Processing Comics at Special Collections

Comics books as a medium have reached new heights and crossed new boundaries in the last decade. While they've always been a mainstay in film, TV, and merchandise, lately their adaptations are becoming nearly ubiquitous. Not only have they made such a large impact on pop culture, but they are also reaching more diverse demographics.

Some "graphic novels" (a comic published as one work rather than being first serialized) are being regarded as important literature. Children's publishers are investing in graphic novels for young readers, many highly praised. There are college courses on comic books, and individual works are included as required reading in other classes.

The Douglas Ward American Comic Books Collection is currently being processed by NC State's Special Collections and Research Center, and has provided a variety of interesting material. The collection contains almost 2,000 comic issues, collections, and graphic novels, chiefly from the "Big Two" publishers, Marvel and DC Comics. Most of the books feature superheroes, but there's also horror, humor, science fiction, and dramatic works. The finding aid for the Ward Collection is still being worked on, but will be available online soon.

This collection has given us a new medium, and a new method of preserving and processing this medium. For the Ward Collection, we are dividing comics into series determined by their publisher, then arranged by their title.

Cartons of comics, aka a nerd's dream

 

A copy of Hellboy: The Wolves of Saint August

Then the comic is "bagged and boarded," putting it into a plastic bag along with a board to keep it from bending. The comic is then ready to be foldered, boxed, and placed into our archive.

Here are some comics from the Ward Collection:

As seen on TV: Flash, Preacher, Daredevil
Coming to a Theater Near You: Wonder Woman, Star Wars: X-Wing--The Rogue Squadron, Black Panther, Doctor Strange
Well regarded literature: Strangers in Paradise, From Hell, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Bone
Batman: Arkham Asylum, Godzilla, Avengers

Also find out about the many upcoming events all about comics hosted by NCSU Libraries in November, including the screening of the documentary She Makes Comics , where Special Collection will provide a show-and-tell of our materials.

If you would like to learn more about the Special Collections Research Center and are interested in learning more about our materials or viewing them, please see information on using Special Collections materials and use our Special Collections Request Form .