Subject: Comic Art Stuides #55 (p. 1-5) Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 17:10:01 -0500 (EST) From: "Peter M Coogan" <[c--ga--e] at [pilot.msu.edu]> PAGE 1 Comic Art Studies A newsletter from the Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection, no. 55 ISSN: 1062-6964 This newsletter is published to facilitate communication about the Comic Art Collection at Michigan State University, and communication about public comics collecting and scholarship in general. MSU now has over 110,000 comics items in its special collection, including 500 scrapbooks containing more than 300,000 daily comic strips, plus over 5,000 Golden Age comic books on microfilm. Donations continue at a rapid rate, and a catalog of the collection is available from Greenwood Press. Contents: Comics Scholars Directory Update (p.2) -- Grand Comics Database (p.3) -- Award for John Lent's International Bibliography (p.3) -- Topics Registry (p. 3) -- New European Comic Book Collection (p. 4) -- Comic Art Collection Reaches Cataloging Milestone (p. 4) -- Description of the Reading Room Index (p. 5) -- Comics Scholars Survey Results (p. 6-11) -- Fifth Annual Comics Arts Conference (p.12) Newsletter back issues Back issues of this newsletter are almost all available. However, unless you are requesting them for a research library, please don't ask for a complete run. It is most economical for all involved if we can select the issues that have the information you particularly need. Some highlights of the back issues are a list of the comic books in the Library of Congress (issues 13-16), and a list of books in the Harry "A" Chesler Collection at Fairleigh Dickinson University (issues 8-10) COMIC ART STUDIES, no. 55, December 1995. Quarterly. Randall W. Scott and Peter M. Coogan, editors. Address: MSU Libraries, East Lansing, MI 48824-1048. Phone (517) 355-3770. Fax: (517) 432-1445. Available in exchange for materials in any area of popular culture or fandom. BLB Collectors Club of America Member 219. MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAGE 2 2-1 Comics Scholars Directory Update: George Hagenauer: 2200 Dahik Circle, Verona WI 53593 Phone: (608) 845-9651; Fax: (608) 271-5380 Publications: Mainly in fan publications; Currently working on The Collecting Original Comic Art Handbook, and scripting Paradox Press' Big Book of Little Criminals. Areas of Interest: Preservation of important records and ephemera related to comics, the history and biography of individual artists. Associations: Volunteer at the Chicago Comicon, Nix Nix, CFA-APA ---------- C. David Hissong Jr.: 17931 New Gambler Rd, Mount Vernon OH 43050 Areas of Interest: Science fiction, fantasy, horror in all media. Associations/Memberships: Formerly of WSA (now defunct). ---------- Gene Phillips: 2750 Holly Hall #1105, Houston TX 77054; Phone: (713) 747-6401 Publications: Comics Journal, Comics Feature, Amazing Heroes, Mythinking Areas of Interest: Popular culture vs. art, archaic myth, superheroes, humor comics. ---------- Trina Robbins: 1982 15th St., San Francisco CA 94114; Phone: (415) 863-9944 Publications: Women and the Comics (with cat yronwode) (Eclipse, 1986); A Century of Women Cartoonists (Kitchen Sink, 1993); The Great Superheroines (forthcoming, Kitchen Sink, 1996); other non-comics books. Areas of Interest: Women cartoonists, comics aimed at a female readership. Associations/Memberships: Wimmin's Comix Collective, Friends of Lulu, W.I.C.C.C.A. Awards/Honors: Inkpot (San Diego 1977), Special Achievement Award (San Diego 1989), SF Media Alliance Meritorious Achievement Award (1989), SF Now Outstanding Feminist Activist Awards (1990, 1991), Parent's Choice Award (for Century 1994). ---------- Dave Strickler: Comics Access, 1071 Main St. Box X-9, Cambria CA 93428 Phone: (805) 927-2668; Fax: (805) 927-0384 Email: [d s tric k l] at [slonet.org] Areas of Interest: Newspaper comic strips, indexing comic strips--working on a comprehensive index. Associations/Memberships: American Library Association, American Society of Indexers ---------- Guillaume de Syon: 741 Lancaster PA 17603 Phone: (717) 392-7497; Fax: (717) 392-7497 Areas of interest: Popular culture and technology, aviation comics, French science fiction comics, postcards, comics as history (either historical evidence or to teach history) Associations/Memberships: Popular Culture Association, Society for the History of Technology ---------- Name: Address: Phone(s): ( ) - ( ) - Fax: ( ) - E-Mail: Publications: Areas of Interest: Associations/Memberships: Awards/Honors: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAGE 3 3-1 Grand Comics Database by Bob Klein [edited for the newsletter by Peter M. Coogan]. >From The Grand Comics Database Charter We are building a simple data base that will be easy to use and understand, easy to add to, and easy for people to contribute to. At its ultimate conclusion, this data base will contain data for every comic book ever published. It will be available to all for a nominal fee. If we are able to take it to its logical conclusion, we will offer access to the Grand Comics Database via Internet resources. We are a volunteer organization of hobbyists. This is not a commercial endeavor, and will not become one. Our goal is to include all the comic books ever published. The Index will be simple, useful, and capable of evolving as new needs are found. It will be available as freeware or shareware, and in hard copy formats. Indexing the sum total of all comic books is a huge project. Without heroic effort, it can't be done by one person or even a small number of people. Our operating principles are designed to allow a large number of people to collaborate in a simple and easy way to achieve our ultimate goal. Over the 18 months we have been in operation, our members have indexed over 20 thousand comics with more being added each month. As you might expect, many of the indexed titles are super-heroish titles from the Silver Age and more recent vintage, but we are expanding our archives into new areas. Additionally, Lou Mougin has arranged through the generosity of MicroColor International to index and catalog their microfiche reproductions of Golden Age comic books, and we are making arrangements to include some of the Disney Comics Database information in the Grand Comics Database. Aside from adding to our indices, our current projects are: 1. Getting on a Web page so users can search and query the database on-line 2. Adjusting our file format to allow current commercial database programs to search, sort and filter the database. We expect both projects will be completed by February of this year. We hope you find our project interesting and exciting. To suggest what titles you'd like to do or if you have any questions, contact: Tim Stroup, GCD Personnel Coordinator 130 Baroni Ave. #16, San Jose CA 95136 [S t roup Tim] at [mm.rdd.lmsc.lockheed.com] (408) 281 - 5970 ----------- 3-2 Award for John Lent's International Bibliography Dr. John Lent was presented the 1994 Ray and Pat Browne National Book Award for best text, reference, or resource work in the field of popular culture at ceremonies of the Silver Anniversary of the Popular Culture Association Conference in Philadelphia, on April 14, 1995. The award recognizes Lent's Comic Books and Comic Strips in the United States: An International Bibliography, one of four volumes which he compiled on comic art world wide. The award committee cited the book for its "incredible resourcefulness, care and thoroughness." We would like to congratulate John on his great work and his well-justified honor. ---------- 3-3 Topics Registry The idea behind the Registry is to keep each other abreast of dissertation and thesis topics to help avoid duplication. Tony Harkins: I am currently working on my dissertation in US History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My topic is "The Significance of the Hillbilly in American Culture, 1920 to the Present." I am interested in determining why the portrayal of moonshine, feuding, lazy mountain people has appeared so continuously throughout the twentieth century in nearly every major facet of American popular culture. I hope to help explain not only why the hillbilly has been such an ubiquitous and enduring icon in American culture but also what this image's persistent presence and apparent appeal reveals about the nature of the development of twentieth century America. Of central importance to this study will be hillbilly images in comics, most centrally in L'il Abner, Snuffy Smith and the magazine cartoons of Paul Webb's The Mountain Boys. Tony Harkins, 927 Lake Court, Madison, WI 53715. [a--rk--s] at [students.wisc.edu] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAGE 4 4-1 New European Comic Book Collection by Randall Scott At Michigan State University Libraries, we have always recognized comic art as an international medium, but it has been difficult to substantiate this for our users. We have been gathering samples from around the world, but in a mass medium a sample is no substitute for substance. As of October 1995 we can begin to call our collection substantially international without fear of contradiction. A new collection of 11,000 comic books and albums has been purchased from Horst Schroeder of Stockholm, Sweden, boosting the Comic Art Collection total to 111,000 items and establishing the most comprehensive collection of European comics in any Western Hemisphere library. The European collection was originally assembled by Mr. Schroeder, who is a publisher, to support his work in translating and presenting the world comics scene to Swedish readers. Everything that is usually considered serious in European comics from 1970 to 1990 is included, with retrospective volumes that cover earlier artists and writers in the medium. Notable to American eyes is the high-quality, glossy paper typical of the European comics albums, and especially the standard hardcover format. It takes a bit longer to notice that in all of the 11,000 volumes, there are almost no superheroes. In Europe, superheroes are not considered very interesting, and comics tend to be done in the genres that interest the public in other media: mysteries, science fiction, westerns, thrillers, erotic stories, and historical romances. European comics for children do include funny animals, especially Disney's licensed characters, and reprints of American superheroes. Except for a good representation of the German and Italian Disney comic books, however, the new collection does not include childrens' comics. The European comics collection now includes major holdings in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Belgian, British, Swedish and Danish comics. Students of language and popular literature are sure to find material of interest here. Global studies students can compare European comics not only with our North American collection, but with our Asian and Latin American comic book collections, and with our small but growing African collection. Cultural Studies will find plenty to learn from this treasure of formal, informal, but always commercial productions. The big payoff, though, is for the critic and historian of comics, who will be able to see all aspects of a global movement that spans the twentieth century. Besides the European comics, a notable international acquisition this fall is the Mexican romance/soap opera comic, "Lagrimas, Risas y Amor." We now have 75 issues of that title, spanning the years 1963 to 1992. ---------- 4-2 Comic Art Collection Reaches Cataloging Milestone by Randall Scott At the end of 1994 a very quiet celebration took place when the accumulated temporary slips from the 1970s and 1980s were all finally converted to on-line cataloging. Records for everything received before 1990 are now present in the MSU catalog (called MAGIC) and in the OCLC network. The celebration of this event was quiet, because uncataloged material received since 1990 still hangs over our heads, and then there's this new European collection of approximately 5,000 titles ... Nonetheless, the cataloging dream of the 1970s has been realized, and newer acquisitions are being organized and included in the catalog pretty rapidly. With this going on, part of our attention has turned to the indexing of the collection. The Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection (as it is currently called) began in 1974 as a card file and resumed in 1992 as a series of loose-leaf notebooks helping the user find individual stories in comic books, articles in journals, and citations in histories and reference books. A next step will be an attempt to link the index with the Grand Comics Database. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAGE 5 5-1 Description of the Reading Room Index by Randall Scott The Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection is an author, artist, title, keyword and subject index to the Comic Art Collection in the Special Collections Division, Michigan State University Libraries. COVERAGE: The Reading Room Index points only to materials owned by and available in the Comic Art Collection, but it does not point to all the materials in the collection. Cataloging is substantially complete, but a realistic estimate of the indexing "completeness" might be 1% (one percent) or one in every hundred items fully indexed. The index consists mainly of 1) cataloging records (over 17,000) which are also available in the library's on-line system, MAGIC; 2) transcriptions of the back-of-the-book indexes to 15 books about comics; 3) indexing of 400 issues of periodicals about comics, done both by library staff and by other indexers; 4) indexing of 1,000 comic books, done both by library staff and by other indexers; 5) the list of topics in our collection of over 100,000 topically-arranged daily comic strips. EXTENDED TOPICAL SEARCHES/GROWTH OF THE INDEX: The Comic Art Collection is very large (over 110,000 published items) and a project to index it from one end to the other would take decades. To (hopefully) make the index more useful in the interim, priorities for expansion are designed to follow the demands made on the collection. Any information request of sufficient complexity is therefore an occasion to concentrate on enhancing the index for the topic at hand. Recent topics treated in this way include: African American superheroes; Civil defense; Frankenstein; Gay and Lesbian people; Art Spiegelman; Vampires. The results of each project become part of the index and remain available to all future inquirers. To request an extended topical search, please provide the following information: A) a brief paragraph describing the project, and including as many keywords relating to the topic as possible, and at least one example of the kind of reference desired; B) name, address, and daytime telephone or e-mail address for consulting and setting search schedules; C) any dates or deadlines that need to be met. Searches will be scheduled so that at least a week can be devoted to each topic. AVAILABILITY OF MATERIALS IN THE COMIC ART COLLECTION: Comic art materials do not circulate to patrons, either locally or through InterLibrary Loan. Some limited photocopying is possible, on the condition that the photocopies are for personal research use. Remote users are encouraged to use the index searches provided as a means of deciding whether a trip to East Lansing is appropriate. ACCESS: The index is available in a series of loose-leaf notebooks in the Special Collections reading room. For best results, call ahead, as sections of the index are upgraded and reprinted mainly on demand. Photocopies or ASCII files can be provided to remote users, with a waiting time of at least one week. Mailing address: Reading Room Index Comic Art Collection MSU Libraries E. Lansing, Mich. 48824-1048 Phone: 517/355-3770 (Monday through Friday, 9 am - 5 pm Eastern Standard Time) ask for Randall Scott E-Mail: [20676 rws] at [msu.edu] -- Pete Coogan [c--ga--e] at [pilot.msu.edu] -- Pete Coogan [c--ga--e] at [pilot.msu.edu]