LibGuides: Comics & Graphic Novels: Open Access Sources

Open Access Sources

The Narratology of Comic Art
By placing comics in a lively dialogue with contemporary narrative theory, this open access resource builds a systematic theory of narrative comics, going beyond the typical focus on the Anglophone tradition. This involves not just the exploration of those properties in comics that can be meaningfully investigated with existing narrative theory, but an interpretive study of the potential in narratological concepts and analytical procedures that has hitherto been overlooked.
The Comics Grid
A collaborative, peer-edited online academic journal dedicated to comics scholarship. Its purpose is to make original contributions to the field of comics scholarship and to advance the appreciation of comic art within academia and the general cultural mediascape. This journal seeks to function as an online laboratory where different critical approaches to comics are publicly and collectively put to test.
Comics Beyond the Page in Latin America
Comics are being used as essential tools in debates about digital cultures, gender identities and political disenfranchisement. Contributors explore digital comics and social media networks; comics as graffiti and stencil art in public spaces; comics as a tool for teaching architecture or processing social trauma; and the consumption and publishing of comics as forms of shaping national, social and political identities. The book sets out a panoramic vision of Latin American comics, whether in terms of scholarly contribution, geographical diversity or interdisciplinary methodologies.
Redrawing French Empire in Comics
Investigates how comics have represented the colonization and liberation of Algeria and Indochina and shows how contemporary cartoonists such as Alagbé, Baloup, Boudjellal, Ferrandez, and Sfar have staked out different, sometimes conflicting, positions on French colonial history.
ImageTexT: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies
A peer-reviewed, open access journal dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of comics and related media

Assessing Online Sources

A note on assessing web sources.

Not all websites are created equal! Anyone can make a webpage. For academic purposes, it is important to always consider the following when using the web as part of your research:

Authority

who made the page? Are they an expert in the knowledge that is being presented?

Appropriateness

is the information appropriate for your assignment/research? Consider things like language, age level.

Currency

how old is the page? Is the information itself current? When was the page last updated?

Objectivity

is there a bias to the point of view of the page? Is it hidden or overt?

Purpose

what is the purpose of the site? Does it inform, sell, persuade to an opinion?