Many university students don't actually know about the almost unlimited amount of resources available at their college libraries. Most students will think of tutoring services or resource books to check out for a paper, but most university libraries have so much more to explore.
At the University of North Texas, there is the lovingly curated comic book and graphic novel collection, both available to be checked out and gently perused in the special collection.
The Denton Record-Chronicle spoke with Library Learning Services Librarian Doug Campbell about UNT’s comic book studies. Scholarly Communication Librarian John Martin is the main contact for comic book studies.
The collection
The collection of comic books, graphic novels and manga is housed on the third floor of the Willis Library. The shelf is chock-full of newspaper comic collections, graphic adaptations of classic novels, manga, superhero comics, queer graphic novels and other must-read staples of the genre.
According to Campbell, the Willis librarians are extraordinarily dedicated to growing and caring for the collection and have more than doubled it within the past 10 years.
Campbell also explained that the library recently received a library-specific grant to support the university's comics scholarship, media, archival collections, databases and other materials used for research and teaching.
Thanks to this grant, he expects the collection to double again within the next few years.
But, it's not only the librarians and UNT staff curating the collection — anyone can suggest purchases to be made with the grant funding here. (Just be sure to check out the library catalog to ensure your idea isn't already a part of the collection.)
There is also already a concerted effort to fill the collection with award-winning books, such as Marjane Satrapi's award-winning graphic novel Persepolis, Campbell said.
The books in the collection on Willis's third floor are free to be checked out by any UNT student. Additionally, there are several courses at UNT that utilize these books for studies each semester.
Apart from the collection available for checkout on the third floor, there is also the special collection on the fourth floor of Willis.
These are specially archived and only available for on-site use. Students can request use of the special collections and peruse comic book classics, such originals of The Amazing Spiderman, Captain America, Iceman, The Incredible Hulk, various Avengers comics and more.
Comics studies at UNT
Comics studies is not an enrollable course at UNT, rather a larger field of scholarly study and research that anyone can participate in.
According to UNT, "comics studies can include the theory, history, philosophy, aesthetics or cultural relevance of comics, as well as the industrial production, marketing and collection of comics or comic art.
"It may draw on scholarship from a broad range of disciplines including history; literary studies; media and communication studies; art and art history; sociology; linguistics; philosophy; business and marketing; library and information science; or legal studies (particularly in regard to First Amendment & censorship issues)."
UNT's comics studies website features tons of resources for anyone with an interest in comics, from the casual reader to the seasoned scholar. Learn about researching and citing comics, browse collections from UNT and beyond and keep up with scholarly comic conventions, conferences and other events being hosted at UNT.
Comics studies events at UNT bring comic scholars from all over the country to speak on comics theory, history and more. In summer of 2023, UNT hosted the Comics on the Margins Comics Studies Society Conference, bringing several keynote speakers famous for their roles in the world of comics, illustrating, cartooning and more.
Into the Archieverse
Comics studies' next hosted event is Into the Archieverse, happening May 10-11 this year. This two-day conference will be on everything Archie comics; history, books, movies, television, music and more.
Recently, UNT gained access to the World of Archie comic archive for students and faculty to use, featuring backfiles of more than 100 comics titles from the 1940s to 2020 featuring characters and stories from the Archie universe.
Courtesy image
The Into the Archieverse organizers are currently accepting proposals on anything Archie, using the official archive at UNT, to present at the conference.
Think Archie in television and film, Archie fashion, Archie noir, the music of Archie, queering Archie and more — Campbell said they're open to the uniqie and interesting. View the guidelines on submissions here and submit your proposal to the form here.
The proposal deadline is coming up on Feb. 2. Applicants will receive a notification on whether or not their proposal has been accepted for presentation at the conference on Feb. 26.