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Extending the genealogical efforts undertaken by fans since the 1960s, history has become a central part of our knowledge of comics. After several generations of work by amateurs, comics have become an academic historical object. This article traces the emergence of historical approaches, pointing out the contributions and the limits of fans’ efforts. It describes the trends that have structured research on comics: comics as a source to study the representations of the society that produced them; comics as a branch of cultural history of past societies; comics as a way to investigate historical imaginaries; and comics as a way to explore new ventures into the visual writing of history. This article presents some of the archives that make it possible to write a cultural history of graphic narratives, its modes of production, transmission, and reception.