M. Publications
M.1.Where can comics scholarship be published?
These journals were mentioned: Journal of Popular Culture, Journal of Communi cation, Journal of Australian Studies, Print Collector's Newsletter, Art Journal, Journalism Quarterly, Discourse, Free Speech Yearbooks, Journal of Contemporary History, Journal of American Studies, and The Comics Journal . Ian Gordon considers his review of Joseph Witek's book Comic Books as History in American Quarterly as comics scholarship. At the PCA conference John Lent mentioned that Witty World will accept article on comics that deal with humor. Tom Inge mentioned that the University Press of Mississippi at Jackson is interested in publishing works on comics, as they had done with Joe Witek's book and the reprint of Coulton Waugh's The Comics . The first issue of INKS appeared in February of 1994, and features editors in four categories: Magazine Cartoons, Comic Strips, Comic Books, and Political Cartoons. Lucy Caswell, the journal's editor and director of the Ohio State University's Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic Arts Research Library, asked me to make it clear that animation is not included in this journal's brief. Everyone should know about and subscribe to it:
INKS: Cartoon and Comic Art Studies
The Ohio State University Press
180 Pressey Hall
1070 Carmack Rd
Columbus OH 43210-1002
Guillaume de Syon brought up that some unlikely publications sometimes use caricature as a more "established" base of investigation, and pointed to Martin J.S. Rudwick's "Caricature as a Source for the History of Science: De la Beche's Anti-Lyellian Sketches of 1831." Isis 66 (1975), 534-560.
M.2. Is there a need for a journal devoted to comics?
Nearly all the respondents indicated that such a journal was needed and would be appreciated, but that, in Martin Barker's words, "its brief would need to be c lear so that it wouldn't become another fan journal." On the other hand, Jim Lowe wants "a publication that strikes a happy medium between the scholarly and the fanzine approach." At the PCA concerns about raising fund at this time of financial aridity, and the need for connection with an organization were brought up. Someone proposed the possibility of an electronic journal; someone else mentioned the possibility of holding a conference with a registration fee that could provide seed money for a journal.