ALEXANDRIA, VA, May 28, 2010—Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels is the latest release from electronic publisher Alexander Street and the first ever scholarly, primary source resource to offer online access to independent adult comic books, graphic novels, and relevant critical works.

Available for subscription or one-time purchase to libraries and academic institutions, Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels will grow to include more than 75,000 pages of original material from the 1950s to today together with more than 25,000 pages of interviews, commentary, theory, and criticism from leading journals (including The Comics Journal), magazines, and books (including the book that led to one of the largest censorship programs in U.S. history, The Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederick Wertham). Also included in the collection are the complete transcripts of the senate subcommittee that birthed the Comics Code Authority and, inadvertently, the underground comix movement.

Well-known artists whose work is included in the collection include Basil Wolverton, Harvey Kurtzman, Dan Clowes, Gilbert Shelton, Harvey Pekar, Spain Rodriguez, Vaughn Bode, Peter Bagge, Kim Deitch, Dave Sim, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, and Skip Williamson.

Says Alexander Street editor Greg Urquhart, “Comics are becoming an increasingly popular area of academic study, but with a few notable exceptions, most libraries have limited resources in this area. This collection solves that problem, and includes a lot of important but rare and hard-to-find works that would otherwise be inaccessible.”

Advisors and partners to the project include “Comixology” columnist Karen Green of Columbia University; Denis Kitchen of Kitchen Sink Press; Jim Danky, director of the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Gary Groth, founder and president of the renowned alternative comics publisher Fantagraphics Books.

To learn more, please visit http://www.alexanderstreet.com/products/comx.htm. Interested libraries and faculty may request trial access or pricing information by emailing sales [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com (sales [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com).

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About Alexander Street Press
Alexander Street Press is an electronic publisher of award-winning online collections in the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and music. Alexander Street collections are available to library and educational institutions via annual subscription or outright purchase of perpetual rights. For more information, visit http://www.alexanderstreet.com or contact Meg Keller at mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com (mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com).

Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels can be accessed online at http://comx.alexanderstreet.com. Anyone may browse this collection for free. Document-level access requires authentication. Reviewers, media contacts, libraries, and university faculty may request immediate access to the collection by emailing Meg Keller at mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com (mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com) or phoning 202-641-7819 for a username and password.

Contact Details
Meg Keller, Director of Marketing
Alexander Street Press
3212 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-212-8520 x 116 / 202-641-7819 (mobile)
mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com (mkeller [at] alexanderstreet [dot] com)
http://www.alexanderstreet.com