What, Where, Why

Harvard's comics collections are not attached to a specific place. The comics and graphic novel collections are generally, unless noted otherwise, interfiled with the general prose/text collections across the library system.

Here are some good places to start exploring:

  • Lamont Library: Not only the general stacks, but also The Farnsworth Room on the third floor. The Farnsworth Room is Lamont's pleasure reading collection with a good selection of comics and graphic novels.
  • Widener Library: Check the general stacks.
  • Microforms, Lamont Library Level D: specifically, the microfiche call number rannge of Microfiche SC 519-584 has a selection of comics from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

Accessing the Collections

The comics and graphic novel collections are, unless noted otherwise, interfiled with the general prose/text collections. There are basically three instances where you will find comics shelved in the collections. The most common way is to look within the following call number ranges:

  1. PN6700-6790 - This is the range for the subject heading, "Comic books, strips, etc." Most comics titles are here.
  2. NC1300-1766 - This range represents the subject heading, "Pictorial humor, caricature, etc." Fewer comics titles are here.

    There is no basic logic as to why an item will appear in one call number range over another. NC1300-1766 might contain more instances of single-panel cartoons than PN6700-6790, but it is far from a hard and fast rule. Please feel free to explore both sections of the library!

  3. By subject. For example, you may find materials under call number class Q ("science - general") or HQ ("marriage and the family, sexual life, age groups, women and feminism"), or elsewhere. In these instances, titles will be interfiled individually among regular prose and text books, rather than clustered within a specific range.

    Subject browsing is also the least problematic way to browse comics and graphic novels stored at the Harvard Despository (HD), as those materials are not always assigned call numbers.

Search Tips

For help, try Ask a Librarian or email Paul Hanna at phanna@fas.harvard.edu.

Finding comics at the library

This guide is a primer on finding comics at the Harvard libraries. Comics have a considerable history involving portrayal of women particularly in genres of science-fiction and fantasy.

Print Materials

Selected works:

Women & Science Fiction:

Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest: a new, updated translation of the 1960s French comic, Barbarella follows a young woman who travels from planet to planet and has numerous adventures, often involving sex. Roger Vadim directed a 1968 film adaptation that starred Jane Fonda.

Batgirl/Robin: Year One by Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Marcos Martín, and Javier Pulido: Originally published in single magazine form in Batgirl: Year One 1-9, Robin: Year One 1-4, these are two stories, updated retellings of the origins of Robin and Batgirl.

Captain Marvel by Kelly-Sue DeConnick: Carol Danvers has a new name, a new mission - and all the power she needs as the new Captain Marvel. After changing her superhero name, Captain Marvel tries to live up to the legacy of her fallen predecessor, while facing a time-traveling adventure that's intricately linked with the woman who inspired her military career. This title is collected in two volumes, the first of which was published in 2012.

The Complete Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim Volume 1; Volume 2; Volume 3 by Alex Raymond: Flash Gordon is the quintessential science fiction comic, first published in 1934 and created by Alex Raymond. These volumes represent the bulk of the Raymond work that informed the development of Flash Gordon in popular culture, as well as many science fiction comics and pop culture franchises that came after. Flash Gordon is a handsome polo player and Yale University graduate, and his companions are Dr. Hans Zarkov and his prototypical love interest, Dale Arden.

Finder by Carla Speed McNeil: Set in a vastly depopulated far-future Earth where numerous hunter-gatherer cultures, some human and some not, surround densely overpopulated domed city-states of recognizably modern urbanites functioning at a high technological level. Jaeger is a finder, a hunter-tracker bound by a secret society to give aid to anyone when asked. Finder was collected in two volumes, the first of which was published in 2011.

Glory by Joe Keatinge and Ross Campbell: An obscure 1990s Wonder Woman knock-off, Glory was originally a superheroine who was part demon and part Amazonian. Keatinge's reinvention of Glory is downright bizarre, altering the characters origins from one of pure myth to one of extraterrestrial origin.  Glory was also physically redesigned to be albino, more muscular and covered in battle scars. Keatinge's take on Glory began in 2011.

Pretty Deadly by Kelly-Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios: the opening arc of a series launched in 2014, marrying the magical realism of Neil Gaiman's Sandman with the western brutality of Garth Ennis's Preacher. This book tells a tale of retribution as beautifully lush as it is unflinchingly savage.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: Saga is an ongoing space opera, first published in 2012. It follows a husband and wife from long-warring extraterrestrial races who flee authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their newborn daughter. The first issue of the comic gained notoriety for a depiction of breastfeeding.


Wonder Woman:

Arguably the superhero with the largest pop culture impact, the resources below are a selection of Wonder Woman-related comics Harvard has available:

Sensation Comics by William Moulton Marston: Sensation Comics was a comic book series published by DC Comics that started in 1942 For most of its run, the lead feature was Wonder Woman, who previously debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). The first 25 issues are available on microfiche in the Documents/Microforms collection at Lamont Library on Level D.

Wonder Woman by William Moulton Marston: the first 30 issues of Wonder Woman (starting in 1942) are available on microfiche in the Documents/Microforms collection at Lamont Library on Level D. The fiche include creator William Moulton Marston's original 28-issue run on the title character, plus the first two issues by his successor, Robert Kanigher. 

Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang: This is the second "reboot" of of Wonder Woman that debuted in 2011 and has continued up to now: "Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, has kept a secret from her daughter all her life -- she has a father."

Wonder Woman by George Perez: These four volumes represent the first "reboot" of the Wonder Woman character, retelling her story in a then-contemporary context (1986).

Wonder Woman Archives by William Moulton Marston: Hardcover print versions of the original Wonder Woman comics.

Wonder Woman: the Greatest Stories Ever Told by various: A collection of representative stories from throughout Wonder Woman's publication history. "Originally published in single magazine form in Sensation Comics #1, Wonder Woman (first series) #28, 99, 108, 163, 178, 214, 286, Wonder Woman (second series) #20, 170, and Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth." 

Wonder Woman: Love and Murder by Jodi Picoult and Terry Dodson: a 2007 story wherein Wonder Woman, as Diana Prince, a special agent of the Department of Metahuman Affairs, takes on an assignment to track down Wonder Woman, an impossible task that risks revealing her secret identity.

Women & Science:

Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists by Jim Ottaviani et al.: Stories from the lives of several women scientists -- including Marie Curie, Emmy Noether, Lise Meitner, Rosalind Franklin, Barbara McClintock, Birute Galdikas, and Hedy Lamarr -- presented in graphic novel format and illustrated by female artists.

Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton: This 2011 book is a collection of Beaton's Web comics, which include a couple strips about science, notably Rosalind Franklin (p.53), and Marie Curie (p.56).

Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss: More strictly a graphic novel than a work of comics, Radioactive presents the professional and private lives of Marie and Pierre Curie, examining their personal struggles, the advancements they made in the world of science, and the issue of radiation in the modern world.

Where the future begins!: a comic-book album for girls about mathematics and science! by Terry Hirst. Perhaps slightly anomalous, it is a book published in 1995 by a non-profit organization in Nairobi, Kenya, aimed at young girls, stressing the importance of math and science.

Wire Mothers: Harry Harlow And The Science Of Love by Jim Ottaviani and Dylan Meconis: Recounts the story of Harry Harlow, a psychologist who speculated, explained, and conducted experiments on whether "love" exists, using rhesus monkeys as subjects.

Digital Materials

  • The Comics Journal: an ongoing magazine established in 1977 with commentary on comics content and culture.

  • Women in Refrigerators: a website created in 1999, its content was crowdsourced by fans. It aspired to list every death of a female character who was severely injured, killed, or depowered in a superhero comic. It also treid to examine why these plot devices were used disproportionately on female characters. Although the site's content is out of date, the website remains online.

  • Underground & Independent Comics, Comix, & Graphic Novels