Borderland Comics Studios to Represent on Free Comic Book Day: May 2, 2009

More comics goodness -- this time for Free Comic Book Day, coming up May 2,2009 -- from comics creators in the El Paso/Juarez region via this press release:

Free Comic Book Day: The Christmas of Comics, to promote literacy and art through the medium of comics and to inspire thousands, nay, millions to get out and visit their local shops is upon us, MAY 2nd 2009!

This year, Adversary Comix and 656 Comics is doing something unheard of, unprecedented, and just really kick ass and cool! Nothing like this has ever been done before, so we’ve gotta set the trend and hopefully this will become the norm. with the recession in full effect it’s tough to get your books for a low price, but how does free sound, well we’re gonna sweeten the deal even more as we present the first COMIC BOOK CD made in EL PASO, TX and CD.JUAREZ CHIH!!!!!

The digital age is upon us, we download music and movies like mad, and comics are headed in the digital direction, major companies are seeing the trend and striking while the iron is hot, and since we at Adversary and 656 enjoy breaking borders, we’re throwing our hat in the ring as well!

We are giving away a CD with over 25 comics and previews in it.Yes you heard right! Why only get one or two free comics on FCBD, when you can get over 25!

We are mixing media and technology to bring to you just a sample of all the work that 656 Comics and Adversary Comics has put out!Here is a sampling of what we’ll be handling out on FCBD!:

El Valiente vs La Momia Robotica

Los Meksmen vs Zombi Kid part 1

Zombi RiderEl Comiquero #1

El Comiquero Verano

Mar de Locura

Dusk

8x8 Short Stories

Terror infonavit, a 24 hour comic

Las Chicas Clave 1-4

And the premiere of:

A Year Without a Summer

Double Edge

And previews of

BATTERY ACID: Tales of the Strange Sort

INFESTACION: Hell’s Pass 1-3INFESTACION 1-4

JAGGED FRAGMENT

KARMESI

DARK LIZZY

GUARDIAN

LOS MEKSMEN

EL COMIQUERO

The FCBD CD will be given away at our signing @ Dave’s Comics located at 5360 N. Mesa St.
El Paso, TX 79912(915) 875-8600 Soon to be renamed Asylum Comics.

And on top of that, the CD will have a free sketch on the label! But wait that’s not the best part, the best part is that even if you can’t make it to El Paso to our signing to receive a CD, you can email us at adversarycomix@gmail.com and WE WILL SEND YOU A COPY FOR FREE!

And did I mention that the whole stable of Adversary and 656 artists will be there AND that BATTERY ACID: TALES OF THE STRANGE SORT WILL BE ON SALE?!And on top of that! ADVERSARY COMIX: AGENTS OF THE PARANORMAL will be on hand to answer your paranormal questions and read your future, there will be Pinup Models and a LIVE ART JAM and free giveaways and trivia, and direct from Los Angeles, P.H.A.T.M Death squad will be belting out the tunes till the cops shut us down!

So join us if you can and see what FREE COMIC BOOK DAY should be like, the ADVERSARY/656 way!Whew! And then the after party afterwards? We are going to keep going till the break of dawn!

-- YOUR IMAGINATION IS NOT THE ENEMY!

Salt Water Taffy

Salt Water Taffy, a favorite comic among many and one suitable for general audiences, is going to have a web comic version as well as its popular print version, according to The Beat.

ViziPress Gets Busy with Multimodal Comics

Press release:


(New York, April 22) The first visual storytelling site that combines Graphic Novel and music that will define a new genre of literacy, launches today. Over 20,000 viewers have already previewed its opening collection of titles on ViziPress.com

ViziPress.com combines the elements of infographics, visual narrative and music to deliver fiction and non-fiction narratives online and soon, on iPhones and other smart mobile devices.

"We have learned from the Graphic Novel/Manga World that a new generation of readers needs a high level of visuality with their literacy," says founder, Alan Brody. "The magic in the online version is the music which brings it all together in a compelling way."

ViziPress is launching with 3 titles:
Cigarette Seduction - a non-fiction book on the history and psychology of smoking
Broad on Wall - a racy romp about Wall Street
White Shaka Boy - the story about a New York teen who discovers his inner Zulu and the empire he owns in Africa.

ViziPress will be serializing all these books in "Webisodes" that can be viewed online and by iPhones and other smart phones as well as delivering them in print and digital format.

Business Books
ViziPress will be offering visual renderings of non-fiction business books, complex texts, graphic novels and music storybooks.

About the Music
Each webisode comes with original music from top performers like Jennie Walker and great producers like Tommy Faragher. White Shaka Boy features music by Draztik from the top selling African album, Imbube.

About the Platform
ViziPress is powered by Empressr - an innovative presentation technology platfom that supports full mutimedia features.About the AuthorAlan Brody is a technology impresario and producer of multimedia Graphic Novels.

About ViziPress
ViziPress is the innovative publisher of cutting edge Graphic Novels in print and digital formats. It is also produces the annual Graphica in Education https://www.webmail.utep.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.graph-ed/.

Japanese Teen Girls Read Cell Phone Comics Novels

Alan Moore Reads from Watchmen

Yes, that is one thick accent, but I love it.

SpiralMind: A New Hero from El Paso Comics Creators!

Press release:

COMIC FANS FIND A NEW HERO IN SPIRALMIND

Series zooming forward with big plans for military, Spanish speakers, Comic-Con

Since its debut in January, the Spiralmind comic book series has picked up steam and a devoted fan base around the country. Hugely popular entertainment website Ain’t It Cool News gives Spiralmind a big thumbs-up, saying “Not [in] a style you see often in this post-Image era of cross-hatches and sketches, and that’s what made reading this first issue so refreshing. The story aims high with a conflict of biblical proportions, but boiled down to its basics, it’s got an @$$-kicking rabbi, a spandex clad superhero, and werewolves...

Issue one also has a full article on Ancient Judaic Exorcism. This is definitely unlike any comic I’ve read before…and a hell of a lot of fun to read… SPIRALMIND is definitely a comic book reading experience you won’t forget.”

Created by two natives of the world’s largest border metropolis, BenPerez and Matt Rothblatt dot the fantastical city of Ninevah where Spiralmind battles to save humanity from mystical demons with details of their truly unique hometown. Their background in military service also contributes to the story as well as plans for spreading the comic around the world. Plans are in the works with local military base Fort Bliss to provide free copies of Spiralmind for soldiers being deployed overseas. “Our soldiers deserve a little bit of fun and a little bit of home,” says Perez. “We’re happy to work hard and do what we can in return for all they do.”

In acknowledgement of their bicultural, bilingual environment, Perez and Rothblatt always intended for Spiralmind to be available in two languages and the Spanish version of Issue #1, Rabbi’s Lament, hits stores May 1.

“Our plan since starting this venture was to make Spiralmind accessible to everyone in El Paso and Spanish speakers around the world,” says Rothblatt.Perez adds, “Living in El Paso—where Spanish is primarily a first language for residents—we realize the importance that ‘En Español’ holds for people. This goes for the rest of the country too! As of 2008, Hispanics made up 15% of the U.S. population and are projected to make up 30% by 2050. From a business standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. DC Comics did a Spanish language issue of Blue Beetle, a Hispanic character living in El Paso. The writer Jai Nitz—who lives in Lawrence, Kansas but has family in Laredo, Texas—was able to pull off the issue beautifully while representing Spanish and the 'Spanglish' spoken here on the border. Thanks to guys like Jai and some of his predecessors, Spanish comics are considered an important part of a shifting paradigm in the comic book industry.”

“If things go well, we’ll be able to translate it into other languages in the future,” Rothblatt explains. “But having Spiralmind available in Spanish was not just a business decision; it was a decision of the heart. We know there are many kids and young adults living in El Paso,Ciudad Juarez [Mexico] across our border, or even in Omaha, Boston,and Raleigh who speak Spanish. These books are for them. We want them to be able to embrace our stories just as an English speaker would our English version.”

Jahaziel Rodriquez, who assisted Perez and Rothblatt in translating Rabbi’s Lament, says, “When I first heard about Spiralmind from Ben and Matt, I was excited for them. When they mentioned a Spanish translation, I was excited for me. As a fan of comics and a fluid Spanish speaker, I had not seen many good comics in Spanish, but Spiralmind had the chance to be exactly that. So I jumped at the opportunity to bring something to life that had not previously been seen. Hispanic-American fans of the genre were not being given the privilege to enjoy strong comic stories in their native language and I wanted to be involved in the process of making that possible.”

Spiralmind can be ordered online from www.comixpress.com orwww.indyplanet.com. Updates about the series and its creative umbrella, Phi3 Comics, can be found at www.myspace.com/phi3comics.

Spiralmind will celebrate Free Comic Book Day on May 2 with an appearance by creators Perez and Rothblatt in their hometown of El Paso at Rebels Comic Vault. Upcoming plans for Spiralmind include appearances at Comic-Con in June and Issue #2 ready in time for summer.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #The Spiralmind team is available for interviews. Review copies of Issue #1 in English and Spanish are available for review, along with hi-res art for publication. For more information, contact Lisa Y.Garibay at LARGetc. Publicity, 213-840-3517 or lisa@largetc.com

List of Web Comics

Someone asked the comics scholars list serve about recommended web comics for a college course on comics and graphic novels. The results were ... well, this is a list serve full of comics fans and scholars. So, here's a link to many that got their URLs posted in one place, and the URLs for several others. The info just kept coming, which is wonderful and what these lists are for!

Others:

Perry Bible Fellowship: http://pbfcomics.com/

Listed as someone's "Jewish faves":
Eros Inc. http://www.commonnamefilms.com/erosinc/
Hereville http://www.hereville.com
Rabbi Encounters http://rabbiencounters.smackjeeves.com/
Talmud Comics http://homepage.usask.ca/~mll934/
Comic Torah - http://afreeman.com/52portions/index.htm
Of Biblical Proportions - http://obpcomics.com/
Graphic Therapy - Notes from the Gap Years by Emily Steinberg http://www.smithmag.net/graphictherapy/2008/06/04/chapter-1/

I'm basically posting this info as a placeholder so the next time I want my own students to look into web comics, I can call their attention to this resource, which started out as a teacher's request for info. You feel free to do the same to keep the "pedagogical pass it" forward going!

Rassin' Frassin'....

Call for Papers! Graduate Conference and Event

CFP: El Paso in the Comics II: “The Southwest in the Comics”

Graduate students in all fields of study are invited to submit 200-word abstracts to the second-annual “El Paso in the Comics” conference and event, to be held on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso, February 23, 2010.

Papers on all aspects of comics scholarship, theory, and pedagogy will be given attention, but those that deal with issues related to artists, creators, characters and/or themes associated with the American Southwest and/or Hispanic/Chicano culture in comics will be given top priority.

Abstracts should include name, e-mail, affiliation (university and program), proposed paper title and 200-word description. Presentations should run no more than 20 minutes.

Send abstract to:
Dr. James B. Carter
Re: El Paso in the Comics Conference
113 Hudspeth Hall
UTEP English Department
500 W. University Ave.
El Paso, TX 79912

Or electronically to:
Jbcarter2@utep.edu

The deadline for abstracts is August 20, 2009.

The academic portion of the event will take place in the morning. A creators' roundtable will follow in the mid-afternoon, featuring the many local studios and creators of the El Paso/Juarez region discussing their work with members of the community. The evening will wrap up with a keynote speech by celebrated comics artist and writer Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame.

Hugh Jackman Promotes Free Comic Book Day/ Literacy

In other news, my wife rejoices as this makes the chances of me inviting him over for dinner that much more likely.

UNL Digital Collection Debuts: Government Comics Collection

Governments have used comics to educate, indoctrinate, train and persuade for almost as long as comics have been recognized as a medium. This excellent new online collection details multiple examples from the U.S., Mexico, and other countries and also has some gems like senate reports from the 1950s.

This is one resource you'll want to remember.

Interview with Gene Yang, Other Asian-American Comics Creators

Great, great interview covering a range of topics over at Sequential Tart.

Chabon on Carter

Alas, it's John Carter of Mars, not James Bucky Carter of El Paso, of whom the writer who draws so much inspiration from comics speaks. Apparently, he might be helping with a script for a movie version of the classic sci-fi. Maybe next time......

Juggernaut Slowing, Still Not Stopped

ICV2 reports that comics sales were down 6% and graphic novels sales down 5% in the most recent quarter, but says that with the economy as it is, that's actually not so bad. Comics weathers the storm better than other sectors so far, and I expect this to continue, unless there is serious backlash from the cover price increases on certain comic books ($4.99 a pop!). I just wish that comic strips weren't being dropped from so much, and that editorial cartoonists were in better shape.

It'll be interesting to see how the economy and reactions to it shape the comics industry, especially since there seems to be no stop to movie studios seeing comics characters as viable commodities. DC is keeping it's second tier characters fresh by bringing back back-up stories in many of its main books. Marvel has most of its most interesting players in solo and team books, but they are being very budget-conscious of whom they pay and how much they pay out for their future movie releases.

Will the price increase finally move folks to the trade/graphic novel route as more wait to get the pamphlet stories collected? Is that the hope of the companies? Will Spidey save Madam Web?

Raggin' on Shaggy

I give Shakespeare a lot of grief, I admit it. Unfortunately, he often makes a good example when I talk about how not to teach English (don't spend 3 weeks discussing every detail of his life and asking students to do exact replicas of the Globe, right down to the butt imprints on the seats)and how he is often used to promote literacy practices that are becoming more and more ancient by the day.

This is sad because, I really like the guy. Or guys, if you go for the whole "Francis Bacon" multiple identity theories. I love the plays I've read, though I admit to being too rusty on too many of them, and I loves me a sonnet, Petrarchian, Spencerian, Shakespearean, or Flinstonian (a rare form with the rhyme scheme of Y-A-B-B-A/D-A-B-B-A/D-O-O. Don't tell this to college students, though, unless you want to see it written as an answer to a test question enough times to make you wish you'd majored in grocery bagging).

It's not his fault he's been so misappropriated. Indeed, he's good evidence for many of the ideas I espouse about multiple, multimodal and visual literacies, and I was glad to see this week's NCTE's Inbox mention several others who are seeing Ol' Shagstaff in those lenses as well.

To wit: In my travels, I have often encountered skeptics who ask me if students oughtn't be reading Shakespeare instead of learning this visual literacy stuff. Of course, I eat this up, because what texts could be more interactive, multimodal, and visual than the plays of Shakespeare? The very figure that so many traditionalists uphold as the pinnacle of literary quality is the same figure who might represent the pinnacle of the multimodal experience!

Shakespeare's plays aren't meant to be read dryly, but to be EXPERIENCED. Read, seen, heard, smelled, even. I recently attended a state-level conference where the new teacher of the year talked about needing no film versions or abridged texts to teach her students Shakespeare. By God, the original language was all they needed. But the language is so much stuff and nonsense on its own, as tedious as a twice-told tale without the visual and visceral experiences that were originally meant to accompany it.

What I wouldn't do to time travel with a video recorder and study not just a performance of King Lear or A Midsummer Night's Dream, but how the audience interacted with the story as they witnessed it....

We can't do that, of course, but we can at least acknowledge the visual and spatial quality of the texts without degrading their status as literature. Again, if it represents the apex of literary achievement, let us see that within the top of the form, visual elements must exist. Teach Shakespeare instead of visual literacy? It is visual literacy! Teach Shakespeare instead of comics? Why not Shakespeare-inspired plots or themes in comics, or Manga or other graphic adaptations of Shakespeare. The visual doesn't detract from the source material ,which innately was visual to begin with!

Of course, I know enough that the argument I've made herein will not make short shrift of many traditionalist's thoughts on my good friend Willy D. Shakes. But, at heart, I think Shaggy and I are on the same team, brothers never so vile, when it comes to his plays and visual literacy.

After all, if all the world's a stage, and we're merely players, and we're not supposed to enjoy seeing any of it and doing the active aspects that "playing" implies, what sort of sick joke is life? Lot of tripping over each other, I think. And a lot of not being able to see the forest (marching or otherwise. Hey, anyone else think that Macbeth should have included the line "Run, Forest, Run"?) for the trees for not being able to see the trees or anything else.

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: The Education of Hopey Glass

In The Education of Hopey Glass, Jaime Hernandez attempts to portray the lives of several Hispanic adults, paying close attention to the development of Hopey as a young woman trying to make sense out her life as she takes a teaching assistant position at an elementary school. Interestingly, the graphic novel seems to come to an abrupt break midway through, and turns it’s focus away from Hopey, her lesbian lover Maggie, and her new career as a teaching assistant; to that of a highly sexually charged relationship between the characters of Ray and Viv, and Ray’s unrequited love for Maggie. It is not clear if Hernandez intended the graphic novel to read this way, or if it is a major flaw in the plot line.

Hernandez explores issues of racial identity, racial discrimination, sexual and physical violence towards women, and homosexuality as prominent themes and underlying themes in almost every vignette of his work. He artfully combines the characters choice dialogue with highly explicit illustrations that not only set the scene for the reader, but provide background information as well. His illustrations are done with so much expertise and craft that many times dialogue is sparse or non-existent, and the story line does not seem to suffer. However, it may be this expertise that is Hernandez’s undoing as well.

I suggest that in the second half of The Education of Hopey Glass, Hernandez may lose some of the reader’s interest because of the explicit sexual relationship between Ray, Viv, and Angel. While more mature readers may be turned off by the explicit sketches, some younger readers may be turned on. Either way, the focus on the explicit sexual images may overtake a readers attention, rather than focusing on the plot line and racial themes apparent in the graphic novel.

A suggestion for a lesson plan can be geared towards twelfth-grade and college level students exploring the theme of racial identity and/or the “passing” theme. In the text, Milena Loznika passes for a young Mexican woman to land a job on television. Teaching suggestions include linking The Education of Hopey Glass with Nella Larsen’s Passing, and W.E. Bois’ The Veil. One can ask students to read all three texts, hold a class discussion, and then give students a choice of writing a comparative/contrast paper or to compose their own prose or poetry, citing their own experience of passing if applicable.

-- Cira Montoya

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: Sloth

Gilbert Hernandez’s Sloth is an imaginative graphic novel that examines the feelings of fear, frustration, uncertainty, and joy all adolescents go through during their teenage years. He does this by constructing an imaginative plot line; wherein the two main characters Miguel and Lita, escape the trauma of adolescent love by “willing themselves” into a self-induced coma. When both characters emerge from their coma, they seem to have forgotten about the most stressful moments of their past, and opt to perceive the world in a much slower, methodical way.

Hernandez artfully creates illustrations that suggest to the reader that Miguel and Lita are in a dream-like trance while existing in their self-induced comas. His illustrations also suggest the dreamy-like state of a coma is connected to a peace of mind only found with in the lemon grove that much of the plot-line takes place in. The third character Romeo, also experiences a method of escape from the stresses of teenage angst and love. Romeo succumbs to urban legend folklore and actually transforms himself into a teenage idol, with hopes of romance with Lita. When the romance between Romeo and Lita backfires, Romeo escapes inflicting any more trauma upon Lita and Miguel and “wills himself” into a coma as well.

Hernandez creatively suggests how young adults opt to escape the social and emotional pressures of growing into adulthood in the twenty-first century. Within the graphic novel, Hernandez touches on the volatile themes of abandonment, female discrimination in the workforce, love versus lust, teenage idolization, and adolescent self-esteem. Furthermore, Hernandez successfully depicts how the three main characters opt to “fade out” of society through self-induced comas, rather than the much glorified subject of teen suicide. This aspect of the graphic novel makes it a possible candidate for use in the classroom, preferably for twelfth-grade and college-level students.

A possible lesson plan for integrating Hernandez’s Sloth into the classroom includes the exploration of the themes mentioned above. For example, one may choose to create a unit plan on the theme of discrimination in America. Varied texts may include The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Racism 101 by Nikki Giovanni, and Sloth by Gilbert Hernandez. After a class discussion on the re-occurring theme in all three texts, one may ask students to write a persuasive paper on discrimination in America citing all three texts, or for those students who have a more creative edge; ask students to create their own poem or comic strip incorporating the discrimination theme.

-- Cira Montoya

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: The 9/11 Report

For my English 5350 graduate course we were assigned to do a review on at least two of the graphic novels that we have read for class. I was lucky enough to get one that is truly very gripping. The 9/11Report: A graphic Adaptation is a graphic novel based on the final report of the National Commission on Terrorist attacks Upon the United States. The authors of the novel are two names which not new to the comic industry, Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon.

Similar to what the foreword of the graphic novel is explaining, an article in the New Yorker states that although the 9/11 Commission Report became a best seller, the way that it is laid out will not reach a diverse audiences and that is why the adaptation of the book into graphic novel format was greatly need (Singer, 2008). That is exactly what Jacobson and Colon did by creating a graphic novel based on the event that took place on the tragedy that took place on September 11th, 2001.

From the standpoint of someone who is familiar with the situation only through what was heard from surrounding people or from occasionally clips seen on television, this graphic novel is a great way to learn about what truly happened on 9/11 and on dates closely surrounding 9/11. The creation of this graphic novel is all around great. The creators give so much detail in this rather small graphic novel. At the beginning of the novel the creators tried and in my mind did a pretty good job of developing a time line of what was going on at specific times in the four airplanes that were hijacked. As mentioned above, the novel presents its readers with different situations that surrounded and probably lead to the tragedy on September 11th, 2001 that as a reader you wonder why the government didn’t do things differently to try to better prevent the tragedy from happening. Not only because of how greatly informative this novel is, but also for its fantastic graphics which catch the attention of so many young adolescents , this is definitely a book that needs to be incorporated into today’s schools’ curriculum.

I feel that this graphic novel can fit into many different subjects, but because the fact that I hope to be an English Language Arts Teacher, I tried to think of ways in which The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation could fit into a Language Arts class. One way that is obvious is doing a lesson based on vocabulary. I feel that this is a good idea mainly because of the immense amount of intense vocabulary. Another way that a teacher could use this is by teaching about visual representation and visual interpretation.

One could ask there student to develop a graphic novel on an important event that has taken place in their own lives. Another idea of how this could be incorporated into the a classroom is if you are basing your instruction on tragic events this would be a perfect novel to teach about 9/11. I believe that the creators of this graphic novel did such a good job that it could be used in so many different ways and that is another thing that makes it so great.

-- Ana D. Valtierra

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: Chiggers

Chiggers is a fun graphic novel written by Eisner Award Winner Hope Larson. Chiggers is an interesting and enjoyable story about a adolescent girl named Abby who is going through what all young people go through, friendship and identity issues. The title itself comes from an inside joke that the campers circulate around the camp. “They’re, like, these little, tiny bugs that crawl under your skin and die, and they itch a lot. Way worse than mosquito bites” (pp.24).

The graphic novel revolves around Abby and her return to summer camp. Abby being very young and a bit naive adolescent is returning to her what seems to be yearly summer where she expects to see all her old friends and start from where they left off, but thing did not turn out exactly how she wanted them to.

Being the first person to be dropped off at camp, Abby anxiously waits for everyone to arrive and for her fun to start as soon as her old friends arrive, but Abby excitement quickly ends. Rose is the old friend who Abby especially cannot wait to see, but from the first encounter between the two, Abby quickly realizes that things at camp are going to be a lot different this year. This year her friend Rose is a Cabin Assistant and a bit too busy to really get to talk to Abby, let alone spend time with her. All of Abby’s other friends from last camp also seem to be different. One has piercing, others have boyfriends, or some just think that they are too mature and cool for Abby. The only person who seems to be the only person who does not think that she is too cool for Abby is a young girl named Shasta who was a new to the camp and had been struck by lightning. In Chiggers it seemed like Abby would do anything to try to fit in with her old “friends.” Abby often did things that we as readers could see were not characteristic of her such as treating Shasta horribly and taking insults from them. Eventually Abby finally realizes that all she has to do to be happy is be herself.

Although this book seems to be very realistic, we as readers are also introduced to supernatural occurrences. One thing made me think about this is when Abby and Teal run off together we get a visual of them being elves and another is when they develop wings like fairies. In a discussion in class we talked about the magical realism of the novel. The fantasy world is just like a reflection of what their camp is; it is only real for that particular time and it will only last till the end of the summer.

As mentioned above it is a really fun story to read especially for younger girls in Middle School or even the early High School. It is follows the format of the movie Mean Girls. It is not the most educational story that one can find, but I believe that it is a great book to have in the classroom. Those who are interested in reading it can either read it a home or on their free time at school. I think all kids will be able to relate to this book mainly because everyone goes through the types of changes that Abby is going through.

One lesson that I feel that could be taught using the graphic novel Chiggers is a lesson that deals with identity. Abby seems to be struggling to find out who she is or who she wants to be and at the Middle School and early High School ages many students are dealing with the same thing; therefore, creating a lesson dealing with something that relates to them will definitely have them engaged.



--Ana D. Valtierra

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: American Widow

American Widow, by Alissa Torres, portrays the harsh reality of a young widow desperately searching for answers about her late husband Eddie Torres, who was killed during the attacks of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The themes of loss, surviving through adversity, and the search for a new identity are a few possible themes portrayed in this touching graphic novel. What I found most appealing about this novel was that a woman’s memories and heart-wrenching experiences were so clearly and passionately illustrated. It’s almost as if Alissa Torres were sitting next to me, describing in detail the horrific aftermath of losing a husband and fighting to make a new life for her and her child.

American Widow can be used in secondary classrooms to teach different themes that may be relevant to the lives of secondary students. Before teaching this graphic novel, I would begin class with a mini-history lesson of September 11, 2001 to refresh students’ memories and thoughts about this historical tragedy. If I were teaching a class of juniors, I would remind myself that these students were only seven or eight years old when this occurred so they will have to discuss what they remember about this day, who was involved, and the resolutions this nation took to defend itself.

Objectives:

Students will learn new themes through this graphic novel.
Students will compare/contrast themes with other novels or whole texts.
Students will apply meaning to reality or real-world situations.


When studying a unit on surviving adversity and fighting to create a new life, teaching American Widow as part of the Holocaust would be relevant because there are numerous Holocaust survivors’ stories and memoirs just waiting to be read and discussed in the language arts content. When choosing to study a novel such as Night by Elie Wiesel, American Widow can be used as a secondary source of loss, survival, and forming new identities after horrific life changing experiences. Both main characters in these stories are faced with loss of faith, a search for answers, and eventually choosing to write about life’s unfair struggles and tribulations to reach diverse audiences.

Secondary Lesson Idea

High school juniors would begin with front-loading activities by reading American Widow first to establish the three themes of these novels. By exercising “front-loading” in the classroom, students do most of the unit’s activities before reading the primary or whole text of the unit to gain a better sense of similar themes characters experience during different time periods.

While students are reading American Widow, they will be asked to select significant lines, phrases, or quotes they feel are important and write their explanations using a double-diary entry log. Since this is a graphic novel, students may also choose to write about significant panels that contribute to the themes or emotions portrayed by the author. After reading this graphic novel, students will discuss the relevance of the themes, and the significance of the author writing about her experiences of September 11, 2001.

Discussion Questions:

After reading Alissa Torres’ graphic novel, what do you think gave her the motivation to create her true story in a graphic novel format instead of a traditional novel format?

Select a scene, picture, or panel and discuss why it was significant to you.

If Alissa Torres was in our classroom, what question would you ask her about this novel or her life-changing experience?

If a sequel was created for this graphic novel, what do you think it should be about? What are your suggestions for a sequel?

How does this graphic novel relate to today’s conflicts and controversial war?

Mini-Lesson Idea:

Introduce Pablo Neruda’s works and discuss their importance in this graphic novel.
“You will remember that leaping stream where sweet dreams rose and trembled” (Neruda).

Post-reading Activity

After reading Night and American Widow, students will create a visual representation of the two texts using power points or other methods students would like to use to demonstrate similarities in significant historical events that have shaped the nation’s history and future.
Using American Widow in a secondary classroom is a unique teaching method because it addresses many English Language Arts standards and because it is a non-traditional approach to understanding the history of the Holocaust and the history of the United States. Survivor’s memoirs and true stories are an excellent way to engage all readers of all ages.

-- Marcy Alvarado

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese depicts the life of an adolescent Chinese boy and the struggles he encounters throughout his childhood and education. Although there are several stories occurring throughout the novel, they all tie in with characters struggling against discrimination, the quest for self-identity, self-acceptance, and truth.

It is clear that Jin Wang’s family moves to America to give him a better life and more opportunities for Jin. Jin Wang’s curiosity with the transformer action figure is symbolic of Jin’s desire to become someone greater and more accepted than the identity he was born with. This is relevant to younger secondary school students because they often find themselves trying to fit in with different crowds of kids to feel accepted and wanted by others. “A robot in disguise. Like this one! He changes into a truck…See? More than meets the eye” (28). The robot that is able to transform to something unexpected is appealing to Jin Wang because he secretly wishes he could transform himself and give others the opportunity to discover more than meets the eye.

“Returning to true form” is a reoccurring theme throughout this graphic novel. The Monkey King feels he is destined to rule but has no desire to return to the form he was given. After reading this novel, middle school students could choose one story to discuss and write about. Students will identify with one or more characters and describe what the main theme is throughout the novel.

Objectives:
· Students will identify adolescent themes through a cultural assimilation story.
· Students will discuss the importance of remaining true to themselves or to their “true form.”
· Students will discuss how this graphic novel is relevant to their lives in and out of the classroom.

Background Web Quests
Students will research information regarding the Chinese culture, customs, and traditions that affect the characters’ lives and choices in this graphic novel. This will help students understand the importance culture plays in growing up in a country where diversity is often times scorned or not readily accepted.

Discussion Questions
· What is the main struggle each character is faced with?
· Why is it important to remain true to yourself or to always return to your true form?
· Discuss the importance of parents’ rules regarding expectations for children. Are your parents’ expectations similar to Jin’s parents as far as education and expectations?
· Choose one page, panel, or phrase to discuss with a partner. Discuss why the page, panel or phrase stuck out to you. What is the significance of it and how does it relate to the graphic novel as a whole?

Extension
Students will create a few panels portraying Jin Wang’s life after high school. What will he be doing in his future? Will he fulfill his expectations his parents desire for him or will he escape his true form and create a new destiny? Students will present their predictions to the class and explain each panel through a short presentation.

-- Marcy Alvarado

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: Blankets

Blankets is the coming of age story of Craig Thompson during the early 1990s Wisconsin. In the novel, Craig tells the story of how he found a guiding light amongst the uncertainty of teen life and home life. The story revolves around Craig and his friend-and-sort-of-girlfriend Raina, and how both of them need each other to get through their lives (at this point being 18 years old). Bt far from being your basic any and every hormonal 18 year old problem(s), Craig deals with the uncertainty of what is to become of him in the future and not only that, but it is coupled with a questioning of his religions beliefs. While Raina has to deal with her parents separating, having to help raise her mentally challenged adopted siblings, and way to often having to play the role of head of household and responsible adult.

When Craig and Raina meet up and spend time together, not only does having one there for the other (and vise versa) help with their situations, it gives them a chance to develop a romantic intimacy that respectively at their given time both Craig and Raina use this experience to spring board into the next phase of their lives. The love Craig gives and takes is helpful in coming to terms with his crisis in faith, that in turn gives him the fortitude to move out and grow as an individual out in the real world. The love that Raina gives and most deservingly needs and receives certainly helps her get through her family’s disintegration. In the novel, even though both characters do use each other to get the most out of the emotional and mental rut they are in; it is not done in a negative way, rather it is done more in a therapeutic symbiotic relationship.

This novel is perfect for any and all High School teens; but being that Craig is a Senior in High School, it may be better suited for Juniors and Seniors because they are all (to a given extent) going through the same motions, emotions, fears, frustrations, and uncertainties of adolescence and creating a strong individuality from any and all occurrences and experiences in their lives. These are some exercises that can accompany reading Blankets:

1) Have students point out several themes the novel presents: family values, faith, growing up, the future, etc. And have them write how one or many of the themes they find in the novel help the story progress.

2) Have students reflect on certain personal experiences that may be mirrored by the text. Were they feeling similarly to Craig, or did they react in a different way? If anything in the novel has not been experienced in any way by the students, have them write what they think they would do in the exact same situation.

3) Have students compare and contrast Blankets with another novel or the novel it may be paired with to analyze the benefits/drawbacks of both graphic novels and textual novels.

-- Javier Guerra

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: A.D.: After the Deluge

A.D. is the story of the aftermath Hurricane Katrina left in New Orleans as it is intertwined and told by people that lived in New Orleans at the time; and how their lives were changed by one common event. The novel retells the events of Katrina in the lives of five people (Leo, The Doctor, Kevin, Hamid, and Denise) and their families and friends. During the hurricane and its aftermath, each of the individual must make a decision or are part of a decision, of whether to stay and wait out the storm or leave (just in case) and return when it is safe to do so.

In the case of leaving, Leo and his girlfriend Michelle decide to leave and stay with a friend in Houston, Texas; Kevin and his brother are sent to California to stay with a family friend. This includes Hamid’s family, who he sends to Houston while he and his brother decide to stay and look after his store. The Doctor also stays, only because he thinks it is one of the “usual” storms that NOLA gets; while Denise must stay to care for her mother and her niece and her baby.

The novel begins on Monday, August 22, 2005, as the hurricane is nowhere to be found and slowly starts to grow; ends on September 1, with a follow up 1 ½ years later on February 6, 2007, when all the individuals in the novel tell Neufeld what they returned to and how they are doing now. It has been said that you can never go back home, as far as leaving home and returning later on and realizing things have changed. But A.D. certainly is a twist on this idea; whether you stayed home or returned after being forced out, due to factors not in one’s control, home is definitely no longer the same.

A.D. is a perfect novel to use when learning about the human system and experience. How not only man can affect nature, but how nature can also affect man; and from it, what could, is, can, and has been done since to present or alleviate such disasters and human suffering during natural crisis. Being that the novel is accessible online, soon to be out in print, it gives great links to add to the story/occurrences of Katrina to better help in learning and precariously experiencing the event. The following are exercises for the novel:

1) Students can explore themes of Man vs Man, Man vs Nature, and Human Nature (Psychological), and determine what each character could or should have done differently. Then, whether based on those decisions, would it really have mattered during Katrina?

2) Students can write what they would have done in the same situation, and then research safety measures that have been created for natural disasters (focusing on hurricanes) and then rethinking and rewriting their original responses to what they would have done in the same situation. The online version would help out with this because of the added links.

3) If students recall Katrina they can describe their feeling about the disaster and the aftermath for New Orleans residents. If they cannot recall, they can still describe how they feel now, after having learned about the disaster and having read the novel.

--Javier Guerra

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: La Perdida

This graphic novel is a page-turner and definitely contains all the necessary elements for a narrative saga. In spite of this, there is something intrinsically offensive in the rhetorical framework that appears to be substantially essentialist as certain traits are portrayed as intrinsic or mandatory to the state of existence that governs the lives of a country and its people. If an uninformed reader who has never traveled or been exposed to Mexican culture were to read this, he or she would come away with a linear view of a culture driven by the drug trade, governmental anarchy and rampant violence that is categorically directed at women.



And yes, I understand that this novel is conveying an “ex-patriot” experience in Mexico City but I feel that the rhetorical implications extend far beyond that singular dynamic. Furthermore, a binary is established that positions Anglo American culture and society at a distinct advantage. From the beginning, the half-Mexican Carla Olivares and her Anglo one-time boyfriend Harry, are portrayed as possessing intrinsic or “a priori” privilege that is God-given and serves as a veil of protection. Also the tone of the plot dynamic suggests that both Harry and Carla are rooted to an institution that affords a sense of balance and stability that they can always return to when they tire of wild living. The social ties that connect them to the United States and their families are identified as through legitimate means via stable family situations and the sound economic practices of their progenitors (although Carla is of lesser means, her family appears to be established and not due to any swindles). They are also positioned within the novel as the object of covetous thus spawning and nurturing the notion that the American capitalistic lifestyle is what is the most desirable and the viable yardstick through which all other groups are gauged and accessed.

The Mexican nationals are primarily portrayed as degenerate, conniving, abusive and amoral individuals who prefer criminal activity to legitimate channels of economic endeavor. Furthermore, for the most part, the Mexican nationals are portrayed as foolishly earnest and ignorantly sloppy desperadoes who are really never even afforded the rhetorical gift of potency as competent criminals. With the exception of a few obscure friends of Carla’s brother Rod, the Mexican characters are absorbed in the full-time task of attempting to perpetrate a scam on someone. With that in mind, the plot develops into a full scale kidnapping of Harry which leads to Carla’s eventual involvement and several murders. Even the Mexican Communist revolutionary is exposed as a blatant hypocrite who is another complicit agent in the plot to obtain the fruits of capitalism through extortion.

The novel does not offer a satisfactory anecdote. Yes, Harry’s father is revealed to be the owner of some imperialist companies exploiting conditions in Mexico but the information is given as an aside. And yes, I get the sense that the primary cartel leader may be an “ex-patriot” American posing as a South American. Still, the ending reaffirms the initial assumptions of the novel. Nothing in the plot offers an alternative point of view that would usurp ubiquitous assumptions or suggest a route towards change. Harry and Carla Olivares survive the ordeal with their special status and privilege intact.

Now I must admit that the information given does not offend the boundaries of verisimilitude. There is an aspect of existence here on the border in El Paso and in Mexico which somewhat parallels the lives of characters in La Perdida. ( I have lived here for twenty four years) I have personally known various such desperadoes living on the edge of existence and peddling for any little, minute advantage that will carry them into the next day. And yes, I would dare say that certain cities could be considered as sustained through drug economies. When you have a city in which the median income is $15,000 and sixty percent of the student populations of the various school districts are receiving free and reduced lunch and yet a percentage of these same students live in $400,000 homes and when many homes are bought with cash, you know there has to be a source of unreported income. Yes, this side of life exists. And yet this is not adequately representative of the Mexican community. There are many families who reject this drug related lifestyle and who work earnestly at legitimate jobs. There are a significant number of individuals with advanced college degrees and strong cultural ties. There are those with engineering and medical degrees who attend symphonies and send their children to catechism and violin lessons.

Contrary to the suggestions of La Perdida, not all Mexican men beat women and act like prolific gigolos. Thus, the novel does not offer a balanced view of reality. Ironically, the main character Carla, assumes responsibility for the deaths of two of her close, drug dealing friends, who upon her suggestion, seek asylum in the American embassy. I feel that the author needs to assume responsibility for such a linear view of a culture. Incidentally, in her long list of acknowledgments, Abel only mentions two people with Mexican surnames who assisted her in this project.



Lesson Plan Ideas:


One project might be for students to look at the way both English and Spanish are used in the novel. Initially, the author has the characters speaking in Spanish with English translations. As the story progresses, and the main character Carla learns Spanish, the English translations merge with the Spanish. Then the novel becomes a dialogue in strictly English but it is not standard English. This English conveys literal translations of Spanish phrases into English. As most of us know, the literal translations do not always convey the meaning as it is intended. I believe this is done in order to convey what incorrect Spanish would sound like to a native speaker in a manner that English speakers can identify with.


Students might compile a list of Spanish words in the novel and couple these words with their English translations and various connotative and denotative meanings.

Students might engage in a “Deconstructionist” exercise in which words and phrases that are presumed to be analytic or true by definition are examined for flaws in interpretation and meaning. The students might construct two lists of words with opposite meanings or opposing characters on opposite sides of a page and reserve a middle section. In this middle section, they can describe ways the words with opposite meanings and or opposing characters are not so different. They will look for flaws in binary distinctions between words and their meaning, concepts and people.

This novel could be paired with an essay entitled “The Task of the Translator” by Walter Benjamin. Students might read the essay and identify key arguments regarding what constitutes a good translation (a translation need not always be an actual translation – it could be rhetorical or figurative) or a cultural communication. Then they would examine various rhetorical strategies and literary elements in La Perdida and decide whether the ideas suggested by Walter Benjamin can be found or not.

This novel could be paired with a book on cultural studies or politics such as:

Decolonial Voices: Chicana and Chicano Cultural Studies in the 21st Century by Arturo J. Aldama and Naomi Helena Quinonez. Indiana University Press, 2002.


Capital: A Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx. Frederick Engels editor. Charles
H. Kerr & Company, 1906.


This graphic novel could also be paired with Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises. The student could compare and contrast the two different portrayals of an “ex-patriot” experience. The students could also write essays in which they compare and contrast the cultural perspectives in the two novels. The students could compare and contrast the characters’ involvement or lack thereof with the native populations. The Sun Also Rises takes place in Paris, France and several cities in Spain in the 1920’s. The students might discuss how portrayals of the ex-patriot experience have changed over time.

-- Nadia Morales

Student Review and Lesson Ideas: Deogratias

Deogratias is a graphic novel of a minimal length but one which might need to be read twice and with an ample amount of supplementary contextual information. And even then, engaging the truth becomes a meticulous process of revelation, not through direct statement of fact but through innuendo, suggestion and second hand accounts(at least at first). Furthermore, the confession of the ultimate crimes remains vague and information regarding the degree of complicity is absent. The translator, Alexis Siegel incorporates several pages of contextual information that is perhaps intended as an anticipatory element that will help the reader absorb the narrative. Still, I found myself completely unprepared to mentally deal with the adumbrations regarding the subjects of genocide and cannibalism.

The novel unveils parallel realities of existence in which the pedestrian world of logic and cause and effect compete with the sublime reality of physical addiction and insanity. The story discloses the life of one young boy, possibly orphaned and living somewhere between the streets, the Christian missions, the brothels and the mercenary recruiters. His life becomes a daily struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction and later insanity. He suffers from delusions that he has become a dog who eats dead bodies due to the guilt he feels over treacherous acts of torture, rape, murder and possibly cannibalism he has committed against people he knew as childhood friends. The overarching cause of the atrocities might be attributed to the ethnic struggles between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribes of Rwanda and yet this explanation seems grossly inadequate.

I was left wondering how a young, innocent boy evolved into a torturous, murdering cannibal and the most dangerous kind of sociopath. And yet he is not completely a sociopath. His journey into insanity in the wake of his deeds is evidence of his moral struggle. The novel could be extended and developed into a study on how life on the streets serves to neutralize feelings of human empathy and personal conscience. Was it the physiological changes due to drugs and alcohol or the psychological impact of a life devoid of solid social bonding? If there is a moral to the story, it is implied in the life of this young boy, who is subject to a substantial discourse of contingencies and who has never known boundaries or rules of any kind. Even the missionary priest who is supposed to teach morality is rendered inept to the task as his widely known affair and love child with one of the town’s prostitutes has extinguished his credibility (Strassen 12).

And on another level, the purpose of the Christian missionary presence is called into question. The moral message fails to transform the society possibly due to the lack of a good example. In addition, the priests and the religious workers appear to assume a “laissez faire” attitude regarding the horrors being committed by the Hutu against the Tutsi. The tone conveyed appears to be one that is essentialist in nature (attributing individual acts as evidence of ubiquitous characteristics that are rooted in genetics or cultural norms) and one that dismisses the barbaric acts as somehow a foregone conclusion and beyond empirical control. Throughout the novel, the revelatory style of narration suggests predestination or the unveiling of some sort of sublime, metaphysical occurrence. I was left wondering why the author ironically named the boy “Deogratias” or “thanks be to God.” I also found myself objecting to the apparent lack of human agency (the characters appear as sleepwalkers) in the narrative which implies an ideological complicity with predestination that affects the interactions between the social, economic and political forces that constitute the story.


Lesson Plan Ideas:

This graphic novel could be taught in conjunction with a unit on the Rwandan genocide. The students would be asked to research news stories on the subject from the archives of at least five reputable agencies to include Reuters, The British Broadcasting Company, The New York Times, the United Nations report on the genocide and several publications local to the country of Rwanda. They might be asked to discuss the rhetoric of Deogratias in their journals and contrast this narrative with actual news accounts. A class discussion would follow in which each student would summarize their interpretations as juxtaposed with factual reports contained in their journals.

Deogratias could also be used as a springboard for sociological studies in which the students will research the ways in which societal contingencies – economic, religious, ethnic, political and governmental – influence the moral development of a person.

The students might conduct research on what constitutes sociopathic behavior and discuss their findings in their journals.

After reading Deogratias, each student might form a single theory regarding the cause of Deogratias’ mental state. The students would write one paragraph in their journals explaining their reasoning. The students could conduct research on drug addiction, alcoholism and insanity and apply factual information to their own interpretation of Deogratias and their individual line of reasoning.

The students could research the history of Rwanda, ethnic identities, the United Nations’ policies and the role that other forces played in the perpetration of the genocide. The historical research could be conducted in conjunction with a “Deconstruction” exercise in which the students gather a list of ethnic characteristics of Hutu and Tutsi through their research. They would construct a binary list of opposites and then identify places in the novel in which those binary distinctions are undermined or proven to be false.

-- Nadia Morales

Dave Eggers, Teens Writing, and the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store

I would have soo gone to this store last time I was in NYC, had I known of its existence and connections to literacy!

Graphic Novel.Com Updates with Creator Interviews, More

From the press release:

Creator Interviews

Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim

The long-awaited The Eternal Smile, new from Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim, is finally here. Meet the two creators behind the book in this interview and learn how the two friends decided to work together-and whether their friendship can survive a Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate.

Ariel Schrag

Ariel Schrag documented her high-school years in four raw, unflinching memoirs. With the release of the fourth and final edition, Likewise, which chronicles her senior year, she talks about what it's like to share your coming-of-age with the world.

Mitch Clem

Mitch Clem started Nothing Nice to Say, a webcomic about "the awesomeness and the absurdity" of the punk rock scene, back in 2002. Here he talks about the recently released anthology of his popular and controversial series.

Domingos Isabelinho Posts Interview with Author of Exit Wounds

A student of mine recently read and reviewed Exit Wounds, a graphic novel on my "need to read" list, for our "Teaching the Graphic Novel" graduate course. As well, a previous guest speaker on campus, comics writer Jai Nitz, sang its praises. So, I'm posting a link to a youtube-style interview with the creator, Rutu Modan. Enjoy, and thanks, Domingos, for posting the video! :)

Diamond Bookshelf Interview with HS ELA Teacher Who Teaches Watchmen

Proof that they exist! John C. Weaver has been getting some deserved attention lately for talking about how he handles a complex and mature text(with dangling blue wangs) with his HS seniors.

NCTE 2009

I'll be on the program for the 2009 NCTE national convention. Some of the folks working on my next edited collection, a new colleague from Fordham, and I will be giving a roundtable talking about comics in the contact zone. More information as it develops. I've never been to Philly before, so I'm excited about visiting.

The Process of Adapting Prose into Comics

I readily admit that I prefer stand-alone graphic novels with multiple embedded literary elements to those that try to adapt classics, but here is a great article on the process creators, etc., go through when considering how and what to adapt.

For better or worse, there is a growing market for sequential art adaptations. Though I fear these will be the only graphic novels teachers will consider when given choices, essentially taking an easy way out and not really learning anything new, there's also the possibility that adaptations might pique interest in other types of comics.

More Obama in the Comics

In fiction and satire this time, no less. I'm starting to think publishers are going a little crazy with the Obama appearances. If he shows up as a member of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I may never read comics again (and I voted for the guy!).

Sequel to Dalrymple's Pop Gun War Posted Online

Or part of it, anyway. While editing a chapter on Pop Gun War in my first edited collection, we mention this text as a sort of sleeper hit that would soon get much more critical and pedagogical attention. Well, that doesn't seem to have happened like I thought it would (yet), though the original is a great story and Farel Dalrymple has done well for himself since releasing it (I'm not even sure if it is still in print), but maybe the sequel will remind people of Sinclair and his magical realist flights of fancy.

Pop Gun War does have my highest recommendation, though, and if the sequel is a little longer and more complex than this hopefully-expert, I'll be eager to read it when it comes out in print. Or, perhaps the entire sequel will be a web comic. If so, I'll be reading then too!

Celebrating Cesar Chavez's Birthday

I've had the opportunity to work full-time at two universities that take unique holidays. One of the few good things about my time at USM was that we got to take Mardis Gras off. Not being Catholic or even much of a reveler (I'm not much for drunken crowds. Plus, there's that story my dad tells me about visiting Nawlins one year and meeting a nice-looking woman with whom he wanted to have relations, but it turns out dude looked like a lady). Now I'm enjoying UTEP, and here we get Cezar Chavez's birthday off as a holiday. I admit to not knowing much about this figure, but if I want to learn more, there are some graphic novels to help. Here's a review of one. Here's another.

"Panels don't Have to Be Square," and Neither do Books on Making Comics

A princess knight, Edward the horse, a fairy, a candy-stealing dragon, and the love of comic art make The Center of Cartoon Studies Presents: Adventures in Cartooning one of the best ever all-ages "how to" books on creating comics. Heck, one of the best ever regardless of audience.

By using simply-drawn characters who illustrate concepts such as page and panel breakdown, means of communicating spoken language and visual ques such as setting, emotion, and scale, James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost have created the most democratic and accessible comics tutorial yet published.

Perhaps I'll start using the book when I encounter teachers who proclaim "I just can't draw!" at my seminars. (Funny, k-12 students say this too but have always been quelled when I model my own silly drawings. Many practicing teachers are much more stubborn in releasing their anxiety). The book, which does have an on-going fantasy narrative enmeshed with the easy-to-understand lessons which hardly seem like lessons (learning when you don't know you're learning is perhaps the most effective kind of pedagogy!), will certainly make it on my favorites list when it comes to quick, accessible, and democratic texts on comics craft.

Fresno State Article on Comics/Comics Courses

Thanks to M.R. for drawing my attention to this article from Fresno State's The Collegian. Oh, I'm sorry: that's actually California State University, Fresno since this article isn't about a sports team. ;)

Hear Me Geek Out on Watchmen, Moore

UTEP student Matthew Munden interviewed me about many things Alan Moore and about the Watchmen movie a few weeks ago. Basically, we just geeked out, but it was really fun talking with him. :)

Mom Up in Arms Over Innuendo in Spider-Man Trade

A Nebraska mom thinks a Spider-Man trade paperback is marketing more than good guys vs. bad guys to her six-year-old. Of course, she doesn't mention details, and she apparently missed that Marvel, the company publishing the book, has rated it as appropriate for teens.

Good to see that censorship-related activity continues to be so predictable, because that makes it easier to handle. Of course, this isn't a case of schools or teachers vs. parents, just one mom getting more media coverage than she probably needed.

ICV2's reporting on this story can be found here. I'm still deciding on whether or not to write the school district. Typically, I try to send a little something....

UPDATE: Here's a copy of my letter to the superintendent of this school district.

Hi. I am James Bucky Carter, an assistant professor of English Education who focuses on comics-and-literacy-related issues.

I have recently read about the concerns over Spider-Man: Revelations. I own the individual issues which comprise the book and have revisited them this morning. I strongly urge you to keep the book in the library system of your public schools.

The first story in the book is Marvel's tribute to 9/11. It is a stirring tale with much emotion, as in Marvel's fictional universe, almost all heroes are set in NYC, and in reality, so are Marvel's offices. The text is as much meta-text as it is fiction, because those who write fantasy, and the heroes and villains they create, must come to terms with an event so horrific, it was once something thought only possible in comic books.

The next two stories deal with many social and family issues, such as identity, trust, forgiveness, and drug addiction. These are also two stories written during the time that Peter Parker was employed as a teacher. Surely the character study potential in these stories is great: Why would the man obsessed with the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" be moved to teach?

The final issue does feature Mary Jane in appropriate clothing for what she is doing. She's in a nightgown while sleeping, a towel after bathing, and a bathing suite at a model shoot. But, the story is more about a complex relationship between two people who love each other in mature (as in complex but responsible ways) than it is about sex. This is also the "silent" issue, the comic where few words were used to tell the story. Teachers and/or students can learn much about composition by comparing the silent issues with those with word balloons or even by comparing the script at the back of the book with the art on this final issue of the graphic novel.

Again, I urge you to retain the book in your library system in one site or another. The book is best suited for those in middle school and beyond, so allowing those students the best access to it might be advisable.

As well, I am available to discuss comics-and-pedagogy-related material via e-mail, telephone, or through visits. I am associated with the NCTE Co-Sponsored Speaker program and have talked with public school teachers on comics in the classroom across the country.

Sincerely,
James Bucky Carter
my e-mail
my phone number

Coming Soon from Michael Bitz of the Comic Book Project

I just ordered my copy of this book, available in May. It's a 4-year longitudinal, qualitative study about how teens consume, create, and identify with Manga and comics. I know Dr. Bitz and his work, and I am very excited about this release! Order your copy now. Really, click the link to Harvard Education Publications Group, call'em up, and order a paperback copy for less than $30.

First-Ever Nickelodeon Comics Awards Winners Announced

Headline and story at the Beat.

National Writing Project article: "Digital comics Spur Students' Interest in Writing"

Thanks to MH for sending this along.

Article summary info from NWP:

By: Grant Faulkner
Date: January 29, 2009
Summary: Fourth grade teacher Glen Bledsoe has his students create comic strips together, which engages their creativity and teaches them writing, critical thinking, and other skills.

And the article has a nice sidebar of "Related Resources" too, if I do say so myself. :)

Quick-Thinking Fake Spider-Man Saves Real Boy's Life

My wife is a special education teacher, so I've heard of autistic students with the same sort of fascination with Spidey or Superman or Batman as the child in this must-read article. Mostly it's Spider-Man, though. Since autistic children often have trouble reading facial expressions, I wonder if Spider-Man's colorful costume but rather emotionally neutral (and therefore nonthreatening?) mask is a draw?

Thanks to Orion for drawing my attention to this moving piece of journalism from the BBC.

This is what the accountability/standardized tests push has Wrought

Congrats proponents of standardized tests-heavy public education, you've finally done it. You've created an atmosphere so averse to learning, made a test so anxiety-inducing, you've made elementary students cry.

This is truly a proud day in contemporary education.

You know, when I was ninish, I cried when Gwen Stacey died, but it was because I was overwhelmed with pathos and good storytelling. Marking A,B, C, or D was nothing compared to reading Spider-man trying to save the love of his life from a fall, only to snap her neck when his web reached her, saving her from hitting bottom, but with too much force for her to live through his rescue.

Some days, especially when I read stories like the one linked to in this post's title, I, like Spidey, just want to put my costume in the trash and call it quits on trying to save the world....

Alissa Torres talks about Influences for American Widow

Students in my "Teaching the Graphic Novel" graduate course recently read Alissa Torres' gripping memoir of her post 9/11 days riding the tensions between gratitude and frustration, helplessness and self-advocacy. I don't want to say too much more about American Widow because one of my awesome students will be posting a review in the next few weeks, but I do want to draw attention to this great article at Graphic Novel Reporter in which Torres talks a little about her work.

And check back in the coming weeks for my student's thought on this new and poignant debut graphic novel.

Underground Comix Show at UW-Madison

Want to learn about what some hesitant to incorporate comics in their classrooms might think of when they hear the word "comics?" Not all think super-heroes and funnies; some remember the Underground movement of the late 60s and 70s and think comics = sex, drugs, explicit nudity, sexism, racism, etc. The Underground comics creators had a "nothing is off limits" attitude and created some work that is worthy of study but that probably has skewed some opinions of the overall form and content of comics generally.

This show at Wisconsin (go Bucky Badgers!) will reveal to you what people mean when they talk about comics as "subversive." Of course, the problem is that many still see comics and comics reading as a subversive activity, and to some degree they can be, but it's not anything like it used to be when R. Crumb and his companions were throwin' it down in their primes.

I wish I could go to the show! If you do, post a reply and tell me how it went...

Comics, Power and Society

Professors Arthur Nishimura and Louis Schubert talk about a comics course they teach at the City College of San Francisco. See how Scrooge McDuck and Will Eisner coexist in such a class as Comics, Power and Society.

Another Reason I Love Eddie Vedder

2009 Hugo Awards Include Graphic Texts for First Time

Once limp-formed award trophy very excited about the news (*giggle*):

Quotes on Comics

Introducing a blog/site that is exactly what its name implies: quotes on comics. Very cool stuff.

Bart Beaty Talks about Teaching Comics in Canada

Sounds like a pretty good story, eh?

Nick Magazine Talks about Upcoming Comics Awards, Etc.

Jews and American Comics

Thanks to MH for informing me about the book Jews and American Comics, which is reviewed at Graphic Novel Reporter. It is hard to overestimate the impact Jewish Americans have had on the American comics industry.

#20,265

That's the current Amazon.com sales a rank for a little ol' book you may have heard of: The King James version of The Bible. Watchmen? Still #1. Jesus retains a huge edge in overall sales, though.

If all things are through God, Watchmen really has turned out to be one heck of a collaboration.


Shaggy-haired bearded men unite!

High School Teacher Talks about Teaching Watchmen

I've heard rumors of high school teachers using Watchmen. I even got close to meeting one fellow who discussed it in Charlottesville, Va, at my comic shop while I was engrossed in taking thick description notes of the place for a qualitative research class. Now, Graphic Novel Reporter has some testimony from a high school teacher who is teaching the GN for all to see! Yay!!!

Historic Day!

Publisher's Weekly reports that for sometime today, Watchmen was the #1 seller on Amazon.com. I heard Teri Lesense talk about some of her upcoming research that suggests that seeing a movie before reading the book actually helps students' motivations to do the reading. Looks like there might be a little bit of that going on here?

A graphic novel selling better than any other book on Amazon. And it is my favorite graphic novel, to boot. It might be time to dance naked in the streets, faithful readers. Maybe I'll suggest that to my "Teaching the Graphic Novel" class tonight, as we conclude our study of Watchmen, lol....

Yeah, I saw it: Watchmen Movie Talk

An admirable but flawed attempt at bringing the classic graphic novel to the big screen, Zack Snyder's Watchmen shows the director was probably right to repeatedly tell sources that if anyone got the chance to screw up the source material, he wanted it to be him.

The film is not terrible. It won't be mentioned in the same breath as The Spirit, I don't think. The first hour is pretty atrocious, but once the action gears up, and once Dan and Laurie are thick into their budding relationship, things get good.

The fight scenes are great. Blake's struggle for survival against Veidt is probably the singular element that supersedes the comic. We see a fighter going out in warrior fashion, yet his beatdown is still brutal enough for one to have sympathy for him. The multiple images of Sally Jupiter in his apartment also help the audience form some sympathy for the otherwise difficult-to-love Comedian (assuming they know the backstory, that is). The moments where one feels he got what he deserved don't come until later in the film.

And Night Owl finally looked like a bad-ass, maybe too much so. He and Laurie don't just immobilize, they apparently kill many of their attackers, even before they put on the capes and cowls again.

Even the final confrontation with Ozymandias is adrenalin-pumping fun. Veidt's superior strength and speed are made obvious. And I enjoyed the moment where Adrian "embraced" a final barrage of punches from Dan in a moment that was clearly changed such that the "everyman" could make the endpoint, regain some street cred, and give the audience some sense of power.

The love story between Dan and Laurie is what sells the film. But it is in what the film does not adapt concerning this story, paired with too much exposition from Laurie to explain Dr. Manhattan's powers and history, that weakens the movie.

"Do that thing you do," a perfect example of Laurie preempting the godhead of the graphic novel for the sake of advancing story, may become the "jump the shark, Fonzie!" plot faux pas of super-hero movies.

There were many moments where the violence was more excessive than it needed to be; Dr. Manhattan should have been given more weight/authority, or at least the ability to speak for himself more often, and Rorschach needn't have handled that cleaver the way he did (thanks Saw films!).

As for the acting, it was adequate. Dan and the Edward were probably best acted, then Rorschach and Manhattan. Laurie was great to look at, and the chemistry between her and Dan was probably enough to excuse otherwise deadpan delivery. Laurie's best-acted scenes were her most "emotional" ones, I guess I'll say, to be modest.

Having read the book multiple times, enjoyed the motion comic, and viewed the film, I'm happy to say that the source material hasn't been touched in terms of quality. I am worried,though, that the film will become the default accepted interpretation of the book's many subtleties and tensions, which would be a tremendous error of judgement.

Some critics like to score films with stars or thumbs. I think the symbol for Watchmen sums this one up pretty well: One smiley face, stained.

More Press from El Paso times

Some of the students in my graduate-level "Teaching the Graphic Novel" course are quoted in this article on Watchmen the movie. Both the local paper and The New york Daily News interviewed me about the film. It's a fun time to be a Watchmen scholar. :)

Stanford Graphic Novel Project Enters Year 2

Now, if students at Stanford are learning that crafting and composing in the sequential art form is challenging and rewarding and certainly rigorous, it's gotta be a good idea for the rest of us, right?

From a Graphic Novel Reports article on this exciting project:
This is the second year of the Stanford Graphic Novel Project, an endeavor to teach narrative through graphic storytelling. Our goal is to treat the graphic novel as a collective, collaborative project and as a team create a book during the winter term of each year. With co-instructor Tom Kealey, our 2008 class wrote, storyboarded, illustrated, designed, and published a 224-page graphic novel called Shake Girl. Fifteen students drew the 700 illustrations for Shake Girl in six weeks. This year, our students are currently at work on a 256-page graphic novel set in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Visit the link to Graphic Novel Reporter to get the full story. And remember, the next time an administrator, teacher, or parent questions who you are trying to use comics to teach writing and composing, tell them the uber-intelligent students at Stanford are actually leading the way. Go Cardinal!

The truth of the matter is that creating sequential art is no easy task. It is fun, engaging, exhausting, and intellectually stimulating, but it is no cake walk. My graduate students in "Teaching the Graphic Novel" turn in an 8-pager mini-comic for their midterms in a few weeks, along with a process paper. I'm excited to see if they'll admit the amount of thought that went into their projects while also allowing themselves to admit that they earned a new respect for the form. As I tell teachers, the best way to understand the comics-making process is to try it yourself.

Wha Wha Wha Whaaaat??????

Almost as good as Watchmen Babies: V for Vacation.

The New York Times Graphic Novels Best Sellers List?

Hard to ignore the medium when a major source like this is giving it such attention.

21st Century Skills Backlash?

According to Education Week, there may be a backlash against notions of 21st century literacies and those, like me, who promote them.

How soon before some high-fallooting Ph.d.-waving asshole stands up and says, "Now we got folks tryin' to teach em' comics in school instead o' Shagspert!"? The countdown is on....

As the Stephen Sawchuck penned article "Backers of '21st-Century Skills' Take Flak" suggests, though, the backlash is not really a backlash, it is just continued resistance that Education Week and Cultural Literacy purists are drawing more attention to. As is stated by a very wise Linda Darling-Hammond, the curriculum debates inherent in new vs. traditional literacies, etc. have been going on for at least the entirety of the 20th century.

There is a good analogue here to comics and literacy scholarship. Even though my work and the recent work of others has folks thinking about comics and graphic novels, many other scholars and teachers have been writing on the subject for as long as there have been comic strips and comic books in America. Think late 1930s as a starting point. There's a reason I quote Dewey and Vygostsky in the intro to Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels....

As well, the analogue also extends to notions of "either/or." It shouldn't be "instead of" but "in conjunction with." We can't have critical literacy-based curricula because we need to focus on functional literacy skills? Cultural literacy needs to trump all literacy? Only Shakespeare plays and no Shakespeare podcasts or Manga to supplement them?

It's not an either/or proposition. Literacy is a continuum. That's why I am so keen on focusing on how comics can help students develop functional literacies, cultural literacies, critical literacies, and certainly New/Multimodal/21st century literacies. Getting at one literacy skill doesn't and shouldn't mean ignoring others.

We all want all students to read (functional literacy). We all agree that factual knowledge provides (cultural literacy) a good base for being considered educated. Why can't we all agree that considerations of power, justice, and point of view (critical literacy) as they relate to factual knowledge help students develop greater understandings and also help them develop inquiring, curious minds? Well, some might not want others to have those types of minds, of course.

And that's the tension between those who seem to have a beef with new literacies and those who want to focus on other types at the exclusion of critical literacies: The functional/cultural camp is afraid that the critical camp is trying to subversively overthrow American values -- and there may be some truth to that -- and the critical camp is afraid the functional/cultural camp is sneakily, subversively trying to keep underprivileged populations "in their proper place" -- and there may be some truth to that too.

But we are living in the 21st century -- even here in Texas -- so the term "21st century skills" generally applies to the skills students will need to live well in the world they'll inherent for the next 91 years. Knowing how to read print is a necessity. Knowing how to read non-print is a necessity. Knowing history and basic math, science, and language arts skills is essential. Knowing how to think critically about who makes decisions in the world and how they get formed is important. Knowing how to navigate new spaces while understanding their precedents -- important, important, important. 21st century skills are all -literacy skills.

So, if Spider-Man helps an ESL student gain functional literacy, while a Manga Shakespeare helps build the comprehension of a 10th grader while he reads it along with a viewing or reading of the play, and examining Joe Sacco's Palestine helps a World History class understand the tensions in Israel, while American Born Chinese helps a class understand identity and ethnicity and a group of senoirs are deconstructing Watchmen as an example of 1980s nuclear hysteria/pre-millinium hysterics in relation, let it be.

Our kids live in the 21st century. Any skill they need from school, whether they get it there or not, is a 21st century skill.

Smithsonian Webcomic on Forensic Anthropology

"Written in Bone" follows some scientists through a dig and find in Maryland. A fun attempt to make sifting through dirt seem interesting, it is an admirable effort, if not a little dry. Not bone dry, mind you, but not earth-shattering.

Still, I love it when something with as much clout as the Smithsonian Institute uses comic art to educate!

Watchmen Motion Comic DVD Coming Soon

ICV2 reports that the motion comic version of Watchmen, sort of a comic book on tape, with video reminiscent of those 1960s Spider-Man cartoons, is set for DVD release soon.

I have the motion comics downloaded to my ipod and find them fascinating. They're well-done, my only criticism is that there is one narrator for all parts, even the women, but the guy is good.

However, they don't stand up to the original text. I had the opportunity to compare some scenes from the book to their equivalents in the motion comic with students in my "Teaching the Graphic Novel" course, and it was clear this format can't capture the intricate intertextuality of the source material.

An excellent example of this comes in Chapter I, after Dan leaves Hollis. The "Obsolete Models" sign gets a lot of attention as a signifier in the comic, but even though it sways back and forth in the wind in the motion comic, one can't read the entirety of its text, meaning that unless one has already read the graphic novel, one is probably not going to catch on to this layer of meaning.

Also, none of the print sections at the end of each chapter are reproduced in the motion comic, so those nuances are lost as well.

The dissonance between these two texts has me a little more anxious about the movie, of course. But, I'm very happy to have these multiple textual iterations of Watchmen coming available soon. I do not know if I'll buy the motion comics DVD, since I've already got them, but I will get the DVD of the film so I can compare and contrast the various forms on my own and with my students.

Praise and award Nod for YA GN _Swallow Me Whole_

The Beat reports that Swallow Me Whole, a graphic novel by Nate Powell, is the first GN since Maus to be honored for the LA Times Book Prize.

From a quoted source: "The book follows two teenage stepsiblings, Ruth and Perry, through the ups and downs of school, family, and suburban restlessness — all complicated by the insect armies, swirling visions, and haunting voices that no one else can perceive..."

For the full story, click the title to this post.

As for me, looks like I got a book to add to my reading list!

Nice Op-Ed on Comics Reading from UNF's Katie Monnin

Quoted on Watchmen Movie in New York Daily News

Another one of those instances where a 30 minute conversation comes down to one line, but it's cool to be mentioned in the New York Daily News, especially about a text that I love sooooo much! For the record, I did express to the reporter that I think the Watchmen movie will rock.