Review of Nightmare on Zombie Island

First off, I hate zombies. Can't stand them, don't like the sub-genre of zombie horror, am appalled by all the comics out there doing zombie versions of super-heroes, and just don't get the whole psychosexual thrill of "humans" wanting to consume other humans.

But, for the sake of lauding Graphic Universe's fifth book in its "Twisted Journeys" series, I'll tolerate the fact that Nightmare on Zombie Island is chocked full of the undead.

The book is a "choose your own adventure" text that calls itself a graphic novel but is actually one of those hybrid texts like The Invention of Hugo Cabret or the recently-cancelled Abadazad series. It combines illustrations and pages of traditional print text with full-on sequential art pages and panels.

I should tell you that if it wasn't for Choose Your Own Adventure books and Encyclopedia Brown -- and especially an Encyclopedia Brown Choose Your Own Adventure book -- I probably would have never fallen in love with print-based books. Well, I have to add the 1959 World Book Encyclopedias to that list of early influences too.

So, what I've detailed to you above is a love of facts-based and logic-based texts (making me typical of boys and their reading interests), but you already know me as a lover of comics as well.

The thing about comics and choose your own adventure-style books is that they also represent some of the most abhorred forms of text by many traditionalist teachers. But, I thoroughly relished in having control of the story. I would speculate and predict what would happen based on my choices, and I took them seriously. I had one Choose Your Own Adventure book featuring the Transformers, and I remember that the fates were often pretty damn harsh, like slowly melting or rusting or being ripped limb-for-limb (I think that folks thought that since the main characters were robots, young readers wouldn't be as stunned by the ravages -- this can also be seen in some of the brutal covers of the 1980s Marvel Transformers comic books. Consider the sample image and remember that this series was really for kids. If that had been people getting shot, the 1950s would have started all over again!). I built up my inference skills and my logic by trying to get into the writers' heads and using what I had learned about the twists from previous texts to help me craft my decisions. And, honestly, if I still screwed up and killed Optimus Prime, I felt deep guilt.

Something else about those texts: they had moral and ethics education undercurrents in them. Many times, your fate was tied not only to the decisions you made, but the type of decisions you made. For example, if one was a good boy or girl and kept a strong sense of moral code, one would usually end up OK, usually. But, if was selfish or committed one of the deadly sins, one often suffered for it.

That's the trend in Nightmare on Zombie Island as well, as you and some friends find yourself on an island with a pirate ship's hidden treasure deep in its bowels. The treasure remains undisturbed, and you escape the zombies or have little trouble. If, however, you take the booty without permission (insert terrible sardonic thought of bridging this text to Speak here), you're not going to have many happy endings.

This book is fun. It's not amazing, or jaw-droppingly written, but it's a nice romp through a hybrid text that puts the reader in charge of the reading experience. And the zombies are pirate zombies, which seem to be the best kind nowadays.

(Right: Jack Sparrow loves zombies, and pirates, but he really loves zombie pirates. And Pilate's, and 21 Jump Street because it launched his career -- well, not as a pirate, but as an actor. Someone with great Depp of character. That's a joke, not as tasteless as the Speak reference, which I still feel guilty about even writing, but the sad thing is that it came to me so quickly -- I didn't have to think about it as a "joke" -- that I'm a little disturbed by it and had to write it out as a form of confessional. Speaking of booty, though, based on the thoughts of many of my students, Jack Sparrow loves booty and booty loves Jack Sparrow, and the good captain will never suffer from a lack of booty no matter how much booty he gives away.)

Review of Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics

Another great piece from the folks at Comixology.

Get Comics Previews on your iPhone

Michael Chabon on Comics

Though this article from Idaho Mountain Express has "genre" in the title, Chabon craftily discusses comics as a medium and a form (you go, guy!). Some folks just love it when "legitimate" writers talk about comics, and Chabon has to be a leader in this regard as he's been unabashed in talking about them as an influence for his work. He's not one of those writers who "admits" to loving comics but who embraces their impact, which is how it should be.

School Library Journal's List of Adult Books for Kid Readers

This link will lead you to the article, where you'll no doubt note that graphic novels are given their own section. Lots of familiar titles in there if you've been keeping up with various "Best Of" or "Favorites" lists this year.

Comics and Conflict: An Audio Podcast

Since comics and contact zone pedagogy are taking up a lot of my scholarly interest right now, I was very pleased to see a link to this podcast featuring some great names in comics and comics scholarship. Thanks to Tom Spurgeon of Comics Reporter for drawing my attention to this very useful resource that has direct pedagogical implications.

10 Comics that Made a Great Writer Cry

Well, not great like Whitman, but I've just discovered the lucid writing of Shaenon K. Garrity of Comixology.com. Thanks to this link posted over at The Beat, I'll be adding Comixology to my links section over there on the right, because the site has some good writers. In this particular feature, Garrity reminds us of the strong pathos associated with the comics art form.

Review of An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons and True Stories V.2

Ivan Brunetti's second anthology promises stories that comprise more of a family of sequential art tales rather than keep the singularity of theme and individuality of the first collection from a year or so ago. "Family" really comes off as another word for the more accurate phrase "diversity of styles and themes but still all bound as sequential art," but one can hardly fault Brunetti for his phrasing. His last anthology was a little too centered on the theme of loneliness, in my opinion, so it is good to see him branching out.

The best things about this anthology are that the stories come not only from a multitude of artists but a multitude of generations as well and that many of the stories are highly readable.

This is not like the "Best of 2008" anthology reviewed here in early November in that here one can read works from Winsor McCay, Art Spiegelman, Jaime Hernandez and Phoebe Gloeckner in the same volume.

However, I find at least a fourth of the volume to comprise dubious choices for inclusion. Some are simply unreadable, either via clarity of style (I'm just not one of those fellows who likes intentionally messy cartoons), reproduction size, or the element of neurosis the selection reveals. (Am I the only one who is starting to feel like he got kicked in the head every time he reads another sequential art narrative that illustrates how depraved cartoonists seem to be, or at least how depraved they think we are as a species?).

There are some real gems in the anthology, to be sure. The last quarter of the book is a delight and includes some heavy hitters of cartooning. And I must say, as I flip back through the book, there are some stories I just don't remember reading -- they just didn't stick with me -- but there are others, like the selections from Lynda Barry and Jessica Abel, that I'm thinking I must have glossed over. They seem fresh and exciting. But how did I miss them the first time?

So far, my favorite selections are Mack White's parable "The Nudist Nuns of Goat Island" and Jim Woodring's "Particular Mind," which has a great scene where an uppity young female artist tells a cartoonist (unbeknownst to her) that creating comic art is "different" for her -- she really sees it as an art form. I also appreciated being exposed to artists like Gloeckner whom I hadn't paid much attention to in the past.

Overall, this is a good, but not really jaw-dropping, anthology. It is a bit pricey but probably worth the having simply because so many others will have seen it. I prefer the Best American Comics of 2008 anthology to this one but admit that not giving it higher marks is more Brunetti's tastes being different from my own than my drastic disenchantment for the bulk of its material.

My Blog in Wordle as of December 1, 2008

If you're not familiar with the Wordle application, you've got to give it a try. Just type in some text or the address of your favorite blog, and it creates a customizable word cloud letting you know which words are most dominant in your writing. What a great visualization for budding writers and veterans alike! Visit http://www.wordle.net/

Link to Some Graphic Novel Shopping Guides

As for my own suggestions, you can't go wrong with anything Alan Moore for those with sophisticated and off-kilter tastes. For younger readers, Bone, American Born Chinese, Goodbye Chunky Rice, Electric Girl, or any of the Toon Book titles, especially titles in the Little Lit series, are excellent choices.

More for older readers? Anything Eisner, something from Joe Sacco, Deogratias: A Tale from Rwanda, the latest "Best American Comics" anthology, and the new Brunetti anthology is OK too.

But don't just take my word for it, follow the link to The Beat and find additional links to guides from Tom Spurgeon and Comic Book Resources.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving; just hide the last item on that list if this guy knocks on your door:

UK Marketing Studies on Kids and Comics

Click here and here and here for some stories compiled by Hedi over at The Beat dealing with how numbers show that British youngsters are reading to comics in excitingly large numbers. Hey, I know there are some lit snobs out there, some gaming snobs, and surely some film snobs as well, but we all have to admit it is great to see kids holding something in print and having a great time with it.-- even if these particular kids do talk all funny and remind us of those Harry Potter kids. ;)

Review: Kid Beowulf and the Blood-Bound Oath

Alexis E. Fajardo, illustrator at the famed Charles M. Schulz studio, is on a mission to retell the epic tales of civilization. His main characters as he begins this quest? Beowulf and Grendel, who are revealed to be tied together more closely than anyone could imagine in the book to start the series of revisionist tales, Kid Beowulf and the Blood-Bound Oath.

As it turns out, the story behind Beowulf and his foes has been a misunderstanding, a twisting of the truth over thousands of years. That's what you get when you're relying on an oral tradition, I guess. In Fajardo's "truth," the dragon, Grendel's mom (Gertrude), Beowulf and Hrothgar are all blood relatives after a power-hungry Hrothgar makes a deal with the dragon to ensure that he'll rule his father's kingdom someday. Of course, no one wants anyone else to know who is related to whom, so the story is full of political intrigue, manipulation, and conflict. Add to the equation more macro-level politics as diverse bands squabble with other tribes over land, food, women, and loyalty, and the plot gets thick pretty quickly.

There is no shortage of Beowulf-inspired comic adaptations on the market right now. What sets this title apart is that it works from a level "one up" from the bulk of its contemporaries. It does not seek a simple retelling of the Beowulf story so that struggling readers can gain access to the story through alternate or complementary means; it retells via a revisioning of the story, taking classic characters and timeless themes and revamping them to craft a completely new and exciting narrative that is inspired by the original but by no means bound by it, unlike how Hrothgar is bound to his oath, which acts the impetus for much of the destruction and dissonance in the title.

It builds interest in the original text by honoring it but playing with it; it builds student motivation to read the original without necessarily having that as its ultimate goal. Those who read Fajardo's revisionist romp may be moved to the canonical poem Beowulf or John Gardner's Grendel because they've developed a love for the characters as they have been more fully examined in the graphic novel. Surely surprises await those who have never read the poem when they do so, and I'll bet that when those readers get to certain spots often read as victorious, they'll have a deeper reaction than most readers who see certain de-limbings and dragon-slaying as par for the course for the epic form.

Marketed to readers in grades 9 and up, Kid Beowulf and the Blood-Bound Oath is a fun, character-building extension of the Beowulf mythos and illustrates how great art continues to inspire other great art from generation to generation, century to century.

Blue Beetle Cancelled

Unfortunately, El Paso's resident hero will no longer have his own title after issue #36. DC has pulled the plug on Jaime Reyes' solo book, but just because the series is cancelled doesn't mean the title character has to die. Expect Jaime to become a very prominent member of the Teen Titans as new writers integrate him better into that team book. So, though the series that tackled border issues, immigration, and what it meant to be Hispanic in the largest border town in the nation may be signing off for now, I'm willing to bet that the Reyes Blue Beetle is too important a figure to go unused for too long.

I wish I could find an image from a recent Blue Beetle comic where Jaime is dealing with being named an honorary border patrol agent by a savvy politician taking advantage of the hero's teenage naivety. As Jaime learns more about what being able to cross borders means for people in the region, he starts to reconsider the "honor" bestowed upon him. Residents protest the Blue Beetle. One sign reads, "I'm an illegal immigrant, just like Superman."

As a DC official states in the interview linked in my title for this posting, immigration was intended to be a major issue of the book but lost an audience as our presidential candidates focused on other issues. I have to wonder if being progressive in its outlook caused some sort of backlash against the series, but it will remain a tender favorite of mine for some time due to my new connection with the people of El Paso.

Life magazine Archives of Photos from the 50s Senate Hearings, Etc

Some great photos from Yale Joel have been released chronicling the comic book scare phenomenon that took place during the 1950s. Publisher's Weekly has some posted (follow the link in this post's title) and has the main link out to other photos as well.

Heidi at PW, thanks for drawing our attention to these images from dark days for comics, when common folks though that comics were a gateway to juvenile delinquency. Of course, research has shown they are gateways -- to more and more varied reading, but not to criminal records.

Success at NCTE 08!

Thanks to everyone who came to my session with Doug, Nancy, and Diane, to the High School Matters round table, to the YA Lit in the 21st Century round table, and to my demo at NCTE Central! It was great talking with you all -- maybe I'll see you in Philly, if not before, and we can continue our discussions on sequential art narratives in education!!

And if you're visiting the blog after picking up one of my fliers, welcome! I hope you'll find plenty of interesting resources, articles and reviews as you consider using comics in your classrooms.

As well, thanks to the publishers or distributors who let me take some review material. Hopefully I'll get reviews up on the site soon. I'm actually a little backlogged on that, but the restful holiday season (ha!) should give me some time to catch up. I was especially thrilled to talk with the rep from Diamond and a very sessy representative from :01! Ya'll keep up the great work!

It was also nice to see so many folks and to realize how my network is growing. I appreciate every opportunity I am given and try to have a "pass it forward" attitude when encountering new NCTE members or burgeoning professionals.

My "The Graphic Novel in the 21st Century" Strip for NCTE 2008

Crafted at Toondoo.com:

21GN by professorbucky Make your own at www.toondoo.com

And in another format:

Stan Lee Earns National Medal of Arts

President Bush recently honored several with a lifetime achievement honor for their work in the arts, and comics creator extraordinaire Stan Lee was among one of the recipients. "His complex plots and humane superheroes celebrate courage, honesty, and the importance of helping the less fortunate, reflecting America’s inherent goodness," said Bush.

He then asked Lee if he could get Tony Stark to build one of those "neat-o Iron Man heart protectors" for Dick Cheney. OK, he didn't, but that would have been hilarious.

"Graphic Novels Come of Age" Exhibit at Bowling Green State University

A Twist on the Comics as Language Learning Devices

There is a substantial volume of work out there detailing how comic strips and comic books can help students classified as ELL, but there are books out there using cartoons to help native English speakers learn other languages as well! Thanks to MH for drawing my attention to a book first published in 2000, The Oxford Spanish Cartoon-Strip vocabulary Builder.

Authors Monica Tamariz and Claire Bretecher suggest that following the strips and exercises can help one learn to speak Spanish not as it is taught in high schools, but how it is actually spoken by native speakers.

Teaching Graphic Novels in Canadian Schools

Bridging Activities with Comics Stories

Recently, my ENG 3349: "The Dramatic Modes of the English Language Arts" class spent three weeks considering how to use sequential art in their future middle and high school English classrooms. Readings and discussions culminated with several activities, including making a mini-comic via Comic Life software or similar programs.

Another activity, based on ideas associated with Young Adult literature (See Joan Kaywell's Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the Classics series) and more recently with comic art (See my collection Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels) asked students to come up with a bridge that would link a comic story thematically with a more traditional text such that the comic piece could help build prior knowledge, pre-reading strategies, and text-to-text connections between the texts.

Students had read either Big Fat Little Lit or The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Stories, both anthologies, and chose their comic stories from them. They had some great ideas!

Greed emerged as a major theme. Victor felt that the Big Fat Little Lit story "The Baker's Daughter," adapted by Harry Bliss, would make an excellent bridge to other works that dealt with greedy characters and the effects of avarice. Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," for example. Victor also noticed what became the second most -explored theme in the class: judging by appearances. He thought that because of this theme, the comic story might also be a neat bridge into Henry James' novella Daisy Miller.

Victoria found greed to be central to another Big Fat Little Lit expert, "It Was a Dark and Silly Night" by J. Otto Seilbod and Vivian Walsh. Because of how desire for money doomed its penguin characters, she though it would be a great match for Chaucer's "Pardoner's Tale."

Beyond Victor/Victoria, Sophia dealt with issues of greed and jealousy in Dan Clowes' interpretation of Sleeping Beauty from the Little Lit anthology. Clowes' version involves a mother who wants power for herself but knows that if a fair lady who married her son but now sleeps for years on end ever awakens and produces children, they will inherent the kingdom instead. So, she plots to make sure things go her way, only to be ruined by her own plotting and lust for control. Sophia noted direct connections to characters from Shakespeare's Othello, especially between the scheming mother and Iago.

On the theme of appearances, Jennifer wrote that "Pretty Ugly," by Ian Falconer and subtle genius David Sedaris, would be a nice pairing with Sandra Cisneros' "Chanclas" from The House on Mango Street. In the Cisneros, a young girl is embarrassed by her clunky old shoes and is afraid people will think poorly of her, but an uncle makes her the center of positive attention by getting her to dance with him, and all the anxieties melt away. Jennifer says that in the end of both these stories, the characters become comfortable with who they are.

Sara also thought "Pretty Ugly," collected in the Little Lit book, would be a good story for classroom use, especially if used to bridge into Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion, in which certain humans are considered lesser beings because of the genetic make-up, just as the main character of "Pretty Ugly" is ostracized before making a sudden transformation. Mary Jenny though "Pretty Ugly" would be a good bridge into Batsy Byars' Summer of the Swans because both feature characters who feel different, like they don't fit in.

Rounding out ideas associated with Big Fat Little Lit choices, Erick thought Claude Ponti's interpretation of "The Enchanted Pumpkin" might be a quick little bridge into Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix because both stories might deal with characters who want to be something they aren't, or want to change themselves or others into something that allows them to escape from traits they'd rather not acknowledge.

Andrew was drawn to one of the collection's editors, Art Spiegelman, and his short comic "The Several Selves of Selby Sheldrake." The multiple emotional representations of Selby acted as a perfect visualization of the multiple emotional personas that Holden Caulfield seems to manifest in Catcher in the Rye.

The Smithsonian collection got some love from my students as well. Lynda Barry's "San Francisco" drew the attention of Liana. She thought it would fit well as a way to introduce Anne Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Both reveal the silliness and emotional roller coaster that is the life of young girls, Liana claims.

Lauren thought that the Fantastic Four reprint featuring the classic villain the Hate Monger would be a neat way to build connections concerning racism and fanaticism in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, especially with its allusions to the Klan and other fanatical groups.

Dani enjoyed the R. Crumb selection "I Remember the Sixties" and thought she could use it to help students learn about alternate or underground scenes like those the Beat poets inhabited and created. She also felt she could extrapolate themes from the story into discussions on the poetry of feminist poets like Adrienne Rich, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, an idea that surely makes many Crumb critics grin from ear-to-ear as they see the oft-considered misogynist cartoonist's work appropriated for the serious study of feminist ethos. Dani admitted to having to pick and choose from the panels carefully but was excited about the bridge potential.

Esteban enjoyed a classic Spider-Man story where the arachnid kid continually runs into trouble, from one obstacle to the next, and found connections to the constant trials of epic heroes, especially Odysseus from The Odyssey.

Nicole enjoyed the Will Eisner short story "Izzy the Cockroach and the Meaning of Life" and felt it a smart bridge into the play Death of a Salesman. Both Willy Lohman and Jacob from the Eisner deal with feelings of uselessness and contemplate their place in the world after losing employment, she mentions.

Perry Moore's YA Novel May Get Small Screen Treatment

Hero, a Young Adult novel about a gay superhero, is being considered as a Showtime TV series produced by comics legend Stan Lee, according to IVC2.

NCTE, Others Collaborate on "The Code of Best Practices for Fair Use of Media Literacy Education"

So, you've got this great comic that you want to share with the class, but you've only got one copy and an opaque projector. Or, you want to share scenes from a graphic novel in excerpt, but you don't know how much is too much to share. Or, you've noticed that Watchmen seems to have a soundtrack, and you'd like to have students listen to the songs mentioned in the text, but how much of the song can you play? Your principal keeps telling you all these stories about lawsuits and is giving you one more reason to be paranoid. What to do?

Well, I've been teaching my students about fair use and using the advice found on page 228 of Mary T. Christel and Scott Sullivan's NCTE-published collection Lesson Plans for Creating Media-Rich Classrooms, but now NCTE and other media organizations have joined together to bring greater clarity and ease of mind to classroom teachers who want to make the most of media resources.

(and Traci Gardner of NCTE is blogging about fair use this week too, if you don't have a copy of the Christel and Sullivan handy).


The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Use of Media Literacy seeks to help by offering explanations, resources, definitions, and myths about Fair Use. Should I be able to embed the following video from the Center for Social Media without worry? Well, it gives me the option to embed, just like some comic strip sites are now offering, so it seems OK... but guess I'll have to read the new NCTE code to better know...

My New Home State Set To Impress Me -- and Take a Lead in Gaphic Novels in Education

The Diamond Bookshelf reports that the Texas Library Association will soon release a "Maverick Graphic Novel List" to help librarians get graphic novels in their collections and in their schools.

Not too shabby for a state that sometimes seems behind the times when it comes to progressive pedagogy! As history has shown us, once the librarians get going with graphic novels, more and more teachers will follow.

Typically, this is how it seems to go:

1. Librarians take the lead and get graphic novels in their collections

2. Librarians note amazing interest and huge gains in circulation numbers.

3. Librarians start talking with teachers, or visa-versa, about how graphic novels can engage reluctant readers.

4. Teachers come to see graphic novels as good for reluctant readers.

5. Hopefully teachers read more about graphic novels, learn that they are good for all sort of readers, from ELL to gifted student populations.

Review of Cleopatra: The Life of an Egyptian Queen

Another in Rosen's series of graphic biographies/graphic nonfiction, Gary Jeffrey, Anita Ganeri, and Ross Watton's Cleopatra: The Life of an Egyptian Queen is an impressive text.

It blends prose exposition, graphic storytelling, vocabulary and character charts, glossary and art in such a way as to really give the reader a complete feeling for the history of this enigmatic Egyptian.

It's an excellent complement to any prose textbook or encyclopedia entry on the subject of the Roman Empire and has well-rendered sequential panels featuring characters, clothing and auxiliaries that look historically accurate.

The graphic novel is not going to win an Eisner any time soon, but I was truly impressed by its breadth, its use of multiple formats, and the sincere effort and craft behind the book. One doesn't always expect much from these types of graphic novels, but this one, intended for upper elementary and middle school readers, delivers.

"Verily, so sayeth me, in yon scroll resembing fair word balloon"

Thanks to P. Coogan and J. Tondro for reminding me that the use of word balloon technology goes back a long way, even if the balloon itself has done some evolving:
Click here, scroll a bit, and enjoy.







"Tis your day to dispose of the refuse via trans-
port to yonder corner!"

More on Vocabulary

What to call sequential art narratives, especially comics and graphic novels, has been on the mind of various populations who study or who have recently "discovered" the form. I prefer sequential art narratives, obviously, but the term hasn't caught on because of its length and, my guess is, because it has the word "art" in it, and that tweaks literary-minded folks (I sort of laugh at this. Literature isn't art?). Others don't want nonfiction labeled under the heading of novel. We see "graphica," "graphic nonfiction," "poetry comics," etc. popping up to try to distinguish one form of comics-based sequential art from another. A recent discussion on a comics list serve brought up a redefining of the term "comics" as a shortening of the verb "co-mixing" since comics mix together words and images. Very cool idea, I think.

More Comics-Making Software and Programs!

so, you might know about ComicLife, but there are many other comics-making applications out there as well! One is Pikistrips, a web-based application that allows folks to upload their own photos and make photo-essays using the comic strip format. Comeeko is apparently very similar, if not the same thing as Pikistrips. Lou Novachek recently drew my attention to this article, which details a new program called Pixton. Pixton even offers a virtual classroom sort of cartooning!



And thanks to Meera for mentioning toondoo, yet another exciting application!

PCA/ACA looking for Proposals

CFP/Press release from Wendy Goldberg:

Conference: PCA/ACA 2008 National Conference (www.pcaaca.org)
Place: New Orleans Marriott, New Orleans, LA
Dates: April 8-11, 2009
Submission Deadline for proposals: Friday, November 21

This is the national meeting of the Popular Culture Association andthe American Culture Association, and this submission is under thearea "Asian Popular Culture."

Panel #1:Title: Horror Anime and MangaThis panel invites papers on any aspect of horror anime or manga.Essays may use texts that can be classically defined as "horror"(i.e., ghost stories) and may also explore the use of horror figures(i.e., vampires) in other genres (i.e., shoujo).

Panel #2Title: Anime and MangaOpen call for papers on any aspect of anime and manga studies.

We welcome submissions from a variety of academic and criticalapproaches.Submissions should be sent in the form of a 150-250 word abstract,outlining what you would like to present.

Include contact information,any audio-visual needs, and a CV.Submit by Friday, November 21, 2008 to Wendy Goldberge-mail: wendy.d.goldberg@uscga.edu

or snail mail:
Wendy Goldberg
Dept. of Humanities
United States Coast Guard Academy
27 Mohegan Ave.
New London, CT 06320

"Looks Good to Me": The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey

My students recently finished a 3-week stint learning about graphic novels and their pedagogical uses. One of the activities they had to do was bring in reviews of graphic novels they thought kids would find interesting. The Rabbi's Cat, a great series, was a popular choice. Well, here's a book about a Rabbi who doesn't need a feline to run his household. The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey is described as a combination of Jewish and American folklore.

It looks like a good read to me. It also helps me remember just how much sequential art in America owes to Jewish Americans. So, I'm glad to see some graphic novels exploring Jewish history, customs, and folklore directly.

Amazon and PW "Best Of" lists

The Election's Over. Now what?

Well, we've seen comic book creators and character supporting nominees, and we've seen comic book biographies of the candidates. Now that the race is over, what does sequential art have to offer us? How about a recap of the whole thing? That's what Dan Goldman's upcoming graphic novel appears to offer. A piece of history in the making, dealing with the topic of history in the making!

The Drive to Focus more on 21st Century Literacies

From the latest NCTE INBOX:

School Leaders: Focus on New-Age Skills
A new survey says that 21st century assessments should be at the top of policymakers' lists. eSchool News, November 4, 2008

NCTE recently changed its "move toward a definition of 21st century literacies" statement to an actual "definition of 21st century literacies," so it is good to see these sort of articles in the inbox.

"Yes We Can" Engage in Visual Literacy

So, after the electoral votes tallied in favor of Obama, you immediately turned off your televisions and radios and eagerly awaited the transcript of Obama's victory speech and McCain's concession, right? It was hypertext that moved you to tears when you read about the 106 year old lady voting in Atlanta. It was the print out that inspired you more than you've been inspired in years, correct?




Not for most of you. Admit it: it was the visual, the auditory experience that made this so critical a moment. SEEING him take the stage, hearing his words, noting the expression in the audience's faces. Noting how the press visually represented the votes, the results, and how they framed the speech events that came shortly thereafter. If only for a moment, admit that on this day, listening, speaking, visualizing and visually representing made up the bulk of your READING experience. Sure you went straight to CNN afterwards; sure you blogged and e-mailed and twittered once you heard the news. You engaged in a complete, multimodal literacy experience. As the nation rediscovered its potential for change in the 21st century, you pulled from all of your critical literacy skills and fully read it, savored its visual cues, its print, and its auditory stimulus.

CBR Examines Comics on Their Cell Phones

Graphic Novel Reporter to Debut Soon

Another entity wanting to bring you information on comics and graphic novels for the teen set.

Publishers Weekly "Best Of" List

Scroll down a bit for the list of best comics. Good to see Lynda Barry and Jaime Hernandez on the list.

CBR Story/Collection of Images Connecting Comics and the Campaigns

A couple of my favorites gathered from the story at Comic Book Resources. Check out the link!

Must Read: The Best American Comics 2008

Guest-edited by Lynda Barry, this installment of the Best American Comics series is just as good as the previous two and better than Brunetti's An Anthology of Graphic Fiction volume 1 (I hear a second volume is underway). Barry introduces the text with an ode to comics and cartoons that inspired and confused her and with wording that makes an educator think of Louise Rosenblatt's thoughts on poetry and Reader Response theory.

Barry essentially espouses a transactionalist theory of reading comics when she states, "No matter how carefully a comic strip is constructed, the reader's experience of it cannot be predicted/ There are as many version of each comic strip as there are readers./Where is a comic strip located?/Reading a comic strip more than once seems to change it as well, but of course, it's not the conic strip that is doing the changing." Rosenblatt says of the transaction that takes place between text and reader: "emphasizing the essentially of both reader and text, in contrast to other theories that make one or the other determinate....'Transaction'...permits emphasis on the to-and-fro, spiraling, nonlinear, continuously reciprocal influence or reader and text in the making of meaning. The meaning — the poem — 'happens' during the transaction between the reader and the signs on the page" (source).

Rosenblatt says of reading in general (particularly in reading poetry): "The special meaning, and more particularly, the submerged associations that these words and images have for the individual reader will largely determine what the work communicates to him. The reader brings to the work personality traits, memories of past events, present needs and preoccupations, a particular mood of the moment, and a particular physical condition. These and many other elements in a never-to-be-duplicated combination determine his response to the peculiar contribution of the text."

She defines two forms of reading, efferent and aesthetic, and mentions that most reading is done via a sliding scale between the two types:"despite the mix of private and public aspects of meaning in each stance, the two dominant stances are clearly distinguishable: someone else can read a text efferently for us, and acceptably paraphrase, but no one else can read aesthetically—that is, experience the evocation of—a literary work of art for us."


Barry says in her introduction, "When we notice new things in a story, something is being forgotten that we don't notice./Sometimes not getting the story the way it was intended can be the very thing that makes it usable." Time, experience, lack of both those things, and emotional state are just some of what affects one's reading of a comic, Barry asserts.

The comics Barry has selected certainly lend themselves to aesthetic readings, from those of-the-moment (or of-the-age) works like the selections on war and politics by Alison Bechdel and David Axe and Steve Olexa, to the parables and fables, to Pablo Picasso's naked penis and the wounded bird syndrome of Sarah Oleksyk's copy girl in "Grave-Yard," the collection drips diverse pathemata but never gets so saturated that one has to get away from it from time to time (a weakness of the Brunetti collection, which might as well have had 'insert your own cartoon character here' screaming on an otherwise empty page, "I'm so fucking lonely!!!!" Still, though, the Brunetti is worth purchasing as well).

Besides for "Salon," in which Picasso and friends attempt to find a new essential art, the most enduring comic of the collection for me, beating out the Ware and Yang and Bechdel contributions, is Joseph Lambert's "Turtle Keep it Steady," a retelling of the tortoise and the hare fable and a surprising choice for inclusion due to its simplicity and surface-level lack of seriousness. Full of tender art and little text, the economy of its message makes it all the more powerful: some are great but burn out on their own weakness for success. Better the slow burn, baby, the slow and steady beat.

The Best American Comics 2008 is a must-read for comics fans who like their sequential art with a little less capes and drapes (though it has those too!) and enough diversity of substance to keep one engaged but not overwhelmed with emotion or by common theme.

What Could Have Happened....

Go Kill Some Aztecs, Why Don'tchya?

Nothing says "Halloween" more like the bloody massacre of an indigenous people with land and abundant natural resources and precious ore.

Just ask Hernan Cortes, who, according to the graphic novel Hernan Cortes and the Fall of the Aztec Empire, used Montezuma like a stooge and then cleaned up the mess his Number 2, Pedro De Alvarado, made when Alvarado staged an attack on the Aztecs that really just sort of pissed them off. How'd he clean house? By taking his armored men with their guns and swords and essentially killing off an entire city and culture. Tenochtitlan fell, but Cortes built Mexico City on the site. Politics, money, land -- that's frightening stuff.

Yeah, it's simplistic, but this is a graphic novel for younger readers. It's a good supplement to a traditional text book, but oh does it does need supplementing. Did Cortes call the city Mexico City? Why, if the land was considered New Spain? A glossary of terms and a timeline are in this text and help younger readers, but this graphic novel isn't one of those sources that can stand on its own. Sometimes things are simplified to the point of raising more questions than they resolve.

But, hey, if you're still looking for a scary Halloween costume and want to be original, try going out as a conquistador. Having just read this tiny graphic novel on Halloween, I think Cortes would make a fine addition to your trick or treat parade.

New Conference on "Graphica" in the Classroom

Graphica in Education: Bringing the Discussion of Graphic Novels Out from Under the Desk

January 31, 2009
Fordham University
Lincoln Center Campus: New York, NY

Hosted by the Graduate School of Education at Fordham University

General Information

The inaugural Graphica in Education conference is designed to open a discussion among educators about the place of graphica in the field of education. It will serve teachers, instructional designers, administrators, librarians, and other interested individuals who would like to explore the use of graphic novels and other graphica in the classroom. Participants in the conference will have the opportunity to hear from authors, teachers, and researchers about the nature of writing, reading, and teaching graphic novels. The conference will offer a full day of workshops to complement a keynote address and panel discussion. The conference will also include sponsor presentations and exhibits. Lunch will be included with conference registration.

Invitation to Respond to the Call for Proposals

The Graphica in Education Conference planning committee seeks interactive and engaging proposals for presentations in the breakout workshops of the conference. Workshops will be approximately 60 minutes in length. Paper presentations may be combined into panel discussions. Proposals from practicing teachers about pedagogical methodologies and from researchers about application of graphica in the classroom are encouraged.

Proposals should include:

* The type of presentation (e.g., paper presentation, teaching demonstration, panel discussion)
* A brief description (50 words or less) of the presentation or workshop
* A summary (500 words or less) of the workshop, including rationale/theoretical grounding, practical application, and participant involvement (the benefit to participants)
* The name(s), contact information, and affiliation of presenter(s)

Proposal submission deadline: December 1, 2008

Proposals should be submitted electronically to krturner@fordham.edu.
Conference Registration Presenters for accepted proposals will receive free registration to the conference.

For More Information For more information on the proposal submission process or the conference in general contact Kristen Turner at krturner@fordham.edu.

(Yours Truly just accepted the keynote role for this conference!)

Nate Fisher Back To Work Teaching Kids

Thanks to The Beat for posting a "resolution" link about Nate Fisher, an English teacher who was let go after asking a student to read Eightball #22 (do a search of this blog of his name and the comic title for more info). According to this story, he's found another teaching gig and is doing well. Good for him, and even better for his students! Yay, happy endings and new beginnings!

PAPERCUTZ Brings Back Classics Illustrated

Below are a series of press releases from the past year or so detailing Papercutz publishing's attempts to revive the Classics Illustrated series. They look like they're doing it up right too, but on to the official press release barrage:

Good News for Students:

Classics Illustrated returns after a 10-year hiatus -- just in time for the new semester

In January, kids will reluctantly return to school. Luckily, Classics Illustrated will join them. Generations of students have been introduced to the great classics by this legendary series of comics, their appetites whetted for the real thing.

These comic-book editions of great literature sold about 200 million copies from 1941 through 1998. Papercutz -- publisher of graphic-novel series such as The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tales from the Crypt -- is reviving the series in two formats. Classics Illustrated presents abridged versions of classic novels, while Classics Illustrated Deluxe features longer, more expansive adaptations.

The last few years have seen quickly growing recognition amongst librarians and especially educators of the power of comics to bring kids to reading and away from video, video games and the internet. Many publishers, including in the educational field, have successfully launched expansive graphic novel programs with widely varying degrees of quality.

The works from Papercutz are not for hire but loving adaptations by top artists. The line begins with Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, adapted by Michel Plessix. Later volumes will include Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations by Rick Geary, followed by Grimm’s Fairy Tales and The Invisible Man. Each adaptation will come from an artist with a special expertise in the book’s tone and topic. Great Expectations’ Geary, for example, is the writer-artist of the Treasury of Victorian Murder graphic-novel series and an expert in Dickensian England.The 144-page book is available in both hardcover ($17.95) and trade paperback editions ($13.95).

Plessix’s elaborately painted pages, precise storytelling, and style that can best be called “detailed impressionism” have earned shining reviews such as “adds dramatic flair to the beloved story” (Publishers Weekly), “brings to mind the best storybooks of our childhood” (Memphis Commercial Appeal) and “Excellent! Lively and fun!”(Children’s Bookwatch).

**F.Y.I., 2008 is The Wind in the Willows’ 100th anniversary!**

Classics Illustrated was the creation of Albert Lewis Kanter (1897-1973), a visionary publisher. Kanter believed that comics could introduce young readers to great literature. In 1941, he launched Classic Comics (changed to Classics Illustrated in 1947). For thirty years, Kanter produced more than 200 Classics Illustrated and Classics Illustrated Junior publications. They introduced young readers worldwide to fiction, history, folklore, mythology, and science --

In 1990, the Berkley Publishing Group and First Publishing revived Classics Illustrated as a series of graphic novels featuring new adaptations by such top graphic novelists as Rick Geary, Bill Sienkiewicz, Kyle Baker, and Gahan Wilson.

Papercutz will reprint many of these books. Papercutz has also obtained rights to new adaptations of the classics by some of the world's finest graphic novelists. Published under the Classics Illustrated Deluxe imprint, they devote three to five times as many pages as the previous series and more fully capture the depth of the original novels.

The Wind in the Willows: 6 ½ x 9”, 144pp., full color hardcover, $17.95, ISBN 978-1-59707-095-9, trade pb.: $13.95. ISBN 978-59707-096-6; publication: February ’08. Distributed by Macmillan.For more information please contact Papercutz publicist David Seidman at davidseidman@earthlink.net or 310-652-4369.

CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED PRESENTS: The Invisible Man

With coverage going from USA Today to a rapturous article in Newsweek, Papercutz’ rebirth of the great Classics Illustrated comics line continues with another superb adaptation by Rick Geary, who did Dickens’ Great Expectations which Papercutz revived a few months ago.

Taken from the vaults of the great quality line of short adaptations tried by First Comics in conjunction with Berkley back in the eighties, this adaptation has not seen the light in quite a few years.

And since then, Rick Geary has slowly but surely made quite a name for himself. Winner in 2007 of an Eisner Award (the comics’ industry’s Oscars) for his revival of Gumby comics with Bob (“Flaming Carrot”) Burden, he has also been recently published by Hill & Wang, with a biography of J. Edgar Hoover.

The main series Geary has become increasingly recognized for is the Treasury of Victorian Murder (NBM Publishing). Meticulously researched and comprising 9 volumes, it has presented that era’s most famous murders, from the Lizzie Borden double axe murder to the one of Abraham Lincoln, not to miss Jack the Ripper. All with tongue firmly in cheek.

And this adaptation injects a good deal of whimsy as well into the horror classic by the great Wells. The story is of a scientist who discovers the secret to making things invisible. There’s only one problem: he cannot undo it! As a result, he becomes stark raving mad and seriously dangerous.

Papercutz’ new line is actually two: one regular collection of which this is the second volume, the first one being Geary’s Great Expectations, and a Deluxe collection which presents much lengthier adaptations such as the first volume which had Plessix’ The Wind in the Willows. Saying “The Wind in the Willows has met its Michelangelo,” Newsweek went on to set the challenge: "Papercutz has set very high standards for its new series." The Deluxe series also has recently brought out a collection of Grimm Tales.

6 ½ x 9”, 56pp. full color hardcover, $9.95, ISBN 978-1-59707-106-2, publication date: August. Distributed by Macmillan.

Classics Illustrated’s Grimm Fairy Tales: Papercutz offers all-new comics adaptation

PAPERCUTZ Press Release:

You’ve never seen fairy tales quite like this.

In May, Papercutz will ship Tales from the Brothers Grimm to bookstores and comic-book shops. The 144-page full-color book presents the first official North American appearance of four stories adapted by some of Europe’s finest comics artists.

• Philip Petit combines a painter’s mastery of color, a campfire storyteller’s command of suspense, and a cartoonist’s touch of humor to retell the famous “Hansel and Gretel.”

• In “Learning How to Shudder” by Mazan (the pen name of Pierre Lavaud, artist of a volume of Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar’s popular series Dungeon), a boy tries to learn how to be afraid, but nothing scares him -- not even a scarlet-skinned man with horns and a tail -- until he gets a lesson from a very unexpected source

.• “The Devil and the Three Golden Hairs” is the first comic-book work by fine artist Cecile Chicault. It’s about a peasant boy who wants to marry a king’s daughter – but the king won’t let him do it unless the boy brings him three hairs from the devil’s head.

• And when the hero of Mazan’s “The Valiant Little Tailor” announces too proudly that he’s killed seven with one blow -- and doesn’t mention that the seven are flies -- he’s called on to fight some very grumpy giants.The paperback edition (ISBN-13: 978-159707-100-0) retails for $13.95, and the hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-159707-101-7) for $17.95.

"If the first two, “Great Expectations” and “Wind in the Willows,” are any indication, Papercutz has set very high standards for its new series.” -- Malcolm Jones, NEWSWEEK

Classics Illustrated has introduced generations of students to great literature. These comic-book editions of novels, plays, and poems sold about 200 million copies from 1941 through 1998. Tales of the Brothers Grimm is the third volume in Papercutz’s revival of the line.

“The volumes are perfectly designed for library shelves, with sturdy bindings and a large enough size for kids to get a good look at the contents,” School Library Journal has written about Papercutz’s new editions. “The artwork is beautifully reproduced -- crisp and clear -- and each book contains background about the series’ history and a brief bio of the artist/adaptor.”

Papercutz publishes comic books and graphic novels for kids. The company’s titles range from new adventures of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew to Tales from the Crypt.

For more information, please visit http://www.papercutz.com or http://myspace.com/papercutzcomics, or contact Papercutz publicist David Seidman at davidseidman@earthlink.net or 310-652-4369.

I got some PAPERCUTZ: Great Expectations in the GN Form

NEWS FROM PAPERCUTZ (Press Release)

Great Expectations, the Graphic Novel

Best-selling Treasury of Victorian Murder creator Rick Geary adapts Charles Dickens’ tale of mystery and obsessive love, the next book in Papercutz’ Classics Illustrated re-launch.It’s been made into movies nearly a dozen times. School systems worldwide tell their students to read it. It’s in the top one-tenth of one percent of Amazon.com’s bestsellers. And in April, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations appears under the Papercutz Classics Illustrated imprint as a graphic novel by Rick Geary, creator of the popular series Treasury of Victorian Murder.In both the prose novel and the graphic novel, the homeless orphan Pip falls desperately in love with the beautiful but shallow Estella. Pip struggles to prove himself worthy of Estella while a mysterious benefactor intervenes in the boy’s life.

Geary has won the 2007 “Best Title for a Younger Audience” Eisner award (the comic-book Oscar) and the National Cartoonists Society’s Book and Magazine Illustration Award. His Treasury of Victorian Murder graphic novels have inspired praise such as:

• “First rate. Superb as always.”--Publishers Weekly

• “Meticulously researched, beautifully drawn, and quite entertaining. My highest recommendation!”--Comics Buyer’s Guide

• “A must read!”--Andrew Smith, Scripps-Howard Newspapers

• “ Will have even reluctant readers immersed in history.”--School Library Journal

• “Geary relies not on gore but on the scrupulously drawn detail and the droll, telling expression.”--Booklist

• “A keen sense of period detail and sharp pacing.”--Kirkus Reviews

• “Filled with rich detail and told with the tightness of a thriller.”--Time.comix•

“Geary shows a true talent for capturing the images, mood and even language of Victorian society.”--Washington Post

Classics Illustrated has introduced generations of students to great literature. These comic-book editions of novels, plays, and epic poems sold about 200 million copies from 1941 through 1998. Geary originally created his version of Great Expectations for a Classics Illustrated series published by Berkley Publishing and First Publishing in 1990. It has been out of print for more than a decade, and Papercutz is proud to bring it back.

Great Expectations is a full-color hardcover, 56 pages long, at a size of 6 1/2” by 9”, a cover price of $9.95, ISBN 978-1-59707-097-3. Publication: April ’08. It is the second of Papercutz’s new Classics Illustrated volumes. The first was Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, adapted by Michel Plessix.

For more information please contact Papercutz publicist David Seidman at davidseidman@earthlink.net or 310-652-4369.

Thanks, NCETA!

I'm wrapping up here in Winston-Salem, NC, where I was the keynote speaker at the North Carolina English Teacher's Association. It's always interesting to go home and visit with North Carolina's teachers. Thanks, NCETA for having me!



Now to get ready for my presentations on graphic novels at the national NCTE conference in San Antonio! :)

I JUST VOTED DURING TEXAS' EARLY VOTING PERIOD

... and I was wearing a Captain America shirt while I did it! Now you vote, too. Captain America shirt optional, but damn-well able to make you feel even better once you pull the level/press the button/swipe the card/etc.

Blue Dot, Red Dot #2: "Giving"

Blue Dot, Red Dot #1: "Rule"

Blotchmen "24 Hour Comic Book Day" Story

24 hour Comic Book Day is an annual event that asks people to hole themselves up in their favorite creative spots, either alone or with the similarly-inclined, and produce a fully drawn, inked, and lettered story of sequential art in the span of 24 consecutive hours. I hope to try it out someday. The most recent was on October 18, and Tom Spurgeon has already found a gem among the pages in this Watchmen spoof, Blotchmen, in which a masked marauder must face the secret evil of...... William Carlos Williams????? It's just a plum good riff from Kevin Cannon, I tell you.

Review of Pitch Black

The morlocks are real, and some of them are even artistic. The rumors of people living beneath the streets of New York City, well below the subway lines, are true. The morlocks of Cinco Punto press's recent graphic novel release, Pitch Black, may not be as disfigured or scary as those in Wells' The Time Machine, but they are just as forgotten, just as shocking to surface-level sensabilities of class and standards of living, and, in the case of Anthony Horton, just as resourceful.

Horton's resources are his artistic ability and friendly, if sometimes guarded, spirit, and when paired with the talents of Youme Landowne, his story of living on the streets, then underneath them, becomes compelling, and unsettling. Horton seemed to have a doomed life from the start. An unwanted child soon became an invisible youth in a megalopolis where people have to look out for themselves. The social services he found seemed just as dangerous as living alone, and he eventually found himself in the subterrain of the Big Apple. If not for a chance encounter with fellow artist Landowne, his story might never have been told.

As it happened, though, that fated meeting in the subway system produced an intriguing, sometimes stimyying work of sequential art.

Check out The ALAN Review 36.1 (Fall 08)

See my thoughts on the graphic novel as genre vs. the graphic novel as form or medium in the latest ALAN Review. Also included: a visual literacy activity sure to help you and others see that sequential art is not a genre in and of itself, but a format that supports multiple genres. Read The Alan Review 36.1 now, and be sure to check out my article "Die a Graphic Death: Revisiting the Death of Genre with Graphic novels or 'Why won't you just die already?'" -- perhaps the longest title ever to appear in an ALAN publication! ;)

The Education of Hopey Glass

Douglas Wolk can do no wrong nowadays, mostly becuase of his great book Reading Comics, so it's not surprising that his review of The Education of Hopey Glass is getting some attention. Thanks to D. Myers for sending me the link to the NY Times review, which is worthy of the praise it is getting. As someone who will be using the new Jaime Hernandez graphic novel in a college-level class next semester, I was very happy to see it getting some love, though it has been out for a while now.

Woot!: Obama'El

"This Looks Like Fun!": Mascot to the Rescue

From the HarperCollins website:

Josh Miller, sixth grader at Demarest Elementary School, has a secret. Everything that happens to Mascot, the superhero sidekick in the Captain Major comic books, also happens to Josh. So when Josh finds out that Mascot is slated to die in the next Captain Major adventure, he knows he has to do something—and fast! A budding comics artist and writer himself, Josh and his new friend, Kelsey (aka Large Lass), take off to find Stan Kirby, the creator of the Captain Major series, so they can save Mascot—and Josh's life.

Comic-book legend Peter David teams up with the renowned comics artist Colleen Doran in their first book for young readers.

Comics fans will note the reference/reverence to super-hero creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby , and it's about time sidekicks got in on the action since so many YA and traditional print novels have been exploring super-hero themes and tropes as of late. And as someone who shares a name with one of comics' all-time mascots (Captain America's Bucky), I'm partial to this sort of thing.

Soo fun! I wish they'd send me a review copy (hint, hint, if you're reading.....)

Papercutz' Frankenstein

A revamped version of the Classics Illustrated Frankenstein will soon be releases by imprint Papercutz, which apparently has several graphic novel adaptations from the series for sale. For some interesting contrasting visuals, do a search for "Frankenstein" on my blog and take a look at some excellent artwork.

O My! Sequential Art Students Create O. Henry Collection

Let's face it, if you've been an English teacher long enough, you've taught an O. Henry story. It's relatively easy to get readers to feel the pathos of his stories, but now there's a resource to help you get them to visualize the characters, their reactions, their emotions, etc:

Students from SVA Comic Book Storytelling Workshop have compiled a graphic anthology of his works, including stories like "The Green Door" and "The Whirligig of Life."

"Looks Good To Me:" I Live Here

Comics have a long history of detailing the plight of the poor and displaced, or those looking for a new home and life after dealing with crisis or disaster, from Will Eisner to Joe Kubert to adaptations of Kafka to Joe Sacco to the upcoming Hurricane Katrina tale After the Deluge to the following new title, as detailed in a press release from Pantheon:

"Gut–wrenching and hauntingly beautiful" —Glamour

For the past two months, you've listened to me tell you how excited I was about I Live Here. I couldn't be more pleased now to tell you that it's finally on sale! If you don't already know what I Live Here is about, here's the short version: the book—or more precisely the four books that are contained within a slipcase—is a stunning visual documentary, in which the lives of refugees and displaced people become at once personal and universal. I Live Here is a raw and intimate journey to crises in four corners of the world: war in Chechnya, ethnic cleansing in Burma, globalization in Mexico, and AIDS in Malawi.

The voices we encounter are those of displaced women and children, told in their own words or by noted writers and artists, including Joe Sacco, Ann–Marie MacDonald, Phoebe Gloeckner, Chris Abani, and many others. The stories unfold in an avalanche: an orphan goes to jail for stealing leftovers. A grieving mother snaps photos of spaces left vacant by her vanished teenaged daughter. A child soldier escapes his army only to be saved by the people he was trained to kill. An elderly woman recounts the tumultuous history of fellow refugees. Threaded throughout these accounts is Mia Kirshner's intimate travel narrative, brought vividly to life in collaboration with writer J.B. MacKinnon and designers Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons.

I Live Here is a truly groundbreaking work.

Visit the official site

Watch a video that contains images from the Ingushetia section of the book

Join the cause on Facebook

Order your copy here Happy Reading!

--Hillary Tisman

Powell's City of Books (Portland, Oregon)

This weekend I had a dream come true, literally. For years now, I've had a recurring dream where I visit the largest bookstore in the world. Stacks are stories high, the ladders are enormous, and long velvet drapes cover many of the sections until one asks for them to be revealed. That wasn't exactly the layout of Powell's City of Books, but the bookstore in Portland, Oregon, is the largest in the world and was certainly worth the visit.

Imagine being a bookstore that encompasses and entire block, one with graphic novels on shelf after shelf, from the floor to twenty feet above your head -- and that was just *one* section of GN's. Powell's had several sections -a couple of Manga sections (one for general Manga, another for adolescents favorites), an adult graphic novels section (not what you think, but they probably had a section of those too somewhere), and a kids graphic novel section.

Twas bliss. Never have I been in a bookstore so big, they give you a map of the place when you walk in the door. And despite the inexplicable absence of copies of Maus I (II was in abundance), the graphic novel section was impressive. If only I could visit Powell's again as easily as I do that bookstore in my dreams...

Thanks, OCTE!

Thanks to all the folks in Lake Oswego, Oregon, for hosting me this weekend. I hope my keynote was OK. The audience certainly was attentive, and I think the early-career teachers in the audience might have particularly gained some direction, based on questions and such. I had a great time and appreciate everyone's efforts, and I'm happy to have made a new friend in Bob Hamm.

One more keynote to go (North Carolina) before my appearances at the national NCTE conference in San Antonio!

Political Fun w/ Microsoft Publisher

See, you don't need fancy programs like Comic Life to create comics art with your students (but it is a great application!). Using Microsoft Word and even Microsoft Publisher can be an effective way of creating pieces, for example, the political comic strip I made:

(Surely I'm not the only classic car buff to have noticed the muscle car undertones of the recent political campaigns. My thoughts? As the cartoon clearly implies, "Nobody ever bought a Maverick if they could afford a Mustang!")

I Found This Stimulating (Intelectually): Portillo's Gabriel

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"Stop Staring at Me, Swann!"

The Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, Library of Congress, is now accepting applications for the Swann Fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. Annual award up to $15,000 to support scholarly graduate research in caricature and cartoon. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited M.A. or Ph.D program in a university in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. Deadline: Feb. 13, 2009. Access guidelines and application at:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/swann-fellow.html

Contact Martha Kennedy with questions at 202/707-9115 or email swann@loc.gov.

What's Wrong with Calling them Proto-comics?

Or precursors? Or sequential art? Critic Domingos Isabelinho discusses Medieval painting and book illustration, the wordless engraving cycle, Modern and Post-Modern painting and Concrete and Visual Poetry as entities that can help "expand comics as an art form," then critiques each one for how it is or is not comics. Something doesn't have to be the thing itself to have the traits of the thing; nor do we need to worry so much on giving something from the 15th century a 19th or 21st century label. No, there weren't comic books in the Middle Ages, but there was sequential art and visual narrative. Acknowledging the precursors to something seems to inherently suggest that there are going to evolutions an devolutions throughout the ages, but at least Isabelinho is attempting an interesting vivisection of the intersections of myriad art forms with multiple similarities.

Non-Fiction Manga on Japanese Power and War

Thanks to Tom Spurgeon for offering the above link. You'll have to scroll down a bit to get the the translated manga, but it's worth it. Too often school children in America only get the American-European viewpoint on politics and war, so it is good to see other viewpoints expressed. Here's a take on WWII-era Japan we might not often see. It reminds me a little of Barefoot Gen.

See You in San Antonio -- If Not Earlier!

Thanks, ICTE!

I'm currently in Johnston, Iowa, working with the Iowa Council of Teachers of English and am having a blast. Some members wanted me to post a "top ten" recommended reading list, so here it is in no particular order!:

Maus by Art Spiegelman
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Bone by Jeff Smith
The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 1 by Marvel
American Born Chinese by Gene Yang
Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen
Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Marvel
Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan
Pedro and Me by Judd Winick

Now, I often rotate titles in and out of my ten favorites, and these represent middle-and high school-friendly titles. If you want more titles and more mature titles, just ask.