Research of Comics in Modern Humanities

Abstract

The growing popularity of comics in Ukraine and worldwide increases scientific attention to this type of information product. The article is devoted to generalising the leading tendencies in the Comics Study and researching comics in modern humanities. Based on the study devoted to comics professional publications, profile resources of world comics research centres and the current state of understanding the phenomenon of comics magazines and Internet resources, application of review-analytical, historical-chronological, dialectical, socio-communication, and content analysis methods has been detected that the syncretic nature of comics made them a research subject in various sciences and programme subject areas: literary studies, linguistics, cultural study, art history, history, political science, and others. Leading research centres of Comics Study are the International Comic Art Forum, the British Consortium of Comic Researchers, the Comics Research Hub of the University of the Arts, the Canadian Society for the Study of Comics, the Society for Comics Researchers (USA). The educational direction of Comics Studies has been represented by bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral (doctor of philosophy) educational programs in higher education institutions of different countries: the University of Florida, University of Toronto, University of California Santa Cruz, University of Portland, West University, University Dundee, Teesside University, Lancaster University (UK), Kyoto Seika University (Japan). The growth of scientific knowledge in Comics Study, on the one hand, and on the other hand - the predominance of interdisciplinary approach in the studies necessitated the establishment of special scientific journals dedicated to comics, such as the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, Studies in Comics, European Comic Art. In Ukraine, the study of comics at the dissertation level took place in the dimension of pedagogy and philology. However, some scientific research on comics is available in journalism, press studies, publishing, political science, literature, journalism, and social communications. It has been found that as a multifunctional and unique information product and object of library activity, comics have not yet become the subject of study for bibliologists and librarians. The prospects of separating the corresponding research direction in bibliology and library science are substantiated.