US comics news site Newsarama reports on an interesting development in Google’s ongoing mission to digitize some 10 million books stored in US university libraries.

One of the treasure troves being considered for the digital world is Michigan State’s Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection, which has a 200,000 piece comic art collection with an emphasis “on graphic storytelling in the newspaper comics or newsstand comic book tradition to present a complete picture of what American comics’ readership has seen, especially since the middle of the 20th century.”

According to Newsarama, materials in the public domain will be available through Google, including The Yellow Kid strips from the late 1890s and Famous Funnies No. 1, published in the 1930s and considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book. Material still under copyright won’t be freely available.

All very interesting, especially given the amount of digital comics now online.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Comic Art, Digital Comics