From: Peter M Coogan Subject: Comics Scholars Survey Results pt.2 Date: Mon, 27 Jun 1994 22:56:12 -0400 (EDT) Comics Scholars Survey Results 6/94 Peter M. Coogan I. Academia My questions here focused on where comics can be studied, and what libraries exist. Departments and programs mentioned included English, American Studies, Communication Arts, Sociology, Journalism, and Popular Culture. Amy Nyberg forwarded a list of schools at which dissertations dealing with comics had been granted: Adelphi University Bowling Green State University Columbia University Teacher's College Fordham University Loyola University New York University Ohio State University Rensselear Polytechnic Institute United States International University University of California-David University of Denver University of Texas at Austin Amy recently finished her dissertation so the University of Wisconsin at Madison can be added to the list, as can as can Vanderbilt (Joe Witek), and the University of Maryland (Judith O'Sullivan). In 1996 Michigan State University should be on the list when my dissertation is finished. Michigan State University has an excellent American Studies program and comic art research collection; I'd like to see more graduate students taking advantage of the facilities here. Additionally, I'm working on a proposal for a Center for Comics Studies at MSU; details as this develops. ------- I.1. Where specifically are comics being studied, taught, and archived? I.2. How are comics being used in education (what is being taught, how, and what materials are being used)? Martin Barker "runs a full year's course on comics, covering most aspect" at the Bristol Polytechnic in Britain. He mentioned Paul Dawson's course on graphic novels, and Dave Huxley's use of comics in a graphics course (all three in the United Kingdom). Joseph Witek, at Stetson University in Florida, regularly teaches courses using comics, as does Donald Ault. Jon Suter has taught graduate and undergraduate courses which focus on or incorporate comics as a part of popular culture courses. Tom Roberts presented "A Serious Course in the Comics" at the 1993 Comic Arts Conference. Materials used include the two Smithsonian books, Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art , current issues of comics, and graphic novels. Understanding Comics is certainly in use by now. The MSU collection has some comics course materials, but more is always appreciated. I'd like to build a comprehensive collection of syllabi and course materials so that models would be available for teachers who are trying to design such courses. Charles Hatfield is working on an article for The Comics Journal on college level courses in comics, and Jeff Williams has sent out a call for papers on the topic for the 1995 PCA (see Comic Art Studies #53). Luca Somigli raised several interesting issues. First, he has not had the opportunity as a graduate student to teach comics as a part of his Comparative Literature courses the way he has had with film and the figurative arts. Second, despite their problematic nature, an anthology of comics, a "Norton," which is not a canon, but could serve as "a way of bringing together a number of approaches to the medium for undergraduate teaching (different genres, comics from different time periods and geographical areas, comics that allow us to discuss questions of the representation of sexual, racial, ethnic, and class 'otherness,'" and the aesthetics of comics. He asked who would publish such an anthology, how would it be marketed, and do such texts follow or precede the acceptance of comics as a suitable medium for undergraduate teaching? The Savanna College of Art and Design split off a Sequential Art department from its Illustration department in 1993 and offers both a B.F.A. and an M.F.A. in Sequential Art. Randy Scott's book provide a list of comics collections in libraries, Comics Librarianship: A Handbook (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1990), and his "Comics Research Libraries as of July 1993" lists 50 libraries and is available from the MSU library. George Hagenauer is working on a Handbook for Collecting Comic Art and has tracked down about 250 collections of art and cartoonist papers in museum and university libraries. The Library of Congress recently began cataloging their comics collection based on the work Randy Scott has been performing diligently all these years. ------- I.3. How can libraries be encouraged to build comics collections? The responses here focused on finding comics friendly libraries (and schools by extension) and then generating donations. The collections at MSU and Bowling Green were both built on donations, including steady streams of material from Eclipse Comics and other publishers to MSU. Currently I'm working on institutionalizing MSU's place on the companies' comp lists. ______________________________________________________ J. Grants/Scholarships. Yeah right. Basically no one knew of any money specifically available for comics study, except Ian Gordon who mentioned the Swann Foundation's annual dissertation writing award which has been awarded to comics scholars, including Ian himself and Mark Winchester. Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon ATTN Rosemarie Guarnieri 825 3rd Ave 34th Floor New York NY 10022 (212) 838-2424 Also according to Ian, the Smithsonian Institute offers a number of fellowships for graduate students that people doing work on comics have held: Office of Fellowships and Grants Suite 7300 L'Enfant Plaza Smithsonian Institution Washington DC 20560 Martin R. Kalfatovic of the Smithsonian had this reply to my inquiry about predoctoral fellowships, "What you can do is ftp the fellowships/grants document from one of our Internet sites. The ftp site is: simsc.si.edu. The directory is SMITHSONIAN. And the document name is fellowships. I would think that comics would could fall under either the ART or the HISTORY categories." He gave these eddresses: Smithsonian Institution Libraries: [LIBEM 071] at [SIVM.SI.EDU] ; [LIBEM 071] at [SIVM.BITNET] ______________________________________________________ K. Organizational K.1. What comics related organizations exist? Besides the Popular Culture Association, both national and regional, the only organizations mentioned were the Association of Comics Enthusiasts, a British fan organization interested in pre-1950s comics and John Lent's Comic Art Working Group of the International Association for Mass Communication Research. Douglas Highsmith noted that he is the current chair of the Association of College and Research Libraries' Discussion Group on Popular Culture and Libraries. ------- K.2. In what other organizations and associations are comics studied, and which ones accept comics related appears at their meetings? The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the Speech Communication Association (SCA), the American Journalism Historians Associations, and the Southern States Communication Association were mentioned. Ian Gordon gave a paper at the Organization of American Historians' annual meting in 1993 and gave one in 1991 at the American Studies Association and also at the American Association of Australian Literary Studies. Martin Barker said that in England cultural studies and media studies conferences accept papers, and that teachers' organizations were showing a rising level of interest. The Comic Arts Conference looks to be well established and should continue as a forum for comics scholarship. On the reverse side Luca Somigli's panel "Comics: The Final Frontier of Academia?" was rejected by the MLA because his proposal "academicizes this subject in just the wrong way." Luca's reaction, "Dogmatism, anyone?" just about sums it up. ------- K.3. Would you support a comics organization or newsletter to inform you about what is being studied and done? The respondents enthusiastically supported these ideas. I plan to continue the Comic Art Studies newsletter and to see that it continues when or if I leave MSU. We have been publishing the Comics Scholars Directory for the last two years (see the form at the end) and will continue to update it. I should soon have a comics scholars email discussion list up and running. ______________________________________________________ L. Bibliographic/Indexing L.1. What bibliographies and indexes exist? L.2. What publications need indexing? L.3. Who publishes bibliographies and indexes? The respondents all agreed that much needed to be done. Jon Suter spoke to the reluctance of libraries to invest in "publications that are on poor paper, unindexed, and poorly distributed" as well as the necessity to have comics-aware staff. Matt McAllister mentioned the difficulty the interdisciplinary nature of comics scholarship brings when compiling bibliographies. Matt McAllister and Leonard Rifas have produced unpublished bibliographies. Joseph Witek mentioned Denis Gifford's American Comic Strip Collection, 1884-1939; The Evolutionary Era (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990); Leonard Rifas mentioned a few: Carol Frances Gale's unpublished Master's Research Paper done at Kent State; Wolfgang Kempkes' International Bibliography of Comics Literature/Bibliographie der Internationalen Literatur uber Comics (New York: Bowker 1971); John Lent's Comic Art: An International Bibliography (published by the author, Drexel Hill PA, 1986); and he's updated this work into four volumes published by Greenwood Press (volume 4 is currently in progress) An International Bibliography of Comic Strips in the United States, vol 2: An International Bibliography of Animation, Caricature, Gag and Political Cartoons in the United State and Canada, vol. 3: Comic Art of Europe: An International Comprehensive Bibliography, vol. 4: Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia, Ocean, Caribbean, Middle East. And Randall Scott has published two relevant works: Comic Books and Strips: an Information Source Book (Phoenix: Onyx Press, 1988); and the catalog of the MSU collection as of 1990: The Comic Art Collection Catalog, an Author, Artist, Title, and Subject Catalog of the Comic Art Collection, Special Collections Division, Michigan State University Libraries (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993) 1435 pages. As for indexing, my Comics Journal Index is available on disk, and should be available at an ftp site by 1995. Send a disk capable of holding 600K to the address at the end for a copy of the index; indicated DOS or Mac. Jay Kennedy send a nice list of periodicals he'd like to see indexed. Jay is also updating his Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide . In Comic Art Studies #49 I included a guide to indexing in the hope that many readers would index a few issues of each of various publications, which might then be complied and published. Don Thompson mentioned that they were working on a Comic Buyer's Guide index using scanners and computers. An Amazing Heroes index was published through APA-I by Bob Klein in 1987, and Comics Interview published an index to date in issue #100. Randy Scott used to produce "The Year in Comics Indexing." Perhaps his work can be revived. The largest concentration of fan scholars and indexers can be contacted through APA-I: Amateur Press Alliance for Indexing c/o Dave Bachman 3804 N Ann Arbor Dr., Apt 6 Oklahoma City OK 73122-2381 APA-I has recently joined forces with the Bay Area Comicbook Klub to create the ultimate comic book database, which will be available online, on disk, and by ftp. With only 7 volunteer they have over 100 titles and 2,000 issues indexed as of June 1994. To help, send an SASE or email: The Grand Comics Database Tim Stroup 130 Baroni Ave. #16 San Jose, CA 95136 [s t roup] at [univrs.decnet.lockheed.com] ______________________________________________________ M. Publications M.1.Where can comics scholarship be published? These journals were mentioned: Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of Communication, Journal of Australian Studies, Print Collector's Newsletter, Art Journal, Journalism Quarterly, Discourse, Free Speech Yearbooks, and The Comics Journal . Ian Gordon considers his review of Joseph Witek's book Comic Books as History in American Quarterly as comics scholarship. At the PCA conference John Lent mentioned that Witty World will accept article on comics that deal with humor. Tom Inge mentioned that the University Press of Mississippi at Jackson is interested in publishing works on comics, as they had done with Joe Witek's book and the reprint of Coulton Waugh's The Comics . The first issue of INKS appeared in February of 1994, and features editors in four categories: Magazine Cartoons, Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Political Cartoons. Lucy Caswell, the journal's editor and director of the Ohio State University's Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic Arts Research Library, asked me to make it clear that animation is not included in this journal's brief. Everyone should know about and subscribe to it: INKS: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies The Ohio State University Press 180 Pressey Hall 1070 Carmack Rd Columbus OH 43210-1002 ______________________________________________________ M.2. Is there a need for a journal devoted to comics? Nearly all the respondents indicated that such a journal was needed and would be appreciated, but that, in Martin Barker's words, "its brief would need to be clear so that it wouldn't become another fan journal." On the other hand, Jim Lowe wants "a publication that strikes a happy medium between the scholarly and the fanzine approach." At the PCA concerns about raising fund at this time of financial aridity, and the need for connection with an organization were brought up. Someone proposed the possibility of an electronic journal; someone else mentioned the possibility of holding a conference with a registration fee that could provide seed money for a journal. ______________________________________________________ N. Criticism N.2. Do we need a rhetoric or poetics of comics? Yes. The respondents wrote before Understanding Comics had been published, but as Scott McCloud said, his work should start the debate, not end it. So more theoretical works on comics would be appreciated. Julie Ratliff and Rebecca Sutherland issued a call for papers for a comic book poetics, and Edward Shannon and Erik Bledsoe did the same for Theory and the Comics. At present I don't know the current status of either project: Julie Ratliff Edward A. Shannon English Dept English Dept Ball State Univ. Univ. of North Carolina Muncie IN 47304 Greensboro NC 27413 ------- N.3. What makes for good criticism? Joseph Witek summed it up thus, "Comics need rigorous, historically and theoretically aware criticism just like any other scholarly area." He and others also spoke to the problem of work being done on comics without the necessary research, leading to "theoretically naive papers." Carl Potts suggests two basic ways to approach any art as a critic: 1). the intellectual approach, which establishes a set of standards or a frame of reference, consisting of 'universal' traits, against which works are held, and 2) the emotional approach, which judges a work good or bad purely from a 'gut' level response, reasons for which are then rationalized. He prefers the first approach, but remarks that the second should not always be ruled out as works occasionally break many convention of structure, yet remain compelling and enjoyable. ______________________________________________________ O. Scholarship Many of my questions on earlier versions of the survey focused on what methodologies work well for comics. Basically, good methodologies work. Scholars should make use of the methodologies appropriate to their own disciplines. ------- O.1. What contact do and should scholars have with creators and other professionals? More needs to be done here. At the PCA we discussed the need for this kind of contact and the possibilities of such contact due to the industry's reasonably open nature. Amy Nyberg wrote that it "would be nice if we could induce the 'Big Two' to designate a liaison person to work with scholars." I have been in contact with Marvel and DC on this issue and may have established scholars liaisons; I hope to solidify these relationships at the 1994 conventions. The Comic Arts Conference should increase the level and number of contacts significantly. ------- O.2. What do creators think needs to be done? Martin Barker brought up a problem with this question, "It would be a mistake to encourage the creators to set our agendas. They have particular skewed interests and needs, which we are not in the best position to satisfyPand it would distort our intellectual agendas if we listened too closely to their wishes." I think that it's important for us to consciously work at keeping the field of comics scholarship as open as possible. Some other fields have retreated into academic sterility, but because we're creating this field right now, we can, I believe, prevent those disciplinary and professional walls from going up. That way we'll never have to tear them down. The Comic Arts Conference represents an attempt to open and maintain lines of communication between creators, critics, academics, fans, scholars, librarians, industry personnel, and all other interested parties. Creator/scholars like Scott McCloud and Leonard Rifas offer examples of how the gap can be bridged. Amy (an academic scholar) and John (an inker at DC) Nyberg's marriage hopefully provides an interesting metaphor for the future of this communication. Some creators, such as Neal Adams, have expressed a desire to keep academics away from comics. While I understand their concerns, it's my belief that scholarly community has something to offer the creative community (a certain legitimacy, according to Will Eisner), and as I stated above, we can prevent the sterilization of comics scholarship that they fear. ------- O.3. Recommended reading: Howard S. Becker, Art Worlds 1982 (from Leonard Rifas). On women and comics--Rossella Laterza and Marisa Vinella's Le donne di carta. Personaggi femminili nella storia del fumetto , Bari: Dedalo Libri, 1980; and a collection on superheroes--Brolli ed. Il crepuscolo degli eroi , Bologna: Telemaco, 1992 (both in Italian and from Luca Somigli). ------- O.5. How can comics (and comics scholarship and criticism) attain the respectability of film, literature, and art (and their scholarship and criticism), and should comics (scholarship and criticism) try to attain that? Since I asked two questions here, I received two answers. Steven Sossaman wrote, "Comics can attain the respectability of film, literature, etc., only when specific comics are as great as specific works in other fields, and move as many people over a long period of time." He suspects that this will take some time. I believe that we are seeing the beginning of this acceptance, especially in relation to works like Maus. Kenneth Nordin addressed the other half of this question. "The study of comics will be perceived as a field for serious inquiry when research tools of various disciplines are skillfully applied to the subject. All too frequently, however, the literature on comics is anecdotal and superficial. ______________________________________________________ P. Other P.1. What five things would help you most as a comics scholar? P.2. What five projects would you like to see done, like to help with, or like help with? This "wish list" of comics scholars ranged broadly. Generally there was a call for better scholarship, in Joseph Witek's words, "fan enthusiasm combined with intellectual rigor," and a need for scholars to be more familiar with the "history and formal characteristics of comics before they start writing about them." Many respondents desire better access to materials, through collections like Michigan State's, responsibly documented reprints, and microfilming of comics and support materials (CBG, Comics Journal ) available through interlibrary loan. The International Museum of Cartoon Art is in the process of converting its collection to a computer format which should eventually be available online. Ideally the same could be done with the other major comics collections. Also mentioned were: translation of European criticism; a journal (INKS should obviate this desire); a column reviewing academic works on comics (it looks like INKS will be handling this); reviews of comics (more than the occasional piece on Maus -- does anyone know Terry Gross?); more contact with the industry, including an easier method to get permission to reprint panels in scholarly work; an academic history of comic books; a computerized version of the Overstreet guide; a detailed guide to the archives of comic book collections; research funds; academic departments dealing with comics. I would like someone to publish, for inclusion in the various style handbooks, specific guidelines for citing comics, including what to do about panels, unnumbered advertisement and letter pages. Julie Ratliff has indicated that the complete MLA handbook does have such guidelines; once I review them, I will publish them in Comic Art Studies. I am trying to deal directly with the following areas that arose: better coordination of scholars (many of whom can be reached indirectly through the newsletter, just send items to me for inclusion); indices of comics publications; an archive of research papers (we've established such an archive at MSU and I have become more systematic recently in soliciting donations for it); and an archive for professional's papers (one for comic strip creators exists at Ohio State University). Ian Gordon thinks "It is important for those who work on comics to move away from the 'what needs to be done' question and do what they need to do for their scholarship." He also noted that in reading over the survey results it struck him that most of the respondents want to grapple with big issues. Moving into doing what they need to for their scholarship should help them to come to terms with definitions of the medium and other such matters; Joseph Witek's book is a good example of this process ______________________________________________________ Q. Director of Scholars Please fill this form out and return it to Peter M. Coogan, Comic Art Studies, MSU Libraries, East Lansing MI 48824-1048; or over email to [C--ga--e] at [student.msu.edu] Here is the scholars directory form : Name: Address: Phone(s): ( ) Fax: ( ) E-Mail: Publications: Areas of Interest: Associations/Memberships: Awards/Honors: