A. David Lewis Talks Shakespeare and Comics

Listen to this podcast that explores connections between comics and Willy D. Shakes. Ol' Shaggstaff himself! I'm talkin' 'bout Shakespeare.

I LOVE IT when folks discuss comics and Shakespeare because sometimes  elitists hold Billy Shaggy up as the apex while shitting on the concepts of comics in the classroom, visual literacies or multimodal literacies. While, of course, the reality is that Shakespeare is, perhaps, the most visual of our canonical figures. His work can be read but is best understood by reading and viewing it. Ahem... like with comics.

I'm gonna talk about this a little bit at my speaking gig at the Denver Comic and Literacy Convention in June. This online conversation over at "The Mousetrap" makes me so eager!

Plus, this is a good source to share with you after yesterday's sharing of the English Journal article on reading comics and Bill Shacklestick.

May 2012 English Journal Boasts *TWO* Articles on GN's

The May 2012 issue of the NCTE publication English Journal  features two articles on graphic novels. Mary Rice's "Using Graphic Texts in Secondary Classrooms: A Tale of Endurance" is a bit of a rehash of previously and continuously made points, which is doubly frustrating considering the lack of citations for certain figures' work (including mine). But, everyone's at a different point along the comics-and-literacy spectrum, it seems.

It does seem a little odd for NCTE not to take an opportunity to hock its products, though, and I know my edited collection published with them still sells. To be fair, I read the copies via PDF, so maybe there was mention of it somewhere in the journal.  But, I remain frustrated at the political nature of education's "ethos" when it comes to citing previous relevant work.

Paula Wolfe and Danille Kleijwegt's "Interpreting Graphic Version of Shakespearean Plays" is the more intriguing and relevant of the two and features a dose of semiotics and Thierry Groensteen. Folks seem to be getting the picture that Groensteen and Kress  match exceptionally well, and that's a good thing. This article would pair well with one I recently published with Theory Into Practice, in which I discuss psycho-social semiotics and comics-across-platforms. It would not have been available for citing in time for publication, so I'm not implying it should have been.  But, I do like that others are going in directions I think the area of comics-and-literacy should go.

Artifacts from Jack Kirby's Design for Shakespeare Play

Click here to read an article about a California college, Julius Caesar, and the King of Comics! A blast from the groovy past!

Two Awesome Comics Conferences This Weekend!

Sequential SmArt, a conference on comics and education, is taking place at Juniata College this weekend. (Where's the love, organizers??) So, if you're in the Huntingdon, PA, area this weekend, check it out.

Also, the University of Chicago is hosting a Comics and Philosophy Conference at the Gray Center.

GNR Posts Great Roundtable on Girls/Women and Comics

Click here for the interesting read!

2012: Cinco de Mayo is Free Comic Book Day

Looking for a literacy event for you and the kids and teens in your life? Try the annual Free Comic book Day, which is always the first Saturday of May. Say? Aye! Feigh? Nay! Going? Yay! 

Irony Comic via The Oatmeal

Just click the link. You'll enjoy it.