
“Bang Bang” instead of “Shhh”? What is the real image of librarians in comic books?
Both the profession of librarian and the medium of comics tend to be viewed negatively in Germany and are victims of numerous stereotypes. Unfairly so! Because what Indiana Jones is to archaeology, BATGIRL and ORACLE are to library science. The English-language comic book landscape is full of superheroes who are librarians and use their special abilities to fight crime and, not least, gain widespread publicity. Using famous examples, a librarian analyzes the image of librarians in comics.
Ann Bliß (born in 1985) is a versatile librarian with 21 years of professional experience. From the Free University of Berlin to the State Library to the IB University of Applied Sciences for Health and Social Sciences, where she currently works, she likes to break with common preconceptions about the profession. As a former member of the Society for Comic Studies / ComFor, she is particularly interested in comics as educational media. Her book “Das Image von Bibliothekaren im Comic: Bang Bang statt Psst” (The Image of Librarians in Comics: Bang Bang Instead of Shh) was published in 2015.