While comics can be incredibly enjoyable to read, they can also be a great tool for learning Russian. And learning Russian through comics can be the perfect opportunity to discover some really interesting art and stories.
Trust me, the eight sources for Russian comics below—from beginner to advanced learning levels—will really draw you in.
Does “Garfield” make your heart purr? Is Dilbert the only one who understands your life troubles? If you love these comic strips in English, you might find them even more delightful in Russian.
And lucky for you, Russian for Free has dozens of “Garfield” and “Dilbert” comic strips translated into Russian. They’re still just as adorable and hilarious, but now you can use them to polish up your language skills.
These comic strips are very brief—some are as short as one simple sentence. Because of their brevity, it’s easy to fit in a little reading practice even if your schedule is jam-packed.
Perhaps best of all, Russian for Free has done all the work needed to convert the comics into awesome learning tools. Below the comic, you’ll see the Russian text, and you can copy any words you don’t know into a vocabulary list or translator.
Russian for Free even gives you the English-language translation of the text, making these comics accessible to even beginning learners.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
Like Com-x.life, UniComics has a great selection of comic books that you can read online for free. There are hundreds, enough to last any Russian learner for a good long time.
This site also leans heavily on translated American comic books. For instance, there are plenty of “Captain America” and “Black Widow” comics.
UniComics is ideal for upper beginning through advanced students.
“Загадки для зарядки” (“Mysteries for Charging”) is a 1975 Russian comic book for kids.
Because it’s intended for children, it features a lot of vivid drawings and common vocabulary, making it an excellent option for beginning Russian students and/or any Russian student nervous about diving into a more grownup comic book.
However, the book is intended for older children and its primary focus is on riddles that require some problem-solving skills, so “Загадки для зарядки” also won’t be too easy.
Additionally, the book is appropriate for more advanced students since it offers material for one area that Russian students usually need to work on but often don’t: Russian cursive. One unique feature of this comic is that some of the text is in cursive, so if you need a little extra practice reading Russian cursive, “Загадки для зарядки” has your back.
Looking for something out of the box that you’ve never heard of? Check out Авторский Комикс (“AC”).
This is a Russian-language comic book site that allows users to upload their own material. Because of this, you’ll encounter diverse, less well-known options and more works originally written in Russian.
At Авторский Комикс, you can read many comics for free online. Popular options include “Голубь Геннадий” (“Dove Gennady”) and many others.
If you like, you can also post your own comics to share through Авторский Комикс. Want some tips and tricks for creating your own Russian-language comic? Keep reading!
Ivan Eshukov is a Siberian comic book artist best known for «Боровицкий» (“Borovitsky”). The artwork is next level. The plot is Tolstoy-esque. And it’s difficult to find any actual examples of the comic books in Russian.
However, while it is really exceedingly hard to find copies of Eshukov’s work in the United States, he posts some great samples on Facebook. Sure, you can’t read a full comic book, but if you want to practice your Russian while dabbling your feet in the Russian indie comic book scene, Eshukov’s Facebook page is one of the best options.
While it doesn’t offer full comics, it does have plenty of photos. Best of all for Russian students, there are Russian-language descriptions of many comic books, including English-language ones you may already be familiar with. It might not be quite as exciting as reading the comic book itself, but it’s still terrific reading practice.
Get ready to dive into the awesome world of Комиксы Bubble (“Bubble Comics”)—a prominent player in the Russian comic scene. They have turned comic storytelling into an art form, offering a mix of superheroes, anti-heroes, and all-around fantastic tales.
From intense, suspenseful stories to light-hearted, hilarious escapades, it’s a comic playground for all tastes. The best part? They’ve built a community around it, so you’re not just reading comics; you’re joining a crew of fellow enthusiasts.
Check out “Major Grom” for an intense superhero experience or “Red Fury” for a dose of thrilling adventure. Bubble Comics is your gateway to the heart of Russian comics, where every frame is a work of art, and every story is a ticket to a whole new world.
If you have an artistic bent and a passion for the Russian language, you can dive into creating your own comics!
“Искусство создания комикса” (“The Art of Making Comics”) is the Russian-language edition of a guide to creating your own comics. It’ll help you learn key industry vocabulary, figure out how to put together a story, learn how to plan your story visually, decide about lettering and coloring schemes and so much more.
But best of all, your Russian will improve along the way. Reading the book will give you Russian reading practice. Writing your own comics in Russian will give you Russian writing practice. What could be better?
Why Read Russian Comics as a Learner?
First, comics are often easy to read. Like any short stories, they don’t take too much time, so they’re easy to fit into any schedule. But they also provide you with powerful learning material.
Additionally, comics usually use basic, common vocabulary. Resources that use common vocabulary are terrific, especially for beginning Russian students. Not only are you more likely to recognize common words, you’re also more likely to need them in real life. The words you encounter in comics are likely to be words you’ll want to use.
Comics rely heavily on visual context, so you can look at the images if you need any extra cues as to the meaning. This makes reading comics easier than most other reading practices and helps develop your understanding of the language more thoroughly.
If you love learning Russian and want to immerse yourself with authentic materials from Russia, then I should also tell you more about FluentU.
FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning the Russian language and culture. You'll learn real Russian as it's spoken by real Russian people!
FluentU has a very broad range of contemporary videos. Just a quick look will give you an idea of the variety of Russian-language content available on FluentU:
FluentU makes these native Russian videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.
Access a complete interactive transcript of every video under the Dialogue tab. Easily review words and phrases with audio under Vocab.
All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Russian learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
And FluentU has a learn mode which turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples.
The best part? FluentU keeps track of your vocabulary, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You'll have a 100% personalized experience.
