Something Useful from the European Union…

By John Freeman on February 16, 2009

— Well, sort of… it’s in beta at present but the European Union is assembling a huge online digital resource, which includes imagery from publishers as well as museums at: www.europeana. eu/portal

You can search for subjects etc and results are broken down into all results, text, images, video etc.

I did a quick search for comics and cartoons and got some interesting results, although some are postage stamp size so not much use. However, it does include imagery from the British Museum, for example, and I’m sure it will grow in its usefulness as organisations get their act together. DC Thomson, publishers of The Beano etc. are among the first on board, although there don’t appear to be any of their comic strips available through this service just yet.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.