Redes, saberes y visibilidad: balance colaborativo de los Working Groups 4 y 6 en la Acción COST iCOn-MICs (CA19119)

This paper offers an analytical and forward-looking assessment of the work carried out by Working Groups 4 and 6 (WG4 and WG6) in the European project COST Action iCOn-MICs (“Investigation on Comics and Graphic Novels in the Iberian Cultural Area”). It examines the objectives, methodologies, activities, and outcomes of both groups, with particular attention to their strategic role in bridging academic research, the cultural industries, institutional policy, and public knowledge dissemination. WG4 has fostered connections with professional and cultural actors in the comics field, as well as promoting collaborative spaces for training, exchange, and critical reflection on the creative ecosystem of the Iberian world. WG6, in turn, has designed and managed the project’s internal and external communication channels infrastructures, which have contributed to consolidating an open, inclusive and plural research community. Through the analysis of these dynamics, the article highlights the value of the synergies between both groups as a model of “knowledge ecology”—one that extends beyond the timeframe of the project to establish a sustainable network of research and cooperation. iCOn-MICs has reinforced the legitimacy of comics as a field of scholarly inquiry and as a vehicle for transnational dialogue, while also opening pathways towards new cultural cartographies in the Iberian context.