While I’m pretty decent at writing comics, when I started out writing prose fiction I had no idea what I was doing. Not only that, I didn’t particularly like doing it. On the other hand, I’ve had a number of students in comics classes who are prose writers first, and they all tend to hit certain sticking points. So here are a few observations about turning from comics to prose or vice versa.
Jessica’s 2002 strip, “What Is a “Graphic Novel?”” is a great tool for introducing comics into your classroom or library. here we have a print-quality PDF version of the strip, which you can use to print posters and handouts. There are black and white versions of the poster (11″ x 17″), and the handout (two Read More
My work focuses on the process of reading comic books, rather than on the readers. When I started down the path of focusing on reading, I encountered the false assumption that “anyone can read comic books.” Even people who did not consider themselves comic book readers thought they knew how. In teaching with comic books and graphic novels, I have found that I have had to teach many of my students the ins and outs of how to read comics.
I’m an English teacher from Cambridge, England. I work in an 11-18 comprehensive school, teaching students across the full age and ability range. Like most English teachers in the UK, almost all the reading I do with students in the classroom involves purely print-based texts. However, for a while I’ve been wanting to explore how teaching comics might work in an English classroom.
Comics has a rich and eclectic tradition of formal experimentation. Following are a few links to examples of experimental comics from around the world.
As part of my preparations to teach a workshop to high school students at the Miami Wolfsonian Museum in a few weeks, I’m trying to put together a quite short list of books the Wolf could buy and have available for the kids to read.
My host at Marshall University, where I gave a lecture in the visiting writers’ series, was Art Stringer, faculty in the liberal arts department, and a poet. After I returned home, this poem unexpectedly showed up in my email. It’s really lovely, and I asked Art for permission to post it here.