Stories from Glasgow: Episode Two - The World’s First Comic
Published: 21 October 2022
Move over Gotham, there’s a more important city in comic book history. Glasgow is home to the world’s first comic, The Glasgow Looking Glass, and in this episode, we’re uncovering its fascinating story.
Move over Gotham, there’s a more important city in comic book history. Glasgow is home to the world’s first comic, The Glasgow Looking Glass, and in this episode, we’re uncovering its fascinating story.
Expect local landmarks, missing mummies and more, as researcher Danielle Schwertner and Professor Laurence Grove share some of their favourite extracts of the periodical, explaining what we can learn about 19th century Glasgow, and comic book history.
Find out more about The Glasgow Looking Glass
The Glasgow Looking Glass can be viewed at University of Glasgow Archives and Special Collections.
You can also view selected pages of The Glasgow Looking Glass via The Yale Center for British Art.
About Danielle and Billy
Danielle Schwertner is a PhD researcher at the University of Glasgow in the Stirling Maxwell Centre for the Study of Text and Images. Her research analyses contextual, intermedial relationships in the satiric depictions of gender and identity found in early nineteenth-century caricature periodical the Glasgow Looking Glass.
Danielle holds a BA in English Literature and Language from Midwestern State University, an MA in Book Publishing and Writing from Emerson College, and an MLitt in Scottish History from the University of Glasgow.
Follow Danielle on X @danies394
Laurence Grove (AKA Billy) is Professor of French and Text/Image Studies and Director of the Stirling Maxwell Centre at the University of Glasgow. His research focuses on historical text/image forms, and specifically bande dessinée. He co-edits European Comic Art and has authored twelve books, four exhibitions and approximately sixty chapters.
Follow Billy on X @LaurenceGrove9
First published: 21 October 2022