COMICS STUDIES WORLDWIDE

             Due to the development of the industry and the people’s continuous interest in comics, educational systems have set up courses and have begun to deeply analyze the subject. Comics studies is an academic field that focuses on comics and graphic novels.  Among the most prominent scolars that have studied and theoretized on comic studies there are Will Eisner with his work Comics and Sequential Art published in 1985,  Scott McCloud with his writing Understanding Comics published in 1993,  Coulton Waugh attempted the first comprehensive history of American comics with The Comics published in 1947 and  David Carrier's The Aesthetics of Comics (2000) where the author talks about comics from a philosophical perspective.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 

Comics studies is becoming increasingly more common within academic institutions across the world. Some notable examples include: University of Florida, (one of the premier academic institutions for studying comics, animation and other forms of visual rhetoric in North America. For MA and PhD, students can choose the Comics and Visual Rhetoric track when pursuing a degree) or Dundee University in the U.K. At Dundee University, a Literary Festival is organized annually and Comics Day is part of this festival. Dundee is also the home of D-Con, an annual Manga festival.

Other examples: University of Toronto at Mississauga, and University of California Santa Cruz.

PUBLICATIONS

            Scholarly publications dedicated to comics studies are growing both online and in print.  ImageTexT is a peer reviewed, open access journal based at the University of Florida. The journal Studies in Comics based at the University of Dundee, U.K. is edited from within the programme Comics Studies.  There are many others in circulation, such as European Comic Art, Image and Narrative, and the International Journal of Comic Art.

WRITTEN BY RUXANDRA MANEA
EDITED BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA