Germany Gets Its First Comic Studies Professor & A Magazine Fights for Survival

The world of comics is increasingly visible in bookstores, and in the German-language book market – which is otherwise shrinking – manga has been the only segment to experience significant growth for years. The Leipzig Book Fair, beginning tomorrow, owes more than a third of its visitors to the associated Manga Comic Convention, considered the largest fan event for this storytelling format in Germany. This form is increasingly appealing to authors thanks to its unique combination of image and text, offering expressive possibilities not found elsewhere.

Universities have played a significant role in this growth. Nowhere else in the world is the influence of academic comics education as noticeable as it is in Germany. However, until recently, no dedicated comics professorship existed in the German-speaking world. Despite this, established artists like Anke Feuchtenberger, Hendrik Dorgathen, ATAK, Ulli Lust, Martin tom Dieck, Henning Wagenbreth, and Markus Huber have effectively transformed illustration professorships into focal points for comics, achieving success in both student output and publications.

A Perfect Fit for a Model Case

Now, finally, the first dedicated comic professorship in Germany has been established at the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart, a university for design, art, and media. The professorship is funded by the Berthold Leibinger Foundation, located in nearby Eberdingen, which has awarded the highest-endowed comic prize in Germany since 2014. The foundation had been actively courted by Barbara Eggert, an art historian who teaches at the Merz Akademie (and has been its rector since 2023), to make this step possible. This development hopefully opens the door for more, as it will be not only the first professorship explicitly designated as a “comics chair” but similarly one that combines comic creation and comic research – a novelty, even internationally.

And they’ve found the perfect person for the role: Barbara Yelin will be the first holder of the Leibinger Professorship for Comics and Comic Research. The 48-year-ancient Munich-based author is one of Germany’s most renowned comic artists. She is currently the first artist-in-residence of her field at the Villa Massimo in Rome. Before her first German-language perform was published in 2010, earlier works had already appeared in France; later, her family biography “Irmina” and the Holocaust survivor’s account “Emmie Arbel – The Color of Remembrance” achieved international success. Yelin is also a highly reflective author with a deep understanding of the traditions and facts of her craft.

A Pioneering Journal in Peril

This represents the very good news from the German-language comics scene this past weekend. The bad news came from Zurich and concerns the financial situation of the magazine “Strapazin,” whose importance to the art of comics cannot be overstated. Published since 1984, it is one of the longest-running magazines of its kind worldwide, and its quarterly publication schedule is as reliable as a Swiss watch. Nearly all internationally renowned comic authors have been published there, and many have been discovered through its pages.

But high standards are no guarantee of survival; sometimes, they even hinder sales. The magazine’s previous funding model, which relied heavily on advertising revenue, has become obsolete. At the “Fumetto” comic festival in Lucerne, “Strapazin” publicly launched a combined campaign to attract new subscribers and raise 66,666 Swiss francs (approximately 75,000 euros) through crowdfunding, securing the magazine’s continued publication for several years.

And within less than a week, half of that amount has already been raised. So, two pieces of good news, after all.