Comics-based research in practice
A (maga)zine about thinking, researching and making through comics.
In comics, the gutter is the gap between panels, the space where the reader’s imagination and interpretation do their work. Nothing is drawn there, yet that’s where stories and meanings come to life. It seemed like the right name for a collection about what comics make possible.
The Gutter is a new (maga)zine exploring what happens when comics become a way of doing research, not simply a way of presenting it.
“What interested me was that these questions weren’t appearing before the drawing. They were appearing through the drawing.”
— Andy, editor/contributor to The Gutter
Comics-based research is being used across science communication, ethnography, medicine, education, archival work, activism, the arts, and beyond. Researchers and artists are drawing to notice, question, explore, analyse, remember, connect and make sense of things that can be difficult to express through words alone.
The first issue brings together 5 comics by 5 artists/researchers, each offering a different glimpse into what comics-based research can be. It is an accessible introduction to a growing field and an invitation to experiment with the possibilities of comics as a form of inquiry and knowledge-making.
“What interested me was that these questions weren’t appearing before the drawing. They were appearing through the drawing.”
“For me, drawing is a way of knowing through attention. It asks you to slow down and stay with someone for longer than you normally would.”
— Elise, editor/contributor to The Gutter
OPEN CALL
Spring 2027
For the next issue of The Gutter, we’re looking for comics that explore research, ideas, questions, experiences or practices through visual storytelling.
We welcome submissions from researchers, scholars, artists, students, educators, practitioners and creative thinkers—whether working independently or collaboratively.
The subject and approach is open. Your work might take the form of:
- an ethnographic or autoethnographic comic
- a visual or arts-based research project
- science or data storytelling
- a methodological reflection
- a speculative or experimental comic grounded in research
- a comic exploring lived experience, community, politics, culture or place
We are interested in work where comics are more than a way of illustrating research already completed. We want to see what happens when drawing, sequencing and visual storytelling become part of the research process itself.
Finished comics, experiments and works-in-progress are welcome.
WHY THE GUTTER?
The Gutter will be distributed in the Netherlands and beyond, connecting and expanding a growing community of researchers, artists and practitioners working with comics as research.
It is also an experiment in itself: a space to explore what comics-based research can be, and what becomes possible when research, drawing and publishing meet.
Have a comic, an idea, or an experiment? We’d love to see it.
SUBMISSION
Format
A5 portrait. Colour or black and white.
3 mm bleed for full-page illustrations; 6 mm internal border for panel pages.
Length
1–5 pages for short-form work, or up to 10 pages for longer narratives.
Short introduction
Please include a text of no more than 100 words answering: Why does this comic belong within comics-based research?
Deadline
31 January 2027
Publication
Spring 2027
Submit to
a.c.dockett@hva.nl
e.c.v.talgorn@hva.nl