Jezebel Shares "13 Fantastic Female Comics Creators"

Click here for the great list!

AV Club Chimes in with Best of 2011 List

Not quite a top ten list, rather several lists covering different categories. 'Tis the season!

Renewal for IRA MIA for 2012

The envelope reads "Now It's Time to Renew." Not so fast, there, Sparky. That's up to me.

Dont Miss Jeff Smith, Professors, etc. on this Canadian Telecast

Click here to see Jeff Smith and others answer questions on comics/graphic novels, the classroom, and learning. Or, just scroll down. Listen to a woman call comics "quick, easy" and suggest the idiotic idea that the visual elements of comics take away from students' ability to use their imaginations. Jeff Smith's reaction is priceless. He reminds us of the complexity of process as well as reminds us that comics evoke reader response.



We (cartoonists, comics scholars, and comics-and-literacy advocates) fight SOOOO much ignorance, even from otherwise "educated" people. Thank goodness we get a mix of ideas here.

Eh? More like "Yeh!"

"Comics Worth Reading" Blog Offers Best of 2011

Johanna Draper Carson and friends offer up what they feel are the year's best graphic novels here.

NPR offers Six Graphic Novels that will "Draw you In"

Click here for an article on 2011's salient graphic novels, according to National Public Radio's Dan Kois.

SLJ Publishes Best GN's for 2011 (Kids)

Click here to see School Library Journal's list.

A Little Synthesis on GN's and Learning

Here's a link going around from the Free Writing Tips website. If you follow the link and do not get a large sentence reading "Graphic storytelling teaches better than text" (ahem), do a search for a column entitled "Now You See It." The piece details work from studies at Texas Tech, East Carolina, UC Santa Barbara and others that suggests words and images together in comics form help people learn and retain knowledge.

One day enough people will catch on such that articles like this will simply be entitled "Duh: Here We Go Again." But, hey, researchers, keep those studies coming.

Thank You Again, NYSEC!

Today I received a very nice "thank you" letter from the coordinator of this year's NYSEC (New York State English Council) and evaluations from folks who attended my workshop, "Comic Composition Crash Course." All 5's all around, the highest score on the eval sheet.

Below are the very kinds words that I'll be adding to my files very soon. Thanks again to all the great folks in Albany!

Ironically, this news arrived to me on the very same day that I learned my tenure as a Co-sponsored speaker with NCTE has expired and that there seems to be little interest from NCTE in extending my position as a speaker at this time.