The Beat picked up on this story about a comic book which gives tips for how to smuggle drugs. It almost seems too sensational to be true, but comics have been used to help teach the craft of people smuggling (see the comic on how to cross into the American border safely but illegally, and what to do if one gets caught, produced by the Mexican government a few years back), landmine safety, safe sex -- any number of things. So, I'm not surprised to see a book like this. Heck, the counter-culture comics on the 70s might as well have been guides on taking drugs.
Here's hoping that SANE naysayers don't get a hold of this story and run with it, but if they do, what will still be clear is comics' potential for teaching. In this case, it's the material, not the medium, that is controversial. This concept sometimes escapes those who don't care for comics in the classroom. Like saying all novels are corrupt because they once read a dirty romance, some folks still see comics as "funnies," all superheroes, or hippie drivel. But, they come in all shapes and sizes and varieties, just like traditional-print books, and sadly, just like drugs that someone thinks need smuggling.
I have to admit, the story is enough to make me want a Prozac. Thank goodness I'm already addicted to Lipton Diet Green Tea......
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