Archcomix

For a condensed summary of what comics journalism is, as a fully interactive comic, then click here.

Click here to listen to a recent radio interview I gave on the New Books Network for the launch of my recent graphic novel, Voices from Nepal: Using Comics Journalism to Uncover Human Trafficking.

This page is dedicated to showcasing graphic journalism/non-fiction talents around the world, from the professional level to grass-roots. I might even add an FAQ when I get the chance. For now, content yourselves with the following resources – and feel free to suggest any that I might have missed. To be clear: this is for multi-page, long-form comics, not single panel editorial cartoonists (Daryl Cagle), serialised 3-panellers (Doonesbury) or even multi-panel/multi-tiered rabble rousers. The idea is that the work is presented as a window into a subject that does more than scratch the surface of said news topic with incendiary rhetoric, but actually aims to inform (dare I say educate) the reader.

This is very much a work in progress, so please leave any more suggestions as a comment or send me an email if you feel I’ve missed anything/one off.

Listed below are some prominent comics journalists at the forefront of the field, followed by examples I’ve gleaned from around the world, organized by territory.

Comics Journalists:

• • Joe Sacco, the comics journalist de rigeur and author of Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde, The Fixer, and many more, but most recently the Ridenhour award-winning Footnotes in Gaza

Click here to listen to the panel discussion I shared with Joe Sacco on comics journalism when he came to Stanford in May 2011

• • Josh Neufeld, author of AD: After the Deluge (read it online at this link)
  • Jens Harder, from Germany
  • Augusto Paim from Brazil. Read a PDF of his pieces here.
  • Jessica Abel (in her ArtBabe Anthologies)
  • Bo Soremsky – interactive storytelling and beautiful design from Germany
  • Susie Cagle
  • Seth Tobocman, You Don’t Have to Fuck People Over to Survive
  • Tom Hart, who wrote this excellent article on standout works of graphic novel reportage. You’ll need to scroll down.
  • Nick Bertozzi, whose piece on Shackleton in Syncopated first caught my eye, plus his Iraq War Stories at the Act-i-vate website
  • Ho Che Anderson, most famous for his stylish graphic bio of Martin Luther King

Collectives:

• World War 3 Illustrated
• World Comics, a foundation that empowers artists from developing countries around the world to tell their stories in comics form.
• The Last Hours collective, from the UK
• The Stanford Graphic Novel Project
• VJ Movement (due a big site redesign to better incorporate comics), based in the Netherlands

Works:

• Rescue from the Charonne Metro: (in french) true story recalling a metro station attack in early 60s Paris at the height of the Algerian war.
• The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation: I’m not a fan of this for multiple reasons, but the opening section is a good example of how comics can be used to collapse the timing of narrative events. Review to follow. Soon.
• Illustrated People’s History of the US (originally by Howard Zinn)
• Brought to Light
• KZ Dora by Robin Walter – a French graphic novel about 5 characters’ experiences in a Concentration Camp during WW2. See below for cover art, courtesy of Eric Pape.
• Les Cahiers Ukrainiens by Igort

Articles:

Comics Journalism by Region:

Europe:

GraphicJournalism.org, an Italian repository of comics journalism articles

Of the 2012 May protests in Russia

Articles on Comics Journalism:

Nieman Storyboard‘s Comic book news: a look at graphic narrative journalism (part 1)