Comics History and Scholarship
In the last twenty-five years, interest in the history of comics and the scholarly study of comic arts has increased dramatically. VCU Libraries Special Collections and Archives holds one of the largest collections of these materials in the United States, including more than 125,000 comic books, of which 60,000 are available for research, and many scholarly books and journals. VCU Libraries also serves as the repository for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Archives.
Our comic arts collection is a rich resource for explorations of representations of women and minorities, political cartoons (including voting rights), studies of artists, artistic styles and movements, and much, much more. If you have a topic in the comic arts that interests you, we'll work with you to find materials.
You can search our comic book collection with the Comic Book Index. This will tell you if we own the comic books you seek. If we do, you can request and read them in the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room.
