Understanding Through Comics: A Comics and Comics Studies Journal Club
A Strategic Equity & Anti-Racism (StEAR) Enhancement Fund-funded project that explores issues of equity and social justice through graphic narratives.
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo
From October 2025 to March 2026, Understanding Through Comics will host two start-of-term welcome luncheons, seven discussions, one colloquium, and two end-of-term socials. We invite students, staff, and faculty from across the university to join us in reading comics as entertainment, research, and social change. We especially welcome folks new to comics with our first meeting, introducing both the project and comics literacy, how exactly one reads sequential art.
Understanding Through Comics seeks to create a space on campus for students to explore comics without the pressure of grades or exams – our events are not a course but do model a seminar in that attendees are encouraged to consider critically how comics shape and reflect our world and the many communities therein. Graphic narratives were carefully selected for diversity in terms of comic format as well as intersectionality, racial equity, disability equity, Indigenous equity, gender equity, and 2SLGBTQIA+ equity across Canada and beyond. Winter Term I includes Canadian zines, American superhero tales, British Asian and Canadian graphic memoirs, and American webcomics. Winter Term II will then include Haida manga, Canadian and Japanese comics for/by trans kids, Indigenous graphic narratives, and Canadian autobiographical comics. Some of the materials chosen are also available in audio and Braille formats for readers seeking accessible comics. These comics will be the foundation for discussions, but we encourage attendees to present on secondary sources addressing the selected comics, such as newspaper articles or research publications. All comics will also be available for free to attendees before each meeting – and yes, you can keep them after too!
Understanding Through Comics will invite cartoonists to campus for colloquia and end-of-term socials. In January 2026, the UBC iSchool will host a colloquium dedicated to Indigenous comics (artist to be announced). In November 2025 and March 2026, the UBC iSchool, with support from the UBC Department of Asian Studies and the UBC Comics Studies Cluster, will also host community-focused cartooning workshops for students, faculty, and staff (artist to be announced). Colloquium and end-of-term socials seek to expand our discussion form comics as literature to comics as creation.
Our first get-together is a start-of-term welcome luncheon held in-person and virtually at the UBC iSchool on Friday, October 3, 2025 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM. Pizza, salad, and sweets will be served. We encourage you to bring your favourite comics to foster conversation and community. Registration is now open for our welcome event.
We wish to express our gratitude towards the StEAR Enhancement Fund, UBC iSchool, UBC Department of Asian Studies, and the Pop Culture Cluster as well as the Comics Studies Cluster for supporting Understanding Through Comics: A Comics and Comics Studies Journal Club.