, Neil the Horse, and Super-
man.
Relations Among Graphic Media.

202. "Pop art" adopted comics briefly in the 1960s, and artist Roy
Lichtenstein became famous for paintings that looked like panels stolen
from comic books. "Modern art" in the comics, on the other hand, is
practically a standing joke represented by nonsense squiggles and
usually hung upside-down or made by chimpanzees. Explore the rela-
tionship between fine-arts painting and comics art.
203. Editorial cartooning is a different but parallel medium to
newspaper comics, and sometimes the distinctions blur. What are the
distinctions? Choose an event that has attracted the attention of car-
toonists both on the editorial page and on the funnies page. Are there
differences in timeliness? On which page does "Berry's W o r l d belong?
204. When a comic book character gets a comic strip (for example,
Spider-Man or Archie), or when a comic strip character gets a comic
book (for example, Beetle Bailey or Blondie), what changes are made?
Is the cast of characters different? Do the characters themselves behave
differently?
Multi-Medium Studies.
205. The character Batman began in a comic book, and has been
featured as well in a newspaper strip, in movie serials, in a live-action
television series, in animated cartoons, and in two full-length movies.
The character has been through some drastic changes. What are the
"essential" Batman characteristics? When the character is reinterpreted
in one medium, do stories in the other media change to conform?
206. The readership of American comic books is mostly boys and
young adult men. Do the portrayals of women in comic books, par-
ticularly those most favored by the male readership, differ from por-
trayals in media with a more homogeneous audience, such as comic
strips, television, film, or science fiction?
207. Many comic books and strips are based on sources in other
media: Tarzan, Master of Kung Fu, the many Dracula series, Star Wars,
Mickey Mouse, Doc Savage, Dallas, The Muppets, and dozens of other
t television show spinoffs. Analyse the use of source material in one or
more of these, and then catalog the changes made for the comics
medium.
208. Comic books that are based on toys often end their runs soon
after they begin, but some seem to persist. Examine the Marvel comic
books The Transformers and G.I.Joe, A Real American Hero in relation
to their manifestations in the toy, television, and children's book media
for clues to their longevity.
209. What good things are there about comics that make them
different from other media?
History and Progress of the Industry.

210. Research and write a history of any of the companies that pro-
duce or have produced comic books, or that print and distribute comic
books. Early art "shops" that produced comic book stories for pub-
lishers, and the more recent specialty wholesalers that supply the direct
market need to be chronicled, as do the publishers themselves.
211. What individuals and organizations have contributed to the
history of comics, and how? Compile a list. The possibilities for
biography and evaluation seem endless. Examples that need to be writ-
ten more about include nearly every name in the index to this book, or
in the index to any book about comics.
212. How do the products of independent comic book publishers,
i.e., small comic book publishers, differ in content and style from those
of the big companies? Compare the small publishers of the 1940s to the
giants of that time. Are any of the same differences visible?
213. Investigate the history and workings of newspaper syndica-
tion of comic strips.
214. Examine the difficulties and successes of self-syndicated car-
toonists and their strips, for example Nicole Hollander's "Sylvia."
Censorship and Self-Regulation.

215. Explore censorship of comic strips, from Southern neurs-
papers' refusing to print Kelly's "Pogo" strips dealing with integration,
to ~ t a papers'
h deleting the pipe from Mark Trail's mouth.
216. Should children be allowed to read whatever comic books
they choose? If restrictions are appropriate for young children, at what
age should unlimited freedom to read be granted, and why?
217. What is the Comics Code? What difference did it make when
it began to be used in the 1950s?
218. What differences are there between comic books of the 1980s
that display the Comics Code seal, and those which do not display the
seal?
219. Should comic books adopt a rating system (G, PG, R, X) like
movies?
Relating to the Readers.
220. What are the demographics of comic book readership? Who

reads comic books, and why?
221. Newspapers in various parts of the United States run periodic
surveys of their readers to determine which comic strips are favorites.
From the results of these surveys, can regional or historical preferences
for various types of strips be determined?
222. Examine the relationship between marketing and content in
comic books. How are comics intended for children different from
those aimed at adults? How do "girls"' comics differ from other
comics?
223. Investigate ways newspaper comic artists and writers have
asked for reader participation. There were contests for naming Blon-
die and Dagwood's son and daughter, A1 Capp ran an ugliest girl
contest, Milton Caniff held a vote for the best American movie, and
Tom Armstrong let the readers help name Marvin's teddy bear. Does
this happen in comic strips more often than in other entertainment
media?
224. Comic books commonly print reader reaction in letters
pages, which are often a very interesting part of each issue. Is public
communication with the audience so extensive and institutionalized in
any other entertainment medium?
225. Analyse the letters pages of various comic books. What are
common concerns? Do the readers appear to influence the editors and
creators of the comic books?
226. On television, it's usually the dumb one, like Gomer on the
i "Andy Griffith Show," or the immature one, like Radar on "M.A.S.H.,"
: that likes comics. Even the comic strips do it, in "Beetle Bailey,"
Y for instance. What is the comics medium's image of itself and its
readers?
Journalists.
227. Were there newspaper articles on comic books, comic strips,
and their writers and artists, in the 1940s? How did the public of that
time seem to view comics?
228. Sometimes it seems like every newspaper article about comic
books begins and ends with, "Slam! Bang! Pow! Comics aren't just for
kids anymore!!!" Collect and study a number of newspaper articles
about comic books. Is it fair to assume that, unlike specialty journalists
who cover sports, television, books or movies, no special knowledge or
information is required to write about comic books? Discuss the con-
tradictions inherent in treating a fifty-year-old medium as though its
products were ephemeral and its meanings self-evident.
229. Is newspaper cartooning, either editorial or entertainment, a
branch of journalism? Is it "commercial art"?
230. Why doesn't the New York Times have comics? Why doesn't
USA Today have comics?
Extra Credit Questions.
231. What does "Notary Sojac" mean?

232. Why can't some people understand Gary Larson's "The Far
Side"?
Notes to Chapter 6.
1. Scott, Randall W. Comic Books and Strips: An Information Source-
book. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1988.152 p. This book lists a
basic research library of 100 titles, plus 889 other annotated
entries for books and serials about comics, or that collect and
reprint older comics. Entries are limited to works in the En-
glish language published since 1970. The index to Comic Books
and Strips will ~ r o v i d starting
e points for many of the research
topics suggested here.
2. Neumann, Renate. Bibliographie zur Comic-Sekundarliteratur,
Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 1987. 267 p.
3. The Comics Journal. Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, 1977- .
This periodical started life as The Nostalgia Journal in 1974,
Suggested Research Topics. 15 1
but has lost the emphasis on nostalgia and taken to serious

criticism of the comic book medium. It is not indexed. The
publisher's address is 7563 Lake City Way, Seattle, Washing-
ton 98115.
4. Nemo. Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, 1983- . This periodi-
cal includes articles and interviews on newspaper comics, but
also reprints of early strips. It is not indexed.
Chapter 7.
Comics Research Libraries.
The 48 libraries in this list all have some special collecting interest
in the area of comics or cartoons. Many of the collections listed here fit
into related but more general collections. Therefore, each entry begins
by describing the part of each collection that makes it of special interest
to comics researchers, and then, if appropriate a few words are given
about the scope of the general collection at that institution.
Most of the libraries listed will provide photocopies. In every case,
however, libraries will not photocopy materials if they believe that to
do so would violate copyright or privacy (in the case of personal letters
or papers), or if the act of photocopying would endanger fragile
materials.
Call or write these libraries before visiting. Most keep their collec-
tions in rare book rooms and restrict their use in the interest of preser-
vation. By contacting them ahead of time, you will have established that
you are a relatively serious user, and the librarians will be better
prepared to handle your needs.
Boston University.
Boston University's library is the depository for Harold Gray's

original art for "Little Orphan Annie." This holding is the source for
what is hoped to be an ongoing series of quality reprint volumes from
Fantagraphics Books. This collection focuses on the papers of mystery
and science fiction writers, and film, radio, and television writers,
performers, etc. The collections built around papers of individuals are

then supplemented by their printed works.
Contact: Director, Special Collections, Mugar Memorial Library,
Boston University, 771 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Massachusetts
02215. Phone: (617) 353-3696.
Bowling Green State University.
Bowling Green State University's library holds over 36,000 comic

books of all descriptions, and extensive comics-related miscellany in-
cluding Big Little Books, famines, pulps and trading cards. The comics
are part of the Popular Culture Library, which is undoubtedly the
largest collection anywhere of everything on paper that has ever been
called "popular culture." Posters, manuscripts, files, artifacts, 65,000
books and hundreds of magazine titles cover all kinds of popular enter-
tainment and mass culture in depth. The books include major collec-
tions of science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, westerns, romances, and
juvenile series fiction. A related collection, the Sound Recordings Ar-
chive, includes 450,000 sound recordings, mostly of popular music.
Bowling Green offers degrees in Popular Culture Studies, and this col-
lection supports that program, but also is seen by scholars in popular
culture studies worldwide as a place to get advice and referrals, and to
renew embattled enthusiasms. Although this collection began with and
is the "flagship collection" of the popular culture studies movement,
fans and "alternative" scholars are advised to take it seriously as well.
Fanzines are collected as a matter of course, and the definition of
popular culture used includes a lot of what other collections might con-
sider radical and counter-culture materials.
The holdings (besides comics) are 75 percent cataloged on OCLC.
The comics are well organized within the library and can be found using
internal finding aids (notebooks). Photocopies can sometimes be sup-
plied, but the collection is noncirculating and interlibrary loan is not
available.
Contact: Popular Culture Librarian, Jerome Library, Bowling
Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403. Phone: (419)
372-2450.
California State University, Fullerton.
California State University at Fullerton holds about 2,000 comic

books, including some underground comix, which are part of a larger
collection including science fiction manuscripts, Star Trek scripts, and
a circulating collection of most kinds of popular fiction.
Contact: Archivist, Archive of Popular Culture, California State
University Library, Box 4150, Fullerton, California 92634. (714)
773-3444.
Cartoon Art Museum.
The Cartoon Art Museum holds a broad collection of original daily

and Sunday comic strip art, editorial and political cartoons, animation
cels, magazine panels, comic book pages and covers, and cartoon-
related toys. The museum holds periodic programs and exhibits, and
membership is open to the public.
Contact: Administrator, Cartoon Art Museum of California, 655
Third St., San Francisco, California 94107. Phone: (415) 546-3922.
The Cartoon Museum.
The Cartoon Museum is a private museum, which includes original

art for more than 2,500 cartoons of all kinds, especially including comic
art. The museum supports itself by selling original cartoon art and car-
toon miscellany, including duplicate books from the owner's very ex-
tensive library of books about cartooning. Research questions will
f
be handled by telephone if they do not require extensive search-
ing.
Contact: Jim Ivey, The Cartoon Museum, 4300 S. Semoran Blvd.,
Suite 109, Orlando, Florida 32822. Phone: (407) 273-0141.
College de S herbrooke.
The Collkge de Sherbrooke collects American comic strips and

comic books, but mostly European and Canadian publications in
French. The largest and most complete collection of European comics
in North America (more than 5,000 items classified with 300 books and
theses). A reference guide is in preparation. A course on comic art and
narrative has been given since 1970.
Contact: Richard Langlois, Information Center on Comics, Col-
lkge de Sherbrooke, 475 Parc St., Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada JlH
5M7.
Comic Research Library.
The Comic Research Library is a private collection of newspaper

strips and related items, with over 200,000 daily strips of over 250 titles
from the 1920s through the 1950s, sorted and organized by title for easy
use. Numerous Sunday pages are filed chronologically. Over 400 books
of the Big Little Book and Cupples and Leon type, and over 1,000 comic
books from the 1930s through the 1950s are collected because they
reprint newspaper strips, and to sample various comic book genres.
Several hundred reference books and periodicals about comics are in-
cluded, with minor sections on animation, magazine and editorial car-
toons, and comics from around the world. Reference questions are
handled through the mail. The curator is a library school graduate.
Contact: Doug Kendig, Curator, Comic Research Library, Tappen,
British Columbia, Canada VOE 2x0. Phone: (604) 835-8529.
Comics Magazine Association of America.
The Comics Magazine Association keeps a small library of about

2,000 comic books and some books about comics. This is the industry's
self-regulation body that was set up in the 1950s to monitor the content
Comics Research Libraries. 157
of comic books (the Comics Code people). Although aiding research is

not the purpose of the organization, and the library is not normally
available for public use, it does function somewhat as an industry
association in providing information.
Contact: Executive Secretary, Comics Magazine Association of
America, Inc., 60 E. 42nd St., New York, New York 10165. (212)
682-8144.
Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Fairleigh Dickinson University's library holds 4,000 pieces of

original comics art, with 1,250 volumes of supporting material, and
some comic books. The late Harry Chesler donated a large portion of
the art collection, and for several years worked on the collection at the
library a couple days each week, guiding visitors and answering ques-
tions. Chesler ran one of the art studios that created comic book stories
on contract for various publishers during the Golden Age of comic
books (1940s). An exhibition catalog is available for $5.50, and list of the
artists represented in the original art collection is available free. An old
but still useful list of the supporting books is available from Comic Art
Collection, MSU Libraries, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1048, or on
ERIC fiche E D 207 572.
7
Contact: Curator of Special Collections, The Harry "A ' Chesler
Collection of lllustration and Comic Art, Fairleigh Dickinson Univer-
sity Library, Madison, New Jersey 07940. Phone: (201) 377-4700.
Indiana University.
The Lilly Library at Indiana University has an "extensive" Marvel

comics collection, and " much Brenda Starr original art by Dale
Messick. The collections include science fiction, fantasy, detective
fiction, and filmscripts. This library does not seem to have been on the
"popular culture studies" track and is a little embarrassed by the comics
it does have, preferring to emphasize a "folklore" orientation which in-
cludes important fairy tale collections.
Contact: Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

47405. Phone: (812) 335-2452.
Iowa State University.
Iowa State University's library has the best underground comix col-
lection in a research library anywhere, still growing with over 3,000 of
them already acquired. The collection also includes 84 E.C. comic
books, which is also probably the best research library collection of
E.C.'s, and some science fiction.
Contact: Department of Special Collections, The Parks Library,
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 500ll. Phone: (515) 294-6672.
Kent State University.
Kent State University's library has a collection of 125 comic books,

some of them Golden Age and some of them in the Spanish language.
The collection holds original art by Chuck Ayers, Rog Bollen, and Tom
Wilson. The Saalfield "Big Little Book-style books are in the collec-
tion, which also includes Raymond Chandler, Stephen R. Donaldson,
movie and television material, and the Saalfield Publishing Company
archives.
Contact: Curator of Special Collections, Kent State University
Libraries, Kent, Ohio 44242. Phone: (216) 672-2270.
Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress has a comic book collection of about

71,000 items (the largest collection in any library), and keeps them
alphabetically arranged in covered, acid-free archive boxes. Although
the collection in theory should be complete because of copyright
depository, for many years comic books seem to have disappeared

regularly. In addition, until the 1970s the comics were not well pro-
tected from light. Consequently, the older collections are brittle and in-
complete. A researcher who recently had the experience of working
both in the Library of Congress and the Michigan State University col-
lections had an interesting way of comparing the collections: "The MSU
collection was built by donations from collectors, and reflects what the
collectors thought was valuable. The LC collection has what collectors
didn't think was valuable enough to steal." The opinions of collectors
are not the same as the needs of any given scholar, of course, and the
Library of Congress collection was still important to the research of the
person who made this comment.
The Library of Congress does not catalog its comic books, nor does
it make a list available. A list of the LC collection as it was when there
were about 45,000 comic books in it is available from Comic art Collec-
tion, MSU Libraries, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1048.
Contact: Head, Periodical Section, Serial and Government Publi-
cations, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20015. Phone: (202)
707-5467.
Michigan State University.
The Michigan State University Library's comics collection includes

about 55,000 comic books, and over 3,000 additional Golden Age comic
books are held on black-and-white microfilm. The collection includes
over 5,000 books, magazines and fanzines about comics, and tries to col-
lect every reprint volume and book about comics. The collection in-
cludes 530 scrapbooks of daily newspaper strips representing nearly
100 titles from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Strong sample collections of Big Little Books, fotonovelas, and tie-
in books are maintained. Books about animation, cartooning, and about
Walt Disney Productions are included. A large vertical file holds clip-
pings and miscellanea about most topics, persons and institutions in the
comics field, and also the Eclipse Comics dead issue files. A comic book
i writers' collection has been begun with some comic book scripts and
the complete account books of Gaylord Du Bois, who wrote for Dell and
Gold Key comics (Western Publications) from the late 1930s until the
late 1970s.
The Comic Art Collection is part of a larger popular culture collec-
tion, which includes popular fiction of every kind. The related Ameri-
can Radicalism Collection will be of interest to researchers looking for
alternative viewpoints and, by policy, materials that fit both the comics
and the radicalism categories are especially prized. Organized comics
fandom has been important in the growth of this collection through ex-
tensive donations and publicity. A quarterly newsletter is available free
or by exchange to librarians with a continuing interest in comics.
The collection is completely cataloged, and over 70 percent ap-
pears in OCLC. Some photocopying is available, but all materials are
noncirculating and unavailable for interlibrary loan.
Contact: Librarian, Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection,
Michigan State University Libraries, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-
1048. Phone: (517) 355-3770.
Murdoch University.
Murdoch University's library holds underground comix, and

samples of most other comics. The collection also includes extensive
science fiction, both books and periodicals.
Contact: Librarian, Alternative and Contemporary Documents,
Murdoch University Library, P.O. Box 14, Willetton, 6155 Western
Australia.
Museum of Cartoon Art.
The Museum of Cartoon Art has 60,000 pieces of original news-

paper comics and cartoon art, with extensive collections of the works
of Hal Foster, Walt Kelly, Gene Byrnes, Tad Dorgan, and Chester
Gould. The collection also includes about 800 animated cartoons and
a strong Disney collection. Samples are maintained of ~i~ Little Books,
foreign comics, fanzines, cartoon-related games, posters, pulps, and

underground comix. Special exhibits are changed quarterly, with
celebrity guest lectures the first Sunday of each month, except holiday
Sundays. A brochure is available for a stamped, self-addressed
envelope.
Contact: Museum of Cartoon Art Library, Comly Ave., Port-
chester, New York 10573. Phone: (914) 939-0234.
National Library of Australia.
The National Library of Australia holds an extensive collection of

comic books assembled by the late Australian comics historian John
Ryan. Besides writing his monumental history of Australian comics,
Panel by Panel (Stanmore, N.S.W.: Cassell Australia, 1979; 223 p.),
Ryan was active by correspondence in U.S. comics fandom and the
acquisition of his collection by the National Library of Australia was
an occasion for celebration among fans and scholars in both coun-
tries.
The Ryan collection is the only major collection of Australian
comics in the public domain. An inventory of the collection, MS6514,
81 pages, can be purchased as a photocopy from the Manuscripts Li-
brarian.
Contact: Manuscripts Librarian, National Library of Australia,
Canberra, ACT 2660 Australia.
New York Public Library.
The New York Public Library's Rare Book and Manuscript Divi-
sion holds 25 archive boxes of comic books, plus a sampling of educa-
tional and foreign-language comics.
Contact: Librarian, Rare Book and Manuscript Division, New York
Public Library, Fifth Ave. and 42nd St., New York, New York 10018.
Phone: (212) 930-0801.
Northwestern University.
The Northwestern University Library holds ll,500 comic books

and about 100 Big Little Books, plus some fanzines. The collection is not
being actively enhanced.
Contact: Curator, Special Collections Department, Northwestern
University Library, Evanston, Illinois 60201. Phone: (312) 491-3635.
Ohio Historical Society.
The Ohio Historical Society holds two oversize scrapbooks con-

taining "King of the Royal Mounted comic strip page proofs in its Zane
Grey materials.
Contact: Archivist, Ohio Historical Society, Archives-Library Divi-
sion, Interstate 71 and 17th Ave., Columbus, Ohio 432ll. Phone: (614)
466-1500.
Ohio State University.
The Ohio State University's Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic

Arts Research Library holds extensive original art of Milton Caniff, Will
Eisner, and Dick Moores, and original editorial cartoon and comic strip
art by several hundred artists. Archives of the Association of American
Editorial Cartoonists and of the National Cartoonists Society have been
deposited. The OSU holds the She1 Dorf Collection of comic strips and
related materials, and the Woody Gelman Collection of original Winsor
McCay cartoons. The collection includes a few thousand comic books,
and a collection of books on cartoon art. Cataloging is on OCLC, and
materials do not circulate. The collection also includes movie posters
and stills, and archives of photographers.
Ohio State sponsors a Triennial Festival of Cartoon Art. A
brochure is available.
Contact: Curator; Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic Arts Re-
search Library, 27 West 17th Ave. Mall, Wexner Center for the Visual
Arts, Room 023L, Columbus, Ohio 43210. Phone: (614) 292-0538.
Oldenburg University.
Oldenburg University Library has about 4,500 British comic

papers from the 1880s through the 1930s, mainly those issued by the
Harmsworth Brothers (later Amalgamated Press). These are stored in
the rare books division of the library, and available to all bona fide
researchers. This collection was the basis of the exhibit cataloged in
Kevin Carpenter's Penny Dreadfuls and Comics (London: Victoria and
Albert Museum, 1983).
Contact: Oldenburg University Library, Uhlhornsweg, 2900 01-
denburg, West Germany.
San Francisco Academy of Comic Art.
The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art's library includes 4.5

million comic strips and several thousand comic books. Just the comic
books would make this private library rank high among comics research
libraries, but comic books are not really an emphasis. The newspaper
strip collection overshadows the rest of the collections in the building,
and overshadows every other newspaper strip collection. For com-
parison, the Michigan State University collection of strips is the largest
in a university library, and it numbers about 300,000 strips. Most proj-
ects to research and reprint comic strips either begin or end at the San
Francisco Academy of Comic Art.
The Academy library also includes collections of science fiction,
crime fiction, pulp magazines, and a large reference book collection.
Use is by appointment, and some photocopying is available.
Contact: Bill Blackbeard, San Francisco Academy of Comic Art
Library, 2850 Ulloa, San Francisco, California 94ll6. Phone: (415)
681-1737.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
The Smithsonian Institution has lent its name to two important

reprint books, one of comic strips and one of comic books. This has
brought many people to conclude that the Smithsonian must have some
kind of amazing comics collection, which just isn't true. The Smith-
sonian does have a few important specialized collections, however. The
Archives Center of the National Museum of American History owns 28
bound volumes of "Winnie Winkle" strips by Martin Branner. The
"Winnie Winkle" volumes cover 37 complete years of dailies and
Sundays, 1920, 1922 through 1945, and 1950 through 1961. An Ed
Dodd (Mark Trail) collection includes abstracts of 11 "Outdoors with
Ed D o d d radio programs. The Mrs. Curtis B. Patterson collection
is a comic book collection dated 1901 through 1917, and includes
three "Foxy Grandpa," one "Pore Lil Mose," one "Happy Hooligan,"
one "Military Willie," one "Charlie Chaplin," one "Gumps," and nine
"Buster Brown" reprint books. A small collection of Superman art,
scripts and promotional material was donated by DC Comics in
1987.
Two loose-leaf volumes of William Moulton Marston's letters
and papers, and 13 bound volumes of comic books featuring "Wonder
Woman," dated 1941-1948, are part of the Special Collections of the
Museum.
Contact: Chief, Special Collections, National Museum of American
History, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Washington, DC 20560.
Phone: (202) 357-1568.
Southern Illinois University

at Edwardsville.
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville has 1,500 comic

books, which it has begun to catalog on OCLC.
Contact: Rare Book Librarian, Lovejoy Library, SIU, Edwards-
ville, Illinois 62026. (618) 692-2665.
State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
The Mass Communications History Center of the State Historical

Society of Wisconsin has August Derleth's comics collection, which in-
cludes dozens of bound volumes of daily and Sunday comic strips. The
collection holds original art by Frank King, George McManus, H.T.
Webster, Carl Anderson, William Donahey, and Gene Ahern. Kitchen
Sink Press publications are collected on a standing order. The collec-
tion also includes 800 Warner Bros. films and 2,000 Ziv television films.
Contact: Mass Communications History Center, State Historical
Society of Wisconsin, 816 State St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706. Phone:
(608) 463-6594.
Syracuse University.
The George Arents Research Library at Syracuse University has

Harold Foster's personal scrapbooks and correspondence, with
printers' proofs of "Prince Valiant" original art. The collection also in-
cludes science fiction, fantasy, fanzines, horror, mystery, series books,
westerns, radio scripts, and the Street & Smith archives.
Contact: George Arents Research Library, 600 Bird Library, Syra-
cuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244-2010. (315) 423-2585.
University of California, Los Angeles.
The UCLA library reports an "extensive" comic book collection,

and a collection of first issues of comic books (as well as other popular
magazines). It is more difficult than normal to get a clear idea of what
they have, and in 1988 a request for information was returned to the pre-
sent writer with the suggestion that a graduate student from their
library school be hired to find out what they have. Their library school's
telephone number is (213) 825-4351. The collection also includes some
!
science fiction, television, radio and movie materials.
Contact: Department of Special Collections, Research Library,

University of California, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, California
90024. Phone: (213) 825-4988.
University of California, Riverside.
The University of California at Riverside has the amazing Eaton

Collection of science fiction, with over 50,000 items in all media. As a
sideline that seems to be growing, they have some 3,000 comic books,
of which 1,200 are in French, making this an important North American
source for the study of the Franco-Belgian tradition. The comics collec-
tion is being cataloged on OCLC.
Contact: Eaton Curator, University Library, P.O. Box 5900, Uni-
versity of California, Riverside, California 92517. Phone: (714)
787-3233.
University of Chicago.
The University of Chicago has 45 boxes of comic books, with an in-

ternal finding aid but no formal cataloging.
Contact: Curator of Special Collections, Joseph Regenstein
Library, UOO E. 57th St., Chicago, Illinois 60637. (312) 702-8705.
University of Connecticut.
The University of Connecticut Library's Alternative Press Collec-

tion includes about 150 underground comix.
Contact: Alternative Press Collection, Special Collections, Homer
Babbidge Library, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
06268. Phone: (203) 486-2524.
University of Iowa.
The University of Iowa has a collection of original art for 6,000

various cartoons. The collection also includes film and television
scripts, dime novels, series books, and Iowa authors including Janet
Dailey.
Contact: Special Collections Department, University of Iowa
Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa 52242. Phone: (319) 353-4854.
University of Kansas.
The Special Collections Department at the Spencer Research

Library has about 500 Big Little Books, and extensive science fiction
and fanzines.
Contact: Spencer Librarian, Department of Special Collections,
Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas
66045. Phone: (913) 864-4334.
The Kansas Collection at the Spencer Research Library has
original art by Albert T. Reid and 600 other cartoonists.
Contact: Curator, Kansas Collection, Spencer Research Library,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045. Phone: (913) 864-4274.
University of Kent at Canterbury.
The Cartoon Study Centre is an indexed archive of British

twentieth-century original cartoon drawings (72,000) and related
material. Holdings include Vicky, Low, Strube, Steadman, Jensen,
Dyson, Kal, Cummings, Emmwood, Garland, and Haselden. Serious re-
searchers are welcome with advance appointments. Research, access
and reproduction fees are charged.
Contact: Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature, The
Library, University of Kent at Canterbury, CT2 7NU England. Phone:
(0227) 764-0000.
University of Kentucky.
The Special Collections department at the University of Kentucky

library holds "some" comics and fanzines, and also 1,000 volumes of
science fiction.
Contact: Special Collections, Margaret I. King Library, Univer-
sity of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506. Phone: (606) 257-
86ll.
University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has about 1,000

comic books, including some Air Fighters and extensive underground
comix. The collection also includes a Kelly Freas art collection, 10,000
fanzines dating as far back as the 1930s, and about 10,000 items in a
science fiction collection.
Contact: Special Collections Librarian, University of Maryland
Baltimore County, Catonsville, Maryland 21228. Phone: (301)
455-2353.
University of Minnesota.
The University of Minnesota's Children's Literature Research Col-

lections hold some 1,200 comic books and 500 Big Little Books.
chi1dre.n'~ literature collections do not normally include comics
material, and including them here was a far-sighted move on some-
body's part. Unless there's been some mistake?
Contact: Curator, Children's Literature Research Collections, 109
Walter Library, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
55455. Phone: (612) 624-4576.
University of Missouri-Columbia.
The University of Missouri at Columbia is just beginning a comic

art collection as of 1989, with a donation of 300 underground comix and
a complete set of the published comics reprint books by Andrews and
McMeel. Andrews and McMeel will be donating all future books of
comics to this collection as a depository.
Contact: Special Collections Librarian, 402 Ellis Library, Univer-
sity of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri 65201-5149. Phone:
(314) 882-0076.
University of New Brunswick.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection at the University of

New Brunswick includes science fiction comic books in its scope. The
collection totals about 30,000 items, but comic books are not a major
emphasis.
Contact: Curator, Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, Ward
Chipman Library, University of New Brunswick, P.O. Box 5050,
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada E2L 4L5. Phone: (506) 648-
5700.
University of Oregon.
The University of Oregon is the home of the Gardner Fox collec-

tion of comics, fanzines and fiction, also including Fox's letters and
papers. Fox was a writer for DC Comics, and also wrote fiction in
various popular genres. The collection also has westerns, pulps and
I
manuscripts of radio and television westerns.
i Contact: Curator of Special Collections, University of Oregon
i
Library, Eugene, Oregon 97403. Phone: (503) 686-3068.
1
University of Pittsburgh.
The University of Pittsburgh's Archive of Popular Culture includes

a collection of over 8,500 comic books, plus 600 comics fanzines, some
original comic art, and a sampling of Big Little Books. This collection
was for a time built and nurtured by the Pittsburgh Comix Club, which
brought the library into positive contact with fandom. The Archive also
includes science fiction, a Mary Roberts Rinehart collection, pulps,
detective fiction, and material on film, radio and television.
Contact: Coordinator, Special Collections, 363 Hillman Library,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260. Phone: (412)
624-4428.
University of Sydney.
The University of Sydney holds a collection of more than 12,000

comic books, mostly from the United States. An indexlcatalog listing the
comic book collections is available for $A6.00 (Dickinson, Pauline. Index
to the Comics in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection, University of
Sydney Library. Sydney: University of Sydney Library, 1984.54 p.). The
collection also includes science fiction, crime fiction, and fanzines.
Contact: Collection Building, University of Sydney Library,
Sydney, New South Wales, 2006 Australia. Phone: (02) 692-4162.
University of Tulsa.
The University of Tulsa is the new home of the E. Nelson ridw well
collectibn of about 1,000 comic books and some Bridwell papers, plus
original Inferior Five and Secret Six art. Bridwell rose from the ranks of
fandom to become an editor, writer and historian for D C Comics. This
is not the complete Bridwell collection, but is a memorial and the start
of a good research collection. This library also holds an R.A. Lafferty
manuscript collection and some science fiction.
Contact: Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library,

University of Tulsa, 600 S. College Ave., Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104.
Phone: (918) 631-2496.
University of Virginia.
The University of Virginia has original art of Bernard Meeks, Fred

0 . Seibel, and editorial cartoons by Oscar Cesare, Jeff MacNelly, Art
Wood, etc. Examples of many political and comic artists working in the
mid-twentieth century.
Contact: Curator of Manuscripts, University of Virginia Library,
Charlottesville, Virginia 22901. Phone: (804) 924-3025.
Virginia Commonwealth University.
Virginia Commonwealth University collects cartoons and

caricatures, both books and original works. This library has the personal
library of Billy DeBeck, and the door from his studio apartment with a
painting of Barney Google and Sparkplug on it. Papers and drawings of
James Branch Cabell, Frederick 0. Seibel and Charles Henry "Bill"
Sykes are also in the collection.
Contact: Special Collections Department, James Branch Cabell
Library, 901 Park Ave., Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond,
Virginia 23284. Phone: (804) 257-ll08.
Walt Disney Archives.
The Walt Disney Archives is a comprehensive Disney collection,

including a complete set of United States and most foreign Disney
comic books. The comics are not available to researchers for preserva-
tion reasons, but much material may be consulted by appointment.
Contact: Archivist, Walt Disney Archives, 500 S. Buena Vista St.,

Burbank, California 91521. Phone: (818) 840-5424.
Washington State University.
Washington State University's collection of 2,500 underground,

new wave and self-published mini-comix, is called the Counter-Culture
Comix collection. Librarian and comix artist Steve Willis was in-
strumental in setting this collection up when he worked at WSU. A
catalog of the collection is currently out of print (Willis, Steve.
Folkornix, a Catalog of Underground, Newave, and Small Press Comix in
the Washington State University Rare Books Collection, 2nd ed. Pullman,
Wash.: Morty Dog Publishing House, 1985. ll0 p.).
Contact: Curator, Modern Literary Collections, Manuscripts, Ar-
chives, and Special Collections, Washington State University, Pullman,
Washington 99164-5610. Phone: (509) 335-5517.
Index.
Afro-American comics (heading)

91
Abortion in comics 137 Los Agachados 141
Academic attitudes towards comics 9, Ageism 20
11-13, 19, 27-28, 37 Ahern, Gene 165
Acid-free envelopes 48, 49 AIDS comics 108, 144
Acid in paper 48, 50-51 "Album" implies reprint material 61
Acid in plastic bags 50 Aliens in comics 142
Acknowledgment letters (for dona- All in Color for a Dime 118
tions) 34 Allen, Woody 133
Acquisitions (library science) 24, 27- Alley Oop 130, 140, 145
42 Alternative scholars 19-20, 24, 37,
Acquisitions profile 36-38 154
Action Comics 14, 106 Alternatives to newsstand comic books
Activism in comics 136 107-108
Adaptations from other media 146, The Amazing Spider-Man 15, 40, 45,
147 107, ll9, 131, 132, 134
Adenoic errand boys 12 American Flagg 134
Adhesive labels 49 AMS Press 51, 57
Adults only 109 Anatomy in comics 130
Adventure story comics (heading) 91 Anatomy of comics (terminology) U3-
Adventure strips 12, 105 117
Adventures of the Big Boy 34 Anderson, Carl 126, 165
The Aduenturw Decade ll9 Andrews and McMeel 169
Advertising material on comic book "Andy Griffith Show" 149
covers 65-66 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules
Advice on how to become a comics (AACR2): choice of main entry 63-
librarian 25-26 65; citation, 100; LC interpretation
Advocacy for comics within the li- on "stable titles" 65; LC interpreta-
brary 25 tion on strip titles 60
Africa in comics 135, 142 "Annie" 135-136
African American characters in comics Antagonism toward comics medium
141 13
174 Index.
Anthologies: call numbers 76; pro- Background reading recommended

posal suggested 145; subject head- U8-120
ings 89 Backing boards 50
Anthropomorphic characters 133 Bait and switch 17
Antiquarian book dealers 30, 32 Bancroft Library 5
Antiwar activism in comics 136 Bandes dessinkes 126
Appraisals 34 Barbie dolls 62
Arabic translations 145 Barefoot Cen 3-4
Aragones, Sergio 87 Barker, Martin 118, 120
Arcadia Publications 36 Barks, Carl 7, 72
Archie Comics 35, 143-144, 147 "Barnaby" 142
Architecture in comics 139 Barney Google 171
Archive boxes 47-48 Barrier, Michael, 120
Archive of Popular Culture (Fullerton) Barry, Lynda 105
155 Batman 14, 15, 16, 37, 56, 106, 131,
Archive of Popular Culture (Pitts- 132, 147
burgh) 170 Bayeux Tapestry 125-126
Aristocratic families in comics Beagle Boys 44, 45
14 2 "Beetle Bailey" 105, 137, 141, 147,
Armstrong, Tom 149 149
Art, comics as subject of, call number Belgian comics 84-85, 112
73 Benton, Mike ll3, 118, 121
Art depicted in comics 147 Berman, Sanford 1-4, 10, 20
Art librarians 104 "Berry's W o r l d 147
Art or literature? 69-71, 124 The Best of Archie 144
Asia in comics 135 The Best of Hi and Lois 139
Asian comics 113 The Best of Li'l Abner 135
Assistants to cartoonists U6 Biblical times in comics 135
Association of American Editorial Bibliographic world and comics 14-
Cartoonists 162 15
"Asterix the Gaul" 134, 135 Bibliographie zur Comic-Sekundar-
Attitudes: academic, towards com- literatur 150
ics 9, ll-13, 19, 27-28, 37, ll2-ll3; Bibliographies of comics 123; call
expressed as cataloging rules 61; number 73
toward fiction 60; about preserva- Big Little Books 74, 78, 79; library
tion 55-56; collections 154, 156, 158, 159, 162,
Australia 19 167, 168
Australian comics 161 Bill the Cat 128, 133
Austrian comics 85 Binding 54-55
Authorship of comics 70 Biobibliography 124
Avant-garde comics 20 Biographies needed 123
Ayers, Chuck 158 Black and white explosion 83, 108
Blackbeard, Bill 51, ll5, U8, 133,
163
Blackthorne Publishing 36
"Blondie" 105, 135, 138-139, 147,
Baby-talk 129 149
Back-issue market 29 Blondie 61 Dagwood's America 139
Back to the Bible pamphlet 40 "Bloom County" 128, 133, 135
Blue Devil 137 Cannibals in comics 142
Blurbs on comic book covers 64, Canons 18, 19, 37
65 Canuck Comics 99
Bollen, Rog 158 Capital punishment in comics 137
Bones in noses 142 Capp, A1 135, 149
Bookkeeping: by dealers 30; by Captain America 106, 132
libraries 41 Captain Marvel 106
Bookstore classification 68, 90 Captions 13, 114
Boston University 153-154 Card catalogs 66
Bowling Green State University 154 Career girl comics 28; (heading) 91
Brabner, Joyce 118 Carpenter, Kevin 163
Branner, Martin 164 Cartoon Art Museum 155
Breakdowns 116 Cartoon Cavalcade l l 8
Breathed, Berke 128, 133, 135 "Cartoon character" qualifier 61
"Brenda Starr" original art 134, 157 Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic
"Brick Bradford 12, 144 Arts Research Library 162-163
Bridwell, E. Nelson 170 The Cartoon Museum 155
British comics 62, 72, 83-84, 93, 99; Cartoonists Thanksgiving Day Hun-
library collection 163 ger Project 138
British Communist Party 120 Cataloging (library science) 24-
Broadsides 104 25, 38, 103; attitudes 61; different
"Brother Juniper" 137 from listing 65; as sympathetic
Brought to Light: A Graphic Docu- magic ll0
drama ll8 Cataloging Service Bulletin (citations)
Browne, Ray 18 99,100
Browsing access 47 Catalogs from comic dealers 30
I Buchman, Ed 125 "Cathy" 139
, "Buck Rogers" 12, 70, 105, 144 Cats 133
Bureaucracy 30, 132 Cave painting 104
I Burglars 44 Ceasing a serial record 63
C
\
I
"Buster Brown" 164
Byrnes, Gene 160
Censorship 109-LU, 148-149
Center out 52
Centre for the Study of Cartoons and
Caricature 167
Cerebus the Aardvark 108, 133
f
Change in colleges and universities 19
I Cabinets, storage 47-48 Changes in comics 131, 135, 139
California State University, Fullerton Chaplin, Charlie 133
155 Characters and characterization 131-
Call numbers 49; classification of 133
comics 48, 69-89; outline of "Charlie Chaplin" 164
classifi- Checklisting as scholarship 37
cation 71 Chesler, Harry 157
6 "Calvin and Hobbes" 18, 105, 142 Chicago 134
Campaign literature comics 136 "Chief Wahoo" 133
i Canadian comics 36, 62, 72, 83, 88, Children and comic books: call num-
t 99; library collections 156 ber 73; concern about 106-107,
Candy stores 35 148
Caniff, Milton 134, 149, 162 Children depicted in comics 142
176 Index.
Children's literature 20, 168 Comic Book Collecting for Fun and
Children's Literature Research Col- Projit 121
lections 168 Comic book format 106
Chinese comics 145 The Comic Book Heroes 119
Christ and Biblical times in comics Comic book stores 28-30, 34, 35, 45,
135 66
Christic Institute ll8 Comic book writers (heading) 91
Chronological studies 73 Comic Books and Strips: An Infoma-
"A Chronology of Development of the tion Sourcebook 150
American Comic Book 121 Comic Relief 138
Churches in comics 137 Comic Research Library 156
Cicero (cat) 133 Comic strip a "unit" of publication
Cinematic technique 146 59-60
Citation: of comic strips 32; of early The Comics, An Illustrated History of
comic book stories l l 5 Comic Strip Art ll9
Civil rights 140-141 Comics Buyer's Guide 18, 32, 35, 38,
Classic Comic Strips 36 42, 51, 56, 57, 125, 134
Classics Illustrated 108 Comics Code 14, 107, 148-149,
Classification: bookstores 68, 90; of 156-157
comics 48, 68-89; library science Comics Interview 128
68-69; outline 71; schedules (LC) The Comics Journal 18, 123, 150-151
101-102 Comics Magazine Association of
Clergy in comics 137 America 156-157
Cleveland 134 "Comix" vs. "comics" 108
Clipping comic strips 33 Commercial art 150
Clipping files, cataloging 67-68 Communications media 18-19
Clipping service 38 Communist countries, comics in 145
Cloak and Dagger 138 Communists 120; in comics 140
Clocks and watches, comic charac- Compact shelving 49
ter 73 Competition with private collec-
Cochran, Russ 36 tors 27-28
Cold War in comics 136 The Complete Catalogue of British
Collaborations 131 Comics, Including Price Guide 99
Collecting Comic Books 121 Complexity of comics 13
The Collector's Guide to Big Little Complimentary copies from publish-
Books and Similar Books 99-100 ers 39
Collectors' market 27-28 Composition, artistic 130
College courses 24 Computer games 107
Collbge de Sherbrooke 156 Conan the Barbarian 40, 134,144
College students and comics 14, 24, Condescension toward comic books
145 16
Color: as content 126, 127; color Conservatism: in academia 9; in the
photocdpies 52; coloring of comics Library of Congress 69, 90
ll6; of costumes 132 Constituencies of a comics collection
Coloring books 31 23-24
Comedians in comics 133 Containers for storage 47-50
Comic Art Collection 100 Content and form 126-127
Comic book artists (heading) 91 Continued stories in comic books
The Comic-Book Book U8 115
Continued strips ll4, ll5, 126 "Dennis the Menace" ll4, 125
Continuities 115 Derleth, August 165
Convenience stories 35 Description on invoices 30
Conventions 21, 28-29; call numbers Detail 105, 126
for programs 74 Detective and mystery (heading) 92
Cooperation among libraries 41, 54 Detective Comics 44, 56
Copyright depository 158-159 Detective comics 143
Corks 62 Devils in comics 137
"Corto Maltese" 87 Dialogue 146
Costumes 131, 132 "Dick Tracy" 105, 138, 140
Coupons 52 Dickinson, Pauline 170
Cover title 63, 64, ll5-116 Dictionaries, call numbers 74
Covers of comic books 130 Digests 74, 79
Cowboys in comics 133 Dimensions 134; literary vs. real
"Crankshaft" 142 109-ll0
Craven, Tomas ll8 Direct distribution 35-37, 63, 82, ll2
Creator credits 115, ll6-117 Discard sales 40, 41
Creators' rights 107 Discounts from dealers 38
Credit slips, duplicate comics 41 Disney archives 171-172
Credits 115, ll6-117 Display space, retail 63
Crime and comics 138 Displaying a collection 43-44
"Crimestopper's Textbook 138 Dissertations 124
Criteria: acquiring comics 29; preser- Distribution of comics 35-37, 63, 82,
vation 55 107, ll2, 145
Criticisms 138 Ditko, Steve 136
Crumb, R. 108 Ditto machine publishing 21
Cultural studies 18-19 Division of labor ll6, 131
Current events and comics 134-135 Doc Carter VD Comics 144
Doctor Doom 132,134
"Doctor Strange" ll9, 134, 137
Dodd, Ed 164
Dodson, Bert 2, 105
Dailies l15; see also Sunday comic Donahey, William 165
strips Donald Duck 7-8, 72,139
Dalgoda 134 Donors and donations 28, 31, 33-35,
Data nuts 21 39-40, 53, 55-56
Davis, Jim 128, 133 "Doonesbury" 60, 61, 105, 135, 141
DC Comics 31, 164, 169,170 Dorf, She1 162
Deacidification 43, 51 Dorgan, Tad 160
"Deadman" 137 Drama strips 105
DeBeck, Billy 171 Drawing comics 116
Decade of publication 73 Dreadstar 134
Decentralized publishing 113 Dream sequences 114
Decimals 69 Drug abuse depicted 138
Definitional questions 125-126 Du Bois, Gaylord 159
Dell Comics 159 "Dungeons and Dragons" 144
Democratization 18-19 Duplicates (acquisitions) 29-30;
The Demon 137 disposing of 40-42; keeping as in-
Demons in comics 137 surance 52-53
178 Index.
Dust 48
Dutcher, Roger 125
Facsimile editions 52
Fairleigh Dickinson University 157
Faith U0
La Familia Burrdn 141
The Early Comic Strip: Narrative "Family Circus" U4, 129
Strips and Picture Stories in the Family in comics 138-139,142
European Broadsheet from c. 1450 Famine 138
to 1825 120 Famous Funnies 106
Eastern religions in comics 137 Fans and fandom 21-22, 24, 25, 37,
Eaton Collection 166 160, 161, 170
E.C. Comics 106; library collec- Fantagraphics Books 36, 123
tion 158 Fantastic Four 107, U9, 134, 140, 141
Eclipse Books 36 Fantasy comics 139, 144; subject
Eclipse Comics 64-66; dead issue heading 92
files 159 Fantasy vs. reality 109-ll0
Eclipse Enterprises 107 Fanzines 21-22, 37, 123-124; call
Editor and Publisher 35 numbers 75-76; library collections
Editorial cartooning 147 154, 170
Editors of comics 64, 65, U6-117 "The Far Side" 137, 150
Educational comics 80, 108, 144 Fashion 139
Eight-pagers 49, 80, 107-108, 144 Fat Freddie's Cat 133
Einstein, Albert 140 Feathers 62
Eisner, Will 162 Feiffer, Jules 70, 126, 135
Elegance 55 Felix the Cat 133
ElfQuest 108, 134 Feminism in comics 136
Elite attitudes 9, 11-13 Fiction cataloging 60
Encyclopedias of comics, call num- "Fictitious character" qualifier 61
bers 74 Fields, W.C. 133
Endings of comic strips 128 Figurative language 131
Enemies of America in comics 140 Filing cabinets: for clipped strips and
I Episodes 115 articles 67; for comic books 47-48
Erotic (heading) 92 Filmography of comics-related movies
Ethiopia 138 145-146
I Ethnic humor in comics 143
Etymology 129
Fine art 23, 69, 104, 147
First issues of comic books 38, 40-
European comics 36, 86, U2, U5, 41, 63, 165
I 134; library collection 156 The Flash 132, 145
"Flash Gordon" 144
I European scholars 37
Exaggeration: anatomy 130; national Flashbacks 114
characteristics 140 Flea markets 30-31, 40
Exclamation points 129 Flexibility in storage 48
Exhibitions: call numbers 74; mu- Folkomix, a Catalog of underground,
seums 155, 160-161, 164; Ohio State Newave and Small Press Comix in
University 162 the Washington State University
Expertise 103, 117 Rare Books Collection 172
Extras, disposing of 40-42 Forbidden fruit syndrome Ill
Eyes in comics 130 Foreign comics 39
Foreigners in comics 140 Germans 140
Form and content 126-127 Ghost Rider 137
Formality of academia U G.1. Joe, A Real American Hero 148
Formality of the catalog 61 Gibbons, Dave 126
Format (physical), comics 15, 17, 33 Gifford, Denis 104, 120
Formula labels ll7, 143-144; subject Girls' comics (heading) 93
headings 90 Giveaway comics 80
Foster, Hal 160, 165 Glossary, comics terminology U3-117
Fotonovelas ll3; library collection Glue 47, 53, 54
159 Gold Key Comics 160
Fox, Gardner 169 Golden Age comics 79
Foxy Grandpa 105,164 Golden Age of comics 106, ll8
Fragility 17, 24, 28, 46, 49, 55 Golf humor 143
"Frank and Ernest" ll4, 129 Goofy 61, 133
French comics 61, 72, 84-85; library Gordo 135, 139, 141
collection 156, 166 Gothic romance comics (heading) 93
French photoromans 113 Goulart, Ron U9
Fund-raising (library science) 24 Gould, Chester 138, 140, 160
Funny animal comics 133; subject Grading of comics 34, 41
heading 92 Grammar, Thor comic books 129
Funny ghost comics (heading) 92 Graphic albums 36, 61, U2, 145
Funny horror comics (heading) 92 Graphic novels 18, 60-61, 107, 126,
Funny kid comics 142; subject head- 145; call numbers 76
ing 93 Graphic styles 130, 146
Funny military comics (heading) 93 Gray, Harold 135-136; original art
Future: depicted 134, 139; in libraries 153
I Great Comic Cats 133
16-17; prediction 144-145
Greece 135
Green Goblin 132
Green Lantern 132
Green LanternlGreen Amow 138
Gag strips 126, 127 Grey Zane 162
Gale cumulated adds and changes Griffith, Bill 143
70; citations 101 Grocery bags, invoices 30
"Garfield 18, 100, 128, 133 Grocery stores 35
"Gasoline Alley" 139, 142 Groening, Matt 105
Gay Comix 141 Ground level comics 81
Gay people in comics 141 The Guide to Comics Collecting 121
Gazetteer of comics 134 Gulacy, Paul 107
"Geech 137 "Gumps" 164
Gelman, Woody 162 Gurus in comics 137
Generation gap 13 Gutenberg Bibles 46
Generic demons 137 Gyro Gearloose 140
Generic religion 137
Genetics in comics 139
Genre labels 117, 143-144; subject
heading 90
George Arents Research Library 165 "Hagar the Horrible" 134, 139
German comics 62, 72, 85-87, 99 Hale, Monte 133
180 Index.
Handling of comics 43, 46-47, 48, Indicia (masthead) 62; definition

52-53 115-ll6; source of title 63, 65
"Happy Hooligan"l64 Individual packaging, storage 48
Harmsworth Brothers 163 Inferior Five 170
A Haunt of Fears 120 Informality ll, 107, ll9, 123
Hebrew translations 145 Inge, M. Thomas 121
Hell in comics 137 Inkers 116
Hennepin County Library 2-4 Innovation 105
"Henry" 126 International comics scene 112-ll3,
Heroes for Hope 138 145
Herriman, George 130 International politics 134
"Hi and Lois" 138 Interviewing, scholarship 37, 124
Hidden nations 133 Interviews, journalists 103
High school level study 24, 46, Inventories of gifts 33-34
124 Inventors 140
History, comics: British 83-84; call Invoicing 29-30
number 75; need for histories 148; Iowa State University 158
summarized 104-109; U.S. 75- Irrational censorship ill
76 Italian comics 72, 87-88
History in comics 135, 145 Italians 140
Holden, Elizabeth 125 Ivey, Jim 155
Holidays 137
Hollander, Nicole 148
"Honeymooners" 127
Hong Kong, comics from 113
Hope, Bob 133 Jacobs, Will 119
Horn Maurice 106, ll9,120 Japan 135, 141
Horror 28; subject heading 93 Japan Inc. 15-16,19
Hot Stuff the Little Devil 137 Japanese comics 15-16, 36, 72, 112,
"How to draw" books 70-71, 73 134, 141, 145
Howard the Duck 40 Japanese people in comics 140, 141
Humanities scholars 20, 21 Jewish religion in comics 137
Humor strips 143, 145 Job postings 15, 25
Hunger and starvation in comics "Joe Palooka" 139
138 Johnson, Crockett 142
Johnson, Ruth I. 42
The Joker 132
Jones, Gerard l l 9
Journal indexes 124
Ideologies in comics 136 Journalism and comics 150
Images of peoples 140-142 Journalism classification (LC) 70
Imaginary friends 142 Journalistic attitudes 15, 27, 33, 44-
Imitators- 105, 106 45; interviews 103
The Incredible Hulk 107, l l 9 Jungian archetypes 132
Index to the Comics in the Science Fic- Jungle adventure comics 135; subject
tion and Fantasy Collection, Univer- heading 93-94
sity of Sydney Library 170 Justification of purchases 37
Indexes, comics 124; call number 76 Juvenile delinquency 12, 14, 110; call
Indiana University 157-158 number 73,101
Index. 181
Library Journal 16
Library of Congress 14, 66; citations
Katy Keene 139 101-102; classification, call numbers
Katzenjammer Kids 105 49, 69-89; classification, labyrinth
Kelly, Walt 70, 160, 135 102; comics collection 158-159;
Kendig, Doug 156 outline, call numbers 71; qualifiers
Kennedy, Jay 62, 99 added to titles 61; rule interpreta-
Kent State University 158 tion, stable titles 65; subject
Keyboarding 25 cataloging 68-69; subject headings
King, Frank 165 89-98; on tracing strip titles 60.
"King of the Royal Mounted 162 See also Subject Cataloging Manual
Kirby, Jack 137 Library school 25
Kirste, Ken 125 Library sciences 24-25
Kitchen Sink Press 165 Licensed characters 86
Korean comics 113 Lichtenstein, Roy 147
Korean War 46, 141 Lifestyles in comics 142
Krause Publications ll3, 121 Light 44, 47, 48, 50, 51
"Krazy Kat" 12, 18, 105, 130, 133 Lighting 130
"Kudzu" 137 "Li'l Abner" 18, 105, 128, 135
Kung fu comics 141; subject heading Lilly Library 157-158
94 Limited series, monographs 63
Kunzle, David 104, 120 Listing vs. cataloging 65
Literacy 13,ll2
Literary authors as subjects 89-90
Literature 23, 109-ll0, 124
Literature or art? 69-71
Labelling for permanent storage 49, 55 Little Lulu 131
I Labor unions in comics 136 "Little Orphan Annie" 12, 105,
Land Grant colleges 19 135-136; original art 153
Langlois, Richard 156 Livia Press 101
1 Language in comics 128-129 Logos: on comic book covers 64, 65,
Larson, Gary 150 130; on superhero costumes 131
i Latin America 134; comics from ll2; The Lone Ranger 141
i fotonovelas ll3; in comics 135 Love and Rockets 141
Latveria 134 Love comics 136, 143
Laundry in comics 143 Lowery, Larry 62, 99
Layouts ll6 Lucky Luke 143
Lee, Stan 14, 57, 107, ll9 Lupoff, Dick 118
Legion of Super-Heroes 133, 141, 145
Leiter, Marcia ll3, 121
Length, comic book story 127
Lesbian people in comics 141
Lettering 116, 128 McCay, Winsor 162
Letters 149; acknowledgment (dona- McGregor, Don 107
tions) 34; to editor (LOCs) 21 McManus, George 165
Lewis, Jerry 133 MacNelly, Jeff 171
1 The Lexicon of Comicana ll3,121 Mad 39
I Libertarianism in comics 136 Magafiles 48, 49, 50, 55, 56
Library collections 153-172 Magazine indexes 124
182 Index.
Mail-order buying 30, 38 Moore, Alan ll8, 126

Main entry, choice 63-66 Moores, Dick 162
Manga (Japanese comics) 36, 112 Moral aspects of comics: call number
Manuel del Combatiente por la Liber- 75; concern 107
tad 118 Moral Majority in comics 137
Map cases 53 "Mother Goose and Grimm" 129
Marge 131 Motivations: of collectors 43-44, 124;
Mark Trail 148, 164 of superheroes 132
Marketing and content 148 Movies, comics-related 45, 133, 145-
Marriage in comics 138-139, 143 146
Marschall, Richard 139 MTV 107
Marston, William Moulton 164 Mullaney, Dean 107
Marvel Comics 14, 31, 51, 107, 119 Multimedium fictitious characters 61
''Marvin" 149 Multiple copies: disposition 40-42;
Mary Worth 135 keeping as insurance 52-53
"M.A.S.H." 149 Murdoch University 160
Mass Communications History Museum of Cartoon Art 160-161
Center of the State Historical Soci- Museums of comics 155, 160-161, 164
ety of Wisconsin 165 Musical comedy and comics 146
Mass media 18-19, 20 Muslim religion in comics 137
Masthead see Indicia Mutants in comics 139
Media librarians 15 Mutt and Jeff 105
Mendel, Jeffrey 144 Mylar sleeves 47, 48, 49, 52, 56
Messick, Dale 157
Metaphor in comics 131
Mexican comics 72, 88, ll2, 141
Mexican people in comics 141
Michigan State University Library: The 'Nam 143
cataloging practices 59-102; comic "Nancy" 142
strip scrapbooks 53, 159, 163; com- Nantier-Beall-Minoustchine 36
ics collection 159-160; multiple Narration 114
copies 52; restrictions on use 46; National Cartoonists Society 162
storage scheme 48, 49; thefts 45 National Lampoon 39
Mickey Mouse 139 National Library of Australia 161
Microcolor International 51 National Museum of American His-
Microfilm 31, 32, 33, 51-52, 53, 57; tory, Archives Center 164
in libraries 159 Nationality of comics, indeterminate
Migration of acid 50 86, 87
"Military Willie" 164 Native American characters in comics
Miller, Henry 6-7 141
Millie the Model 28 "Natives" in comics 142
Mimeograph publishing 21 Nemo 123, 151
Mini-comii 49, 83, 108, 172 Neumann, Renate 150
Minority characters in comics 141 The New Mutants 141
Miss Buxley: Sexism in Beetle Bailey? New Pages 10
141 New Serial Titles 14
Misspelling in comic books 108 New wave comics 83, 105; library
Modern art in comics 147 collection 172; subject heading 94
Moody Press 40 New York City 133
Index.
New York Public Library 161

New York Times 25, 150
Newspaper comics: library collec- Panel art U4
tions 156, 159, 163, 165; preserva- Panel borders ll4,128
tion 53-54; private collectors Panel by Panel 161
32-33, 53; size shrinking 105, 126, Panelologists L14
127; status in society U, 12-13 Panels 114
Newsstand distribution 35-36, 63, 82 Paper quality: improving in comic
Nicaragua, documentary comic book books 107; relation to content 127
L18 Parents in comics 139
Nonfiction comics 90, 144 Parodies 128
Norske Tegneserie Index 99 Party politics 136
Northwestern University 162 Patriotism in comics 136
Norwegian comics 62, 99 Patterson, Mrs. Curtis B. 164
Nostalgia 124, 125, 151 Payment (acquisitions) 29-30
Notary Sojac 150 "Peanuts" 61, 86, 105, 137, 142
Novels 126 Pencilers U6
Nuke 2 Penny Dreadfuls and Comics 163
Numbering schemes 62-63 People in comics 140-142
Nye, Russel 18 The People's Comic Book 145
Percival, Olive 6
Periodicals 37
Personal contact, comics market 29,
30, 24
Occupations in comics 142 Pets 133
OCLC 62, 67, 100, 154, 160, 162, 164, Philippine comics U3
I
166 Phonograph records 15
Office supplies 46 Photocopying 46; color 52; comic
The Oficial Overstreet Comic Book books 47; comic strips 33; dan-
Price Guide 33-34, 42, 44, 50, 56, gerous to materials 47, 153; for
r
I 62, 64, 100, 121, 143, 146 Inter-Library Loan 153; as preser-
i The Oficial Underground and Newave vation 52, 54; as publishing 108
I Comix Price Guide 99 Photoromans 113
f Ohio Historical Society 162 Physical format of comics 15, 17
E
I
Ohio State University 162-163
Old people in comics 142
Picture-reading 13
Pictures and words, balance between
Oldenburg University 163 126
Olson, Nancy B. 70 Pioneer Books 36
Olson, Richard D. 120 Pittsburg Comix Club 170
Origin stories 139 Plastic bags 47, 49, 50
Original art, library collections 153, Plots: "comic-book plots" 14; research
155, 157, 158, 160, 162, 165, 167 12 7
Origins of Marvel Comics U9 Plotters U6
Out-of-print books 29, 32 Pluto 133
The Outbursts of Everett True 103 "Pogo" 69, 70, 105, 128, 129, 135,
I Outcault, Richard F. 104 148
I
Overground comics 121 Politics and comics 105, 135-136
Overstreet, Robert M. 42 Pop art 18, 147
Ownership stamps 45 Poplaski, Peter 134
184 Index.
Popular Culture Library 154 Rating systems 149

Popular culture scholars 18-19, Rational censorship ill
23-24,154 Readers: boys and men 147; par-
"Pore Lil Mose" 164 ticipation 149; women 113
Pornography 80, 109, 144 Reading, comics: comics librarians
Pratt, Hugo 87 117-120; complexity 13; effects 12;
Prehistoric adventure (heading) 94 rules for reading room 45, 46;
Preorder searching 29-30 special skills 13, 15
Preservation (library science) 24 Realia 100-101
Preserving and storing comics 43-57 Reality vs. fantasy 109-ll0
Price guides 62 Rebus 104
Prices 28, 43-44; collectors' market 27 "Red Ryder" 133, 134
"Prince Valiant" ll4, 165 Reference (library science) 24, 104
Priorities of collecting 43-44 Reference books 104,106
Private collectors: buying from 31; Reid, Albert T. 167
competition with 27-28; concern, Relativity in comics 140
acidic paper 50; as donors 159; as Religion 110
scholars 123-124 Religious aspects 137; call number 75
Proactive information handling 23 Religious comics 20, 135
Profanity l L l Remedial collections 17
Professionalism of libraries 55 Representative collections 27, 35, 38
Professions in comics 142 Reprint volumes 18, 24, 28, 29, 36,
Professors ll,13, 20, 124 51; classification 72, 78; comic book
Profile for acquisitions 36-38 stories 61; library collection 159;
Profit margin on used comics 41 newspaper strips 32, 53, 59-61,
Propaganda 20; comics 80,108,144 123, 163
Public libraries 10, 14, 17-18 Reproduction as preservation 51-52
Public relations 42 Reputation 32, 41-42, 43
Publicity (library science) 24, 35; Research collections 15, 24, 59
conflicts with preservation 44 Research library, as stored memory of
Publisher index in shelflist 74 society 21
Publishers of comics 39 Research: on comics 18-22, 46,
Publishing: decentralized ll3; self- 123-125; topics 125-150
published comix 108 Respectability 27
The Punisher 138 Restricting use 43-44, 46
Puns 129 Returns (acquisitions) 29-30
Reviews 123
Revival of dead titles 63
Rifas, Leonard 125
"Ripley's Believe-It-or-Not" 125
Qualifiers added: "cartoon character" Ripple wine 101
61; "comic strip" 61; "fictitious Robbins, Trina l l 9
character" 61 Robinson, Jerry U9
Robot comics (heading) 94
Rogers, Roy 133
Role models lll
Role-playing 107, 144
Racism 20, 109, 140-142 Romance comics 136, 143; subject
Radio serials U4 heading 94
Index. 185
Ronin 135 Senate hearings on comics 14

"Rose Is Rose" 129 Serial Adventures Presents the Serial
Royal families 142 Adventures of Batman 42
Rubber-stamping comic books 45 Serial fiction 127
Rummage sales 30-31 Serials: acquisitions 37; cataloging
Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Col- 38, 62, 66,109
lection 159-160 Series titles 60, 115
Ryan, John 161 Setting 133-134
Ryder, Red 133, 134 Sex 111
Sexism 20, 109, 141
Sexual humor in comics 143
Sexually-transmitted diseases, comics
144
Saalfield archives 158 Shakespeare adaptations 146
Sabre graphic novel 107 Shazam 40, 42
Sadism 109 Shelflist, chronological and publisher
St. Fury 135 index 73-74
Salvaging strips from discards 32-33 Shoe boxes, comic strips 32, 53, 54,
Sampling 38 67
"Sam's Strip" 128 Sidekicks 132
San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Sienkiewicz, Bill 130
32-33,163 Silver Age comics 81, 107, l l 9
Sarcasm 12-13 Single-issue politics in comics 136
Scholars 28, 37, 45; alternative schol- Single panel features ll4, 125
ars 19-20, 24, 37; European scholars Skateboards 100
37; humanities scholars 20, 21; pop- Skills, specialized: comics librarian-
ular culture scholars 18-19, 23-24; ship 23; reading comics 13, 15
social science scholars 20, 21 Slugs, comic book covers 64, 65
School libraries 14 Small press books 37
Schulz, Charles 137 Small press comics 20, 36, 107, 108,
Schwartz, Ron 125 172
Science 139-140 Small publishers 148
Science fiction 139; library collec- "Smilin' J a c k 139
tions 166, 169; magazines 21-22; A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book
subject heading 94-95 Comics 118
Scientists in comics 140 The Smithsonian Collection of News-
Scott, Lynn 125 paper Comics 118
Scott, Randall W. 150 Smithsonian Institution Libraries 164
Scout 64-66, 143 Smoking in comics 138, 148
Scrapbooks of comic strips 32, 53, 55 The Smurfs 112
Scripters ll6 Snobbishness, academia 9
Secret identities 127 Snoopy 133
Secret Six 170 Snuffy Smith 130
Security: physical 45; psychological Social context 134-135
lll Social pahtology and comics 138
Seduction of the lnnocent 14, 109; Social science scholars 20, 21
citation 120 Soliciting donations 34-35
Selection (library science) 24-25, 103 Son of Satan 137
Self-published comix 108 Sophistication in comics 146
186 Index.
Sound effects 14, ll4, 129 Subject cataloging 68-69

Sources for main entry 63-66 Subject Cataloging Manual 100, 102
Southern Illinois Unversity at Subject headings 20, 89-98; books of
Edwardsville 164 comics 2-4
Souvenirs solicited 39 Subject Keyword Index to the Library
Soviet comics 145 of Congress Classtjication Schedules
Smiet Humor: The Best of Krokodil 145 1974 101
Space flight 12, 22 Subliterature 16, 17, 112-113
Space requirements and problems 41, Subscription services 38
59 Subscriptions 37, 39
Spanish comics 72, 88 Subterranean societies 133
Specialty journalism 150 Sugar and Spike 129
The Spectre 137 Summarizing as scholarship 37
Speculators 29, 37, 40-41 Sunday comic strips 54, ll5; see also
Spider (prefix) 129 Dailies
Spider-Man 15, 40, 45, 107, ll9, 131, Super (prefix) 129
132, 134, 147 Super powers 139
Spine curl 46 Superboy 145
The Spirit 132 Superhero comics 28, 31, 106,107,
Splash page or panel ll5, 116 131, 132,133, 136,138, 139, 143;
Sports comics (heading) 95 personal relationships among 143;
Spy comics (heading) 95 psychology 132; subject heading 95
St& time 45, 53 Superheroine comics (heading) 95
Stamping, ownership 45 Superheroines 132
Standards: academia ll; censors 109 Superman 14, 15, 86,106, ll0, 127,
Stanley, John 131 132, 135; library collection 164
Staples in comic books 47 Supernatural in comics 137
"Star T r e k 22 Super-Villain Team-Up 134
State Historical Society of Wiscon- Support for comics, envelopes and
sin 53, 165 sleeves 49, 50
State-of-the-art preservation 56 Surrealism 12, 130
Stationery stores 35 Surveys 149
Stealing comics 45, 46, 50, 159 Swamp Thing 46
Stereotypes in comics 140-142 Sword and sorcery comics 144; sub-
Steve Canyon 133 ject heading 95
Stig's Inferno 137 "Sylvia" 139, 141, 148
Stock characters 132 Symbolism in comics 131
Storing and preserving comics 43-57 Sympathetic magic U0
Story title 115 Syndication of strips 105, 148
Storyteller U6 Syracuse University 165
Storytelling 73
Street & Smith archives 165
Strip cartoons (British) 126
Strip title: in cataloging 60-61, 77;
definition 115 Tabloids 74, 78, 79
Stripzines 83 "Tales of Asgard 135
Structure of comic strip U4; form Tales of the Green Beret 143
and content 126-127 Target audiences 144, 146
Stupefaction of comics readers 12 'Tarzan" ll9, 135
Index.
Tax deductions, donors 33-34

Technology in comics 139-140
Teen humor comics 143-144; subject USA Today 150
heading 96 Ulrich's International Periodicals Di-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 108 rectory 14
Televangelism in comics 137 Ulrich's Plus 14
Television and comics 146, 147, The Uncanny X-Men 45, 53,103
149 Uncle Scrooge 7-8, 86
Temporary storage 49 Undergraduate level study 24
Terminology U3-U7, 121 Underground comics (heading) 96
"Terry and the Pirates" 128, 133 Underground comix 81, 99, 108, 143;
Tessie the Typist 28 library collections 155, 158, 160,
Theater and comics 146 166, 168, 169, 172
Theft of comics 45, 46, 50, 159 Uniform titles (cataloging abstraction)
Third World comics 113 60
Third World in comics 135 Universes 133-134; literary vs. real
Thompson, Don U8 109-110
"Thorn 107, U9, 129 University of California, Los Angeles
Thought balloons U4 165-166
Tijuana bibles 49, 80, 107-108, University of California, Riverside 166
144 University of Chicago 166
"Tillie the Toiler" 139 University of Connecticut 166
"Tim Tyler's Luck 105, 135 University of Iowa 167
Time investment, servicing collec- University of Kansas 167
tion 45, 53 University of Kent at Canterbury 167
Time-travel stories 135, 145 University of Kentucky 168
Timothy Truman's Scout 64-66 University of Maryland, Baltimore
4 Tintin U2 County 168
Y Title 63-65, US-U6; changes University of Minnesota 168
64 University of Missouri-Columbia 24,
Title pages 65 169
Tomahawk 141 University of New Brunswick 169
Tomb of Dracula 137 University of Oregon 169
Tonto 141 University of Pittsburgh 170
Tourists: souvenir comic books 39; as University of Sydney 170
visitors 44, 45 University of Tulsa 24, 170-171
Toy-based comics 147-148 University of Virginia 171
Toys: cartoon-related 155; war toys University presses 124
109 University Products 56
Trademark symbols 65, 66 Upgrading collections 54-55
The Transformers 148 Usagi Yojimbo 135
Translated comics ll2, 145; classifica- Uslan, Michael 144
tion 86
Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact 62-
63
Trudeau, Garry 135
The Truth About Comic Books 42 Van Hise, James 42
"Tumbleweeds" 134 Vegetables 61
Turner, Morrie 137 Vertical files, cataloging 67-68
188 Index.
Victorian Comics 120 "The Wizard of I d 134

Video games 107 Women and the Comics l l 9
Videocassettes 15 Women: characters 132, 141, 147
Vietnam Journal 143 Women in the Comics U9
Vietnam veterans in comics 143 Women's comics (heading) 96
Vietnam War in comics 136, 143 Wonder Woman 15, 106, 132, 135;
The Vigilante 138 library collection 164
Vigilantism 138 Word balloons 13, 113, 114
Vikings in comics 135 Words and pictures 126
Villains ll5, 132 Working people in comics 142
Violence 14, 20, ill,138 The World Encyclopedia of Com-
Virginia Commonwealth University ics 106, 120
171 World War I1 in comics 135, 140,
Vocabulary in comic books 128, 141, 145
129 Wristwatches: comic character, call
number 73; to store tape 47, 56
Writers of comics ll6, 128
Writing styles 131
Walker, Brian 139

Walker, Mort ll3, 121, 141
Walks of life in comics 142
Walt Disney Archives 171-172
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 44, X-Men 45, 53,103
65, 72 The X-Men 107
Wantlists 32
War comics 135, 136, 143; subject
heading 96
"Wash Tubbs" 119
Washington State University 172 Yellow Claw 141
Watchmen 126 "Yellow K i d 104-105
Watterson, Bill 142 The Yellow Kid Notes: The Oficial
Webster, H.T. 165 Newsletter of the Yellow Kid Society
"Wee Pals" 137, 142 120
Weight and fashion in comics 139 Yellow Pages 28
Werfel, Franz 7 "Yellow peril" mentality 141
Wertham, Fredric 14, 106, 109, 120 Yellowing 51
Western comics 133,135, 141, 143; Young, Dean 139
subject heading 96 Yronwode, Catherine 5-8, 64-66,
West Publications 160 ll9
Wholesale of comics 36
White Eagle Indian Chief 141
Whyte, Malcolm 133
Williams Martin 118
Willis, Steve 172
Wilson, Tom 158 Zap Comics 108
Winnie Winkle 141, 164 Zippy 143

Comics Librarianship

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Comics Librarianship

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Comics Librarianship

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

O1990 Randall W. Scott. All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

McFarland G Company, Inc., Publishers

Some ideas in Chapter 1 first appeared as "Comics on Campus" in New

Foreword by Sanford Berman. 1

Part One: Great Scott.

Part Two: "Nuke" and "Gen."

Bert Dodson contributes a comic strip, "Nuke," to Vermont's Vanguard

1. Nuclear weapons - Comic books, strips, etc.

In 1987, New Society Publishers issued Barefoot Gen, accurately

Like Nuke, this is a finely-crafted effort that deals seriously in comic-

1. Hiroshima-shi (Japan)- Bombardment, 1945-Comic books, strips,

(Not finding any comparable descriptors in the Library of Congress sub-

Academic libraries and scholars have been reluctant to collect and

The Status of Comic Strips in Society.

"Besotted means "stupefied," in case the subtleties of this nicely-turned

Flying around in a spaceship might be expected to take your mind off

The Status of Comic Books in Society.

published material. Until the late 1970s, no librarian anywhere on Earth

Japanese Economics, appeared in the Library Journal for March 15,

comics are "remedial" collections that bring the level of preservation of

The Public Library Sector.

priate entertainment value, or in other words, without apologies to

The Academic Context of Comics Research: Popular Culture.

The Academic Context of Comics Research:

There is a movement in libraries (which are part of academia) that

Alternative librarians like Sanford Berman are a kind of conscience

Best of Both Worlds?

Yet Another World.

that anything as enjoyable as good science fiction was worth sharing

Comics Librarianship as a Specialty.

Specialist skills are needed for comics librarianship because com-

Popular culture scholars are a natural public for the research

How to Get a Job as a Comics Librarian.

librarians concentrate on just one of those, so this is not a job for

building, can be done from an entry-level position as cataloger, for ex-

Once a library or a librarian has made the decision to include com-

How to Buy Old Comics and Related Material.

' 1 ' 111

How to Get Old Comics and Related Material Free.

I IA flated opinion about the value of the collection because of unfamiliarity

Buying Current Comics and Related Material.

market will be directing their efforts toward an audience of fans, collec-

Getting the New Stufffor Free.

It is possible to get some comic books and fanzines for nothing,

Before very long in the story of a comic book collection, whether

network included dealers who were former collectors. These dealers

Appropriate storage and preservation of comics (both comic books

hype from movie companies pushing the latest comics-related movie,

a thesis on the presentation of the Korean War in American comic

Preservation by Careful Handling.

Perhaps the following could go without saying, but certain warn-

Comic books are extremely vulnerable during photocopying. The

Since research libraries do not allow library users direct browsing

rapidly growing collection, however. The larger the number of items

For permanent storage, plastic bags do offer basic protection

Bill Blackbeard, who is a comics scholar and curator of a pri-

Preservation by reproduction may ultimately be the only solution

Saving Multiple Copies.

From the beginning of the Comic Art Collection at Michigan State