_SANE journal_ Earns ISSN, Issues First Call for Papers

Wow, online stuff sure does move quickly. I just received the official ISSN number for the journal from the Library of Congress; three prominent scholars have agreed to be members of the editorial advisory and review board (more invitations forthcoming); and that means we can go ahead and get the ball rolling. Here's hoping the momentum keeps up.

Please feel free to post/copy the following Call for Papers to any blog or individual you feel would be interested in it or might help get out the word.

CFP: First and Second issues of SANE journal: sequential art narrative in education
(ISSN 2153-2613)

SANE journal is now seeking submissions for works of research, practitioner-based articles, reviews, and rationales regarding its first two themed issues. Information about this new peer-reviewed, open access interdisciplinary journal covering all things comics-and-education-related, from pre-k to doctorate, can be obtained by visiting http://www.sanejournal.net/. For more information, e-mail James Bucky Carter: jbcarter2 at utep dot edu.

V1.1 (late 2010 release or per article as considered ready by review board): “Comics in the Contact Zone.”

Mary Louise Pratt defines the contact zone as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in the contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today” and where those involved in the educational experience may “reconsider the models of community that many of us rely on in teaching and theorizing and that are under challenge today.” Texts are social spaces, of course, and the comic book may be the best indicator of this fact. How do you see comics as meeting, clashing, and grappling with social issues in your classrooms when you teach them? How do comics illustrate contact zone precepts such as speech acts, transculturation, unsolicited oppositional discourse, autoethnography, and safe houses? How does the integration of comics themselves set up contact zones in the classroom? Which texts do you teach to get at notions associated with contact zone pedagogy? How does teaching a comics course set up a contact zone with professional colleagues, departments, university officials, etc? Articles should make explicit mention to contact zone theory and its component concepts. Deadline July 2010.

V1.2 (planned 2011 released or per article as considered ready by the review board): “Teaching the Works of Alan Moore.”

Alan Moore may be the most influential and controversial comics writer of the 20th and 21st centuries. How do you teach his complex, multilayered works in your high schools classrooms, your college courses, etc? What are the challenges associated with teaching his texts or specific texts and how do you and your students address them? Can they be addressed? How does his output “fit” with notions of literature, literary, canon, etc. as you teach them in your courses? Articles may cover several of Moore’s texts or focus specifically on one. Deadline October 2010.

_SANE journal_ Moving Closer to Reality!

I have a hosting agency, a domain name, and some general information about the scopes and aims of the journal now available to the general public. For a sneak peak of the journal as I develop it piece by peice, visit http://www.sanejournal.net.

Next up, getting the editorial review boards together and sending out the first CFP's. This is going to be an organic process, but I think it will be a successful one.

"Kids Today" Cartoon: Discuss Among Yourselves

Want more? See this text. Cartoon by James Bucky Carter and Erik A. Evensen

News From the Comic Book Project

Press Release from the Center for Educational Pathways, headed in part by our good colleague Dr. Michael Bitz (my bold):

The results are in! According to an independent study conducted for the US Department of Education, students across Imperial County, California participated in the Comic Book Project and, as a result, demonstrated significant gains in their English language arts performance. After extensive professional development, classroom teachers engaged students in creating and publishing comics in content area subjects ranging from the Civil War to the water cycle. See excerpts from the students' comics and watch a video about the Imperial County project (bottom right of page in videos section--scroll to USA Project-Comic Books). For more about the Comic Book Project, visit the project website.

_Hugo Cabret_ getting Film Treatment Too!

Rock!

"Hablando de Comics con Dr. Carter"

Today I had the pleasure of videoconferencing with several comics artists at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The artists will soon be making comics for the people of Mexico and asked me to speak about the traditions associated with comic arts and social issues. We chatted for a full two hours, and I absolutely enjoyed my time with them.

Thanks to the artists, the consulate, and the folks at UTEP who helped set up the technology. And to the fine artists: Take pride in the work you will do and be the difference you want to see! Salud! :)

How You Know You Have Cool Colleagues

Diary -- I mean Journal! -- of a Wimpy Kid Movie Trailer Now Available

Fresh off the news that the Twilight graphic novel adaptation will have a initial print run of 350,000 comes info from another pop culture hit. The Beat has the video for Greg's movie debut. I, alas, am not cool enough to post it yet.

This all begs the question, "When will the Harry Potter comic book series be released?"

Me? I'm looking forward to Mark Millar's Kick Ass getting the film treatment, but that's probably because I could have played the main character back when I was in high school. Yep, I was that thin with hair that curly. For proof, see the images to the right, featuring Kick Ass's young star Dave Lizewski and a certain blogger's senior year photograph. Ah, if only I had Dave's lighting..... :)

New Books = No Excuses Anymore! (Quick Reviews of Two Salient New Texts)

With the publication of the Stephen Tabachnick-edited collection Teaching the Graphic Novel, teachers at the collegiate level have a vast array of strategies, ideas, philosophies and lenses regarding the critical viewing of graphica in the classroom. While the book features a wonderful cohesion in key concepts -- such as reveling in the ambiguities of form, terminology, and place so inherent in higher-order considerations of comics -- it also reveals that academics from various fields are studying comics. With a book like this available, there's no longer any excuse for a post-secondary educator to avoid accepting comics place in academe.

Katie Monnin's similarly titled single-authored Teaching Graphic Novels offers a complete and thorough deconstruction of how to study comics as comics and as literature. The various methods for viewing frames and exploring other elements of comics as text constitute a breakdown of the medium like no other text on the market geared towards secondary educators. "But I just don't understand the form!!" and "I just don't get comics and don't know how to teach their formal properties to my students so they can adequately read them" are now relegated to lame excuses, folks.

I have to admit, I'm a "part" of both books, which were published in the latter part of 2009. As some of my previous posts revealed, I have a chapter in the MLA book, and Katie was very kind to mention me as a mentor figure in the front matter of her book. I'm very proud to say I was able to give Katie a hug at this year's NCTE, where she hand-delivered a copy of the text to me, after seeing such a kind sentiment expressed. So, I may be guilty of bias, but it is very exciting to see texts filling in gaps such that the overall body of comics-and-literacy scholarship and research becomes more well-constructed bridge to learning than little islands of insight surrounded in between by vast oceans of disconnect.

I recommend both texts to anyone with an iota of curiosity regarding why all these teachers seem to be accepting a once maligned medium.

_A Comics Studies Reader_ Wins Rollins Award!

Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester's edited collection A Comics Studies Reader (UP Mississippi) was recently awarded the 2009 Peter C. Rollins award for best book on popular culture studies. The award is offered by the Southwest Texas Popular Culture Association.

I've read the book and think it will eventually become one of several texts from which scholars will build comics studies programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the United States. I can't recommend the book enough for those wanting to get a fairly thorough look at the many facets of comics scholarship. Combine it with The System of Comics, the recent edition of the journal English Language Notes (46.2), and MLA's just-released Teaching the Graphic Novel, and you've pretty much got the academic scene in comics (in post-secondary education, anyway) covered.

Hmm... maybe I should approach UP Mississippi about publishing something called The Comics and Literacy Reader. If you're reading, are you interested there in Jackson? :)

SANE journal Update

I mentioned a month or so ago that I'm working on starting an academic journal focusing exclusively on comics and education. Here's an update on my progress:

I've been talking with a high-end online academic publisher but recently discovered a much more affordable entry-level online academic publisher. I've also sent e-mails to several granting agencies and to a couple of university presses but still need to hear back. I'm also scheduling a meeting with my department chair soon to discuss the idea of the journal being sponsored by UTEP's English department. I don't necessarily need the department's sponsorship to get the journal started, but it could be a very nice thing for me and my institution, especially as UTEP moves towards what it is calling "tier one" status. I've been putting together lists of editorial board members and reviewers, making sure I have representatives strong in education research, practitioner work, and the various humanities. I am putting off actually contacting anyone on these lists yet, but that could happen as early as this week. I've got ideas for the first dozen or so issues too. I'm trying to decide if it is poor form to do a call for editorial/review board members and a call for papers for the first two issues within a few hours of one another (anybody?).

My goal here is to gather the best and most appropriate folks to be part of the editorial/review boards, meaning folks who have already proven themselves with publications about comics-and-literacy, (and I know many of these folks, if not most of them) but I have such a long list of folks whom I know who would love to submit work to such a journal and/or review articles for it, that I really think this could be a great opportunity for many, many people.

I'll keep you informed as more develops!

Graphic Novels Featuring African American Characters

My link to the Beat's link to Library Journal's link. Ain't bloggin' great? ;)

ALA Awards Show Recognition for Graphic Novels

The Beat has the scoop and the links.

_Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics_ Debuts Soon!

Looks like other folks are getting in on this "we need more journals on comics and sequential art" argument. Routledge is publishing Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics twice a year starting in 2010.

Subscriptions are $45 a year and the editors are out of Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K. Bart Beaty, Charles Hatfield, Mel Gibson, Joseph Witek, and Rob Weiner are on the review board, which is international.

The aims and scope of the journal suggest it will cover all aspects of comics and mentions being interdisciplinary, but education is not mentioned specifically as a particular interest of the journal (meaning I still have my niche market for SANE journal. Yay!)

I can't tell for sure if it is an ejournal or will be print-based (it may well be both), but it looks like a great new outlet for comics scholarship.

Graphic Novel Reporter Has Been Bringin' It

While I was traveling, GraphicNovelReporter.com kept working hard to bring the world comics-and-education-related journalistic goodness. To wit:

Allen Porter, a high school teacher in Michigan, discusses his recent "Graphic Novels as Literature" course at Skyline High. Dore Ripley from Cal State-East Bay talks more about using comics in her intensive writing courses. Sari Wilson is profiled for her work as a comics consultant and an education consultant. Uber-sessy librarian Jordan Boaz talks about the graphic novel workshops for teens at her Avondale, Arizona book-slinger's.

Good readin' all around!

MLA Rectifies Situation, Offers Apologies

I've always thought it is important to acknowledge when people "done good" as well as when they make mistakes. I just received an e-mail from a high-level MLA member (not sure they get any higher in the organization, actually) offering apologies for the mishandling of sending out contributor copies of Teaching the Graphic Novel.

I was impressed with the attention given to my sorry little complaint. It came from someone who certainly did not have to take responsibility for the snafu or even acknowledge that there was one.

Long story short, the attention given to the matter made me proud to be a member of the organization and happy with its upper-level leadership, and my copy is being sent via expedited mail. My hope is that similar treatment is being afforded to any other contributors who did not receive their copies when they should have as well.

And Now, The Scariest GEE DEE Thing On Earth...

MLA is Messing with My Money and My Emotions

Is Laurie N. Taylor's chapter in MLA's recent publication Teaching the Graphic Novel going to help solidify her as a major presence in comics studies? Has Charles Hatfield started quoting from actual education and literacy professors' works to make his points about comics and education/literacy? Are many humanities professors in the edited collection doing the same, or simply using the "I said it, so that makes it so" mantra regarding pedagogy that so many in the humanities seem to accept as valid? How does my own piddly little chapter on teaching Watchmen stack up with the other chapters in this edited collection?

I'd love to tell you, but I can't.

Why? Because MLA decided not to complete its obligations to its contributors to this text right away, as is customary and considered professionally polite. Instead, MLA sent some contributors their copies of this text, as per contract obligations, but not others. There was such a back-order for the book, the organization decided to go with the money over their integrity, sending all available copies to those who paid for it BEFORE honoring their contracts to contributors.

This, in the academic world, is poor form. Contributors should get their copies BEFORE anyone else, or at least have their copies sent at the same time as orders begin being filled.
How did they choose who would get the copies and who would have to wait? Was it based alphabetically? By rank? By trying to decide who would balk at the notion least or who wouldn't have the balls to complain (see my previous post) at such an act? I will probably never know those answers, but I have to tell you, it has been a banner 18 months or so regarding me feeling disappointed in many of my professional organizations:

NCTE cancelled a contract for what would have been my second book. A keynote speaker at a CEE conference called for the removal of all visual aids in the English classroom. I have received peer evaluations from an IRA journal where the reviewers suggested I didn't tell them enough about my identity in the article, even though the journal's guidelines specifically call for removing all instances of one's identity. The same journals have been publishing articles on graphic novels, but my work hasn't been cited in any of them. I've received a vague, standard-issue rejection letter from an NCTE journal that claims to be peer reviewed but offered no specific evidence of being such in the letter I received.

And now this.

What's worse, MLA representatives have NO IDEA of when I will get my copies. Here I am, trying to put together my annual performance review, and I don't even have physical evidence of my chapter's inclusion. I do have a PDF copy of the page proofs and can show the online table of contents for the book, thank goodness. But, what if I was in a department that required physical evidence of the text? My performance review is due next week. I doubt I'll have my copy by then.

Some of you may not realize this, but sometimes professors get raises or merit pay increases based on the prestige and number of their publications per year. So, if I was in a department that needed physical evidence of my chapter's inclusion in the text, there is a strong possibility that I would not be able to get credit for this publication for this past year, the year of its appearance. That could theoretically mean I would not gain as high a merit score and therefor possibly not be rewarded with as high a pay increase as I could have been.

So, MLA could be messing with my money. And when you mess with my money, you mess with my emotions. (Biggie Smalls, right?)

One would think the Modern Language Association, comprised mostly of academics, would take such situations into account, especially since they were the ones who decided on the December 31, 2009 publication date.

I am incensed about their decision not to honor all contributor contracts at the same time. I'm angered that it was even considered as a viable option, that someone in the MLA thought that MLA was big enough that they didn't have to follow professional protocol or that they were powerful enough that members wouldn't dare complain.

(Again, to explain for some readers: Academics pretty much HAVE to be members of professional organizations. Not being involved suggests a lack of responsibility and presence within intellectual communities. Depending on one's field, one needs to be associated with certain organizations. On top of this, there is often the unstated notion that one needs to "be quiet until one is tenured" when it comes to wrongdoings within organizations. After all, the organizations you're a part of will probably host the members who will do your "outside evaluations" as a scholar that will determine if you're tenured.)

Thank goodness for CEE and ALAN, organizations with which I've had no major frustrations since becoming a member.

Before ending this rant, I do want to make it clear that the contributors and editor of Teaching the Graphic Novel were not responsible for this poorly thought-out decision. Further, I am in full control of my faculties and know there's the possibility of professional fall-out from posting something like this. Frankly, if the profession's organizations can't do better, I'm not sure if I need to be involved in them at all. I have my goals: have an impact on my field (check. Education scholars almost have to acknowledge graphic novels now, partly due to my efforts), and help prepare the best future English teachers I possibly can (in progress). But, as a nontenured professor, it doesn't feel like I have much voice in how certain decisions are made -- except through my blog -- for now.

Just Read: _Cancer Vixen_

Comics and graphic novels have a penchant for being excellent vehicles through which to tell difficult stories or through which to handle delicate topics.

Certainly this holds true when it comes to disease, and cancer seems to be a particularly notable source of inspiration for graphic novelists. Consider Pekar's Our Cancer Year, Fies' Mom's Cancer, Engelberg's Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics.

I even considered chronicling my own experience dealing with cancer via comics form. As a new member of the "missing lefty" tribe in 2004 (by which I reference the fact that a few months prior to entering my doctoral program I had a testicle removed because it was cancerous), I was in talks with the American Cancer Society about doing an information comic book on the subject. I even IM-ed with Marvel's Joe Quesada about putting a small informational comic about self-examination in Marvel's comics on month, my rationale being that the age ranges for comic book readers and those who are most likely to be diagnosed with testicular cancer overlap greatly (it didn't go over well).
So, when I saw Marisa Acocella Marchetto's graphic novel Cancer Vixen at an excellent airport bookstore in Dallas, I had to add it to my collection. Pink and purple cover be damned; Big "V" in "Cancer Vixen" right where the vagina of the skinny girl on the cover should be? No problem. I proudly made my purchase and began reading immediately.

The book, which started out as a serial, details the author's experience with breast cancer, which she discovers right before her marriage to a dreamy, well-off Italian restaurateur. Marchetto, a high-society type caught up in the glamor and glitz of New York fashion and "in" society, suddenly comes to terms with mortality and modern medicine while examining spirituality, a reality without children, and anxiety about her worth as a woman and mate with an intensity and range she never knew she had.

While my cancer was less aggressive than Marchetto's, I could easily relate to scenes where she visualizes what she thought would be the spirit forms of her future children dissipating, never to be realities. I also revisited my own psychoses regarding my gendered identity as she did the same. I knew her pain when she considered how in the world she'd pay all those bills.

I was not, however, able to relate to Marchetto's "Sex and the City meets Carsinoma" vibe, though my hunch is that many readers, especially female readers, could and would. I left the text thinking that it could possibly be considered, among other things, "a graphic novel for girls that don't usually read graphic novels," an accessible and "hip" book that could help other cancer patients and their young relatives or friends understand what might be coming once they or someone they know is diagnosed. Sort of "what if Elle Woods was a cartoonist and wanted to talk about breast cancer?" In a good way.

I should also say that Marchetto's cancer was much more aggresive than my own, so when I mention being able to connect with the text, there are caveats. Caveats exist with the elements that distanced me as well. Though she's depicted as a struggling cartoonist, Marchetto's base of family and friends come through for her such that she never really seems threatened with bankruptcy (medical exigencies being a major reason many Americans go broke) or too far removed from her previous lifestyle. She adds depth to what she comes to see as shallow aspects of herself, but she never really has to give up the rides in great European cars, the nice shoes, the vacations permanently. There is a lot of anxiety that these things and even more important things will be lost, but in the end, Marchetto retains almost everything she had before, including her breasts.

That's not to envy her, just to say that the book illustrates that every cancer case has similarities and differences in regards to every other. I had to sell my Pontiac GTO, a present from my dad for being the first in our family to graduate college, to offset medical bills (and this was with insurance!), but I've sired two healthy boys since my operation. I didn't do any chemo; Marchetto goes through that gruel and acknowledges that not everyone in the patients waiting rooms she visited handled it as well as she was able to -- or even survived it.

So, for me, the book is one rife with text-to-self connections while also constituting a study in contrasts. Overall, I'm glad to have read the book and recommend it to others. I hope that educators or school councilors might consider it as a book to recommend to those who are experiencing cancer or those young people who might have relatives who are. In the end it is a survivor's story, which means some readers will experience different endgames in their own cancer experiences, but the text is informative, emotional, feminine, and, dare I say it, tres chique.

p.s. I totally prefer this image to the right, which I assume is an alternate or previous cover for the book (?). This one has more attitude and is taken from a scene where the author/character is kicking death in the face! From "Sex and the City" to "You go, girl!" :)

Chris Wilson Talks Research, Standards, and Comics

The Graphic Classroom has a pretty good piece regarding an article citing a "study" by a University of Illinois professor that made the rounds on the blogs about a month ago. The "study" is actually another advocacy/informative-type piece on comics and learning. I know because I hunted down the original article, printed it out for my records, and even contacted the author, who was herself a little worried about how the media had been interpreting her writing.

TGC's Chris Wilson does a good job of articulating some of the points and counter-points of comics in education in his reaction, though, so click this post's title and enjoy!

Hernandez Wins Rasmuson Grant, Named USA Fellow

Gilbert Hernandez wins $50,000 and recognition of his amazing talents. Read more by clicking the title to this post. Thanks to Comics Reporter for breaking the news.

Oh, and did I mention that Gilbert's brother Jaime Hernandez will be speaking at UTEP on February 23, 2010? :)

Visit MSU's Comics Collection Via Youtube

Thanks to Ryan Claytor for the great link to a story -- with video -- on Michigan State University's Comic Book Library Collection. Can you say, "travel grant here I come!"? :)

Other universities that I know of with comics book collections: Stanford, Duke, Ohio State, Bowling Green State, Nebraska.

That's a pretty impressive list, eh?

Announcing High-Level Plans: SANE journal

Because I am beginning to talk to corporate and other organizational entities about it, and it is always good to have a record of these things, I find it as necessary as it is exciting to inform you that I am currently trying to create an on-line, open-access, peer-reviewed journal that focuses specifically on issues related to sequential art and education. So far, I've been talking with High Wire Press, out of Stanford University, to make this dream a reality.

Pulling from the "fiestiness" behind the naming of this blog (EN/SANE world: "some people might say it is crazy to use comics in the classroom. I'm here to tell you it is quite sane!:), I'm calling it SANE journal: Sequential Art Narratives in Education. My hope is that the journal will publish twice a year and be available to anyone with Internet access, free-of-charge.

The journal would accept research-based articles, practitioner-based articles, reviews of book and articles associated with comics-and-literacy, reviews by way of rationales for teaching graphic novels, and would also list outside resources.

As I've noticed a trend of "appropriation" and redistribution of voices in the growing field of comics-and-education studies, manuscripts will not be stripped of author's names in review. If a writer is an established presence in the field who seeks to move the argument in one direction or another, the editorial/review teams wants to know the article came from someone who has already proven him/herself an influential voice. No more of this having your arguments blocked by reviewers who ask you to give hints at your identity while also working under a journal that requires all author-identification be stripped away. No more noticing authors with established reputations in other fields publishing articles that reinvent the wheel while possibly using their sudden interest in comics along with their name recognition to stifle what might be your more informed thoughts on the subject. No more worrying that a journal might not even be amenable to work on comics and education as trends change and new buzz words develop and new irons get hot. No more worrying that you can't find a place for your work because gatekeepers have worries predicated on sales or saving face or being seen as an outlet that accepts comics in the classroom.

I seek for SANE journal to become the central academic source for articles and thought on sequential art in education, whether it be pre-school, middle school, or graduate school.

The review board will pull from folks in the social sciences/education studies, the humanities, and comics scholarship. Due to my connections in the field, I already have a list of possible review board members. I hope to get the journal associated with Reading with Pictures, Institute for Comics Studies, NACAE, The Center for Cartoon Studies -- heck, maybe even ICAF, NCTE, and NAMLE eventually. I am also hoping to make connections with corporate entities dedicated to producing comics with educational/literacy value.

If you know anyone who might be a good review board member, feel free to e-mail me his or her name, as I'm happy to add to my list. I'm not at the "contact individuals for invites" yet, as I want to have as much information available to them before I ask them to join up with a nebulous construct.

Also, if you are associated with or know of an agency that might be a good source of funding, please let me know. I'll be spending some time writing grants for the project and working with my institution's Development Office in the coming months, but any and all leads are welcome.

At the very least, wish me well in this endeavor, which I feel is needed, necessary, important, and timely.

(*draft. may be expanded later. already expanded several times)

Documentary on Jeff Smith on PBS

The Beat has the scoop on a television show featuring Bone creator Jeff Smith. Looks awesome!

School Library Journal's GN Picks for Kids 2009

Link courtesy of The Beat.

Teacher Uses Mobile Apps to Teach Smith's _Bone_

"Teacher Eric Federspiel earned a grant that allowed him to bring 15 iPod Touches into the classroom. Here’s how he loaded them with comics-related learning opportunities." -- Comic Book Reporter.

Sounds pretty awesome! Bone is great enough to use in the classroom on its own. Add some tech, and wow!

Want To Publish A Comic?

Jason Thibault has a rather comprehensive list of submission policies for comics and manga publishers the world over. Click this post's title, and thanks, Comics Reporter, for the lead!

DC Reboots of Supes, Bats to be GN's Only!

The Beat reports that DC will offer "Earth One" origin reboots for Superman and Batman. Reboots in comics are used as brand new jumping on points for new readers or established readers wanting a clean slate approach to their favorite characters. While the characters will continue to appear in other comics, does this mark THE moment in comics history when the move to graphic novels/trades paperbacks took over the biz? We'll see. The Beat covers the story nicely if you'd like more details.

Fightin' Fallacies: Mythbusting w/ Bucky on Pop Culture and Appropriation

While at NRC this weekend, I heard an argument/precept about teaching comics that I've heard before but have never directly commented on herein, so I thought I might finally do so.

The idea is that teachers need to be careful about how they teach comics because doing so overtly and directly in a way that might fully explicate the text might be a way of subsuming students' popular culture. The assumptions underlying the directive, as I understand them, are that youth culture shouldn't be appropriated by adults and that more children read comics than adult teachers.

There are a number of fallacies at work in such a statement, though careful teaching is always a good thing, of course. One myth is that kids read more comics than adults. American comics seem to have a history directly tied to youth culture. This is undeniable. But, since the 1930s, there have been moments when the reading market was comprised mostly of children and moments when the reading market was more diverse. For example, the crime and horror and romance comics of the 1950s were supposedly not marketed directly to child readers (but sort of the same way that Joe Camel wasn't marketed to children) but to older readers.

In the contemporary moment, the average comic book reader is believed to be an adult male in his mid-thirties. Many industry leaders are at this exact moment bemoaning the lack of child-centered comics, and companies like TOON BOOKS have sprung up to fill the void left by aging super-hero comics readers, more intellectual, graphic novel reader, and those who have always preferred the indy, not-for-kids stuff in the first place.

So, it may not be true that more kids are reading comics than adults. And if comics readership is no longer the cultural domain of children, then teaching them isn't appropriating their culture and thinking that it is can be viewed as misinformed thinking pulling on schema from a bygone era.

Another fallacy that I see as inherent in the argument is that popular culture = youth culture. While it may be true that youth culture is often, if not always, intertwined with the popular culture, that relation can not always be reversed. When Ray Browne pioneered the study of popular culture (and let us remember that there are scholars beyond education professors who study popular culture. It is its own field), he was focusing more on the elements of society that academics and others found to be "mundane," not exclusively on elements of youth and childrens' culture. Bumper stickers, advertisements, housing floor plans, wallpaper -- these are elements of popular culture that have been studied that may or may not have connections to youth culture.

I'd also like to point out that another way of viewing a teacher who integrates the study of popular culture and/or youth culture is to see the teacher as acknowledging kids' interests. Overt, direct analysis of those texts can be a way to show respect for their interests and to show how "their" texts are just as valid and important as older, more traditional texts, each of which was at one time part of the popular culture as well. As well, since adults consume youth culture too, "their" culture can be said to be "our" culture anyway.

So, I think direct, overt instruction on comics and high-level literary/artistic analysis of them in the classroom should be approached with the same care as anything else that gets taught, but I wouldn't worry too much about anyone's culture being subsumed or taking anything away from students. Sure, I've had a student tell me "You can even make a comic book boring!" during an analysis of metaphor and symbols between a comics text and a traditional text, but some students are going to balk at anything that examines things seriously. That student held the minority opinion in his class, by the way. All the other students were excited to be reading a form of literature that they viewed as valid but had never thought would be considered valued in the school setting.

Ah, when the school world and the real world mesh, it can be a wonderful thing!

My En/SANE Christmas Wish!

Hi, readers. Recently EN/SANE received so many hits that the clustermap program decided I needed a new map. That's a very good thing, and neat too! Instead of seeing blended-together red blobs, I get to see the hits stack up in terms of country, region, etc. one at a time. Depending on how long I've known some of you and where the dots pop up, I can almost bet on who some of my exact readers are, which is even cooler for me, as I love it when my colleagues use my site for their own information or with their students.

I do have a request, though: En/SANE world has been in existance since late 2006 and has been trying to synthesize the best comics-and-literacy information available on the web while also providing comments and analysis based in my own understanding of the sub-field. If you use my blog for information, especially in writing your academic papers, please cite the blog.

It is easy for me to cite via hyperlink where I get most of my information for my posts. Even if you use EN/SANE world as a starting point to other sites, it would still give me great pleasure if you'd offer a mention via a sidebar or in the works cited. Again, it'd really mean a lot to me and to the growing readership/reputation of the blog.

Announcing 2 Projects Under Development!

I am pleased to inform my readership that I have two projects in the works with Maupin House Press, which just published Katie Monnin's great new book on teaching graphic novels.

While I can't say much, I can say that one project is under contract and combines word study, language exploration, and comics to further students' curiosity in language and vocabulary development.


The second project has a contract in the works and involves me and a group of teacher educators and practicing classroom teachers in a collaborative effort to help teachers do something to protect against the recent and on-going rash of censorship cases concerning comics in the classroom.

Both projects have tentative release dates of Fall 2010. I'll keep you informed of more as more develops!

My First NRC

Tomorrow I'm off to Albuquerque, NM, for my first-ever National Reading Conference presentation. I'll be presenting with professors from Hunter College-CUNY and the University of Tennessee. I'm sort of playing this one by ear a bit, but hopefully it will be another success. I'll be talking more about comics in the contact zone, which has been a major focus of my work for the last few years. Wish me well!

Trailer/Review for _Infestacion: The Mythology_

I hate zombies like Indiana Jones hates snakes. They're just not my thing. Marvel zombies, Kirkman zombies. Zombie movies with Woody Harrelson or cheeky Brits. Doesn't matter. I hate'em.

However, I do respect that the zombie mythos has had a resurrection in popularity over the last ten years or so, and I also acknowledge that often zombie-related media projects are laced with allegory. This is certainly the case with the graphic novel Infestacion: The Mythology, by 656 Comics, which features insidious ticks infecting living beings, killing them, and then reanimating them into flesh-eating undead.

Worse yet, these undead are Mexican undead, and they're "dead set" on crossing the American border! It's Lou Dobbs' Halloween nightmare come to life as citizens of Ciudad Juarez try to escape dangerous living/undying conditions by fleeing to El Paso, a city in a nation that may or may not see them as worthwhile living beings even if they're not infected.

While some of the nuances of its allegory may be lost to those who do not reside in the Borderland, what makes Infestacion: The Mythology scary, and thereby an intriguing read, is the same thing that makes all great zombie thrillers scary: the fact that with some minor tweaks to the plot here and some slight alterations of the setting there, what is a work of regional horror fiction about the walking dead reveals sometimes unpleasant global truths about the walking living.

Infestacion: The Mythology is available now via 656 Comics. Here's a trailer (for mature audiences) to further whet your appetite:

_The Comics Journal_ Now Online

One of the best magazines to successfully play in the fruitful cavern of the popular-scholarly divide is now upgrading its online content, favoring the web over print. This looks to be an exciting development, if not a little sad in that the paper issues won't be be printed as often as they once were. I'm most curious about costs and subscription services. So, I'll spend more time on the TCJ site. I recommend you spend some time there too!

12.31.09: MLA Debuts _Teaching the Graphic Novel_

Yep, that's yours truly in the orange highlighter there. (I know, this is a bad scan). This image is from a recent MLA publications booklet. Comics is a growing area of interest within MLA, and I'm very honored to have made it in this collection. I've got an essay on teaching Watchmen in there. Sorry, it was in press before the movie came out. So, if you find yourself with some Christmas cash, feel free to order this beauty. I can't wait to get my copy!

2010 Texas Library Association Maverick Graphic Novel List

It's nice to see librarians in my current home state of Texas giving graphic novels some good attention.

Video on 24 Hour Comic Book Day

According to Kim Munson, this was "filmed in San Francisco at the Comic Outpost and Mission Comics and Art by Gary Buechler (co-owner of Comic Outpost)."

New York Times' Graphic Novel Gift Guide for Holiday Season 2009

"Good Neighbor" Graphic Novel Idea

I'm currently watching the State Farm Bayou Classic, which is pitting HBCU footballers from Southern (Baton Rouge, LA) and Grambling State (Grambling, LA). Apparently, State Farm has sponsored the event since 1996.

The sad laugher here is that State Farm screwed thousands of African Americans and other citizens who experienced loss and damage from Hurricane Katrina, etc. The company is still passing off its costs to citizens in the Deep South through crazy-high insurance premiums. When I moved to Mississippi from Virginia, for example, our car insurance premiums from State Farm went up over 200%. We'd been with the company since I was 15. We ended up switching companies, and we'll never go back.

So, here's an idea for you, graphic novelists: Do some Michael Moore-type research and publish a graphic novel called "Good Neighbor" in which you detail how State Farm is bending over their neighbors in the South and how state politicians are happy to let it happen.

Throw in the Bayou Classic for some irony. Hell, let it be your jumping off point.

Doom Says, "Enjoy your 'Death to Turkey' Day, Peons!"

New Jersey Libraries Get Grants for Graphic Novels!

Graphic Novel Reporter has the scoop in its recent update!

My NCTE Session Went Well

Thanks to all the participants and audience members of today's 9:30 "Comics in the Contact Zone" roundtable. We had a very respectable crowd and lots of good conversation going on. If only publishers had been present to see the deep interest from practicing teachers. And a special thanks to Dr. B from the land of a thousand lakes for stopping by.

I look forward to our future conversations. Now, some down time to try to let my sinuses drain before a busy evening of comics-related presentation watching, publication talking, and general hobnobbing.

With a Rebel Yell!: Moore, Moore, Moore!

The Black Dossier censorship case in Kentucky heats up. Evangelical involved! Porn invoked! Evangelical's relative warns of dangers of censorship!

It's Blue Grass, Dumb Ass, and a Text that's Crass (depending on your p.o.v.)! Grab your peanuts (no, I said "peanuts," gutter-head!) and enjoy!

Get Your "Philly" of Graphic Novels at NCTE 2009!

Having barely squeezed myself onto the programming this year, I'm just about to embark to Philadelphia, PA, for NCTE 2009. I'll be hosting a roundtable and presenting at said roundtable as well. I'll be joined by SUNY-Fredonia Professor Susan Spangler, Fordham University Doctoral student Brian Kelley, University of Windsor Professor Dale Jacobs, Gallaudet Professor and former UVa colleague Sharon Padjka-West, and Hugh Davis, who teaches at an all-girls school in my home state of North Carolina.

We'll be discussing "comics in the contact zone," which relates to Mary Louise Pratt's ideas on teaching and more generally refers to talk about how comics and conflict go hand-in-hand -- and how that isn't a bad thing!

Search NCTE's online program with key word "Graphic Novel" to see the rest of the exciting GN-centric sessions!

Bridging Ideas using Big Fat Little Lit, Best American Comics, Smithsonian Collection

This semester's crop of bridging activities from my English 3349: "Dramatic Modes of English Language Arts" class are perhaps some of the most intriguing I've ever seen.

The skinny: Students have to take a story they read from Big Fat Little Lit, The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Stories, or one of the Best American Comics anthologies and think of a way they could use the story as a thematic bridge to set up instruction of a more canonical text.

Regarding bridges stemming from the Little Lit collection:

April felt that Barbara McClintock's interpretation of "The Princess and the Pea" could be used as a bridge to Shakespeare's Pericles, since both deal with fate and coincidence in one way or another. Jonathan also wrote on the same fairy tale but bridged it to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight since both deal with the concept of questioning one's authenticity.

Kenneth saw connections between Milton's Paradise Lost and "The Baker's Daughter" since characters in both experience a sort of fall from grace and a transformation of kinds based on their behavior.

Brenda kept the British Lit mojo alive by suggesting bridging to Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" -- you know, the one about the mistress who is lovely to the speaker but not necessarily to anyone else -- and "Pretty Ugly."

Rita found the theme of destiny vs. free will in "The Enchanted Pumpkin" and felt it could be used to build prior knowledge of the theme as it is represented in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

Sandra saw connections between Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and "The Several Selves of Selby Sheldrake." She'd use the comic to discuss multiple identities, especially as they relate to Arthur Dimmesdale, who is many things to many people.

"Broken promises" comprise a theme that can bridge "The Fisherman and the Sea Princess" to Marie de France's Lanval, says Angela.

Thomas found Kaz's "The Hungry Horse" a perfect companion for Crane's "The Open Boat" since both deal with forms of irony. Irony isn't a theme, of course, but there are all sorts of connections regarding depravity and choices in these two texts, which Thomas pointed out when we discussed our bridges in class.

Vanessa chose a selection from the Smithsonian collection. She saw connections between Will Eisner's "Izzy the Cockroach" and Kafka's Metamorphosis, and not just because the two feature bugs as main characters. Gregor and Jacob also have many similarities in how they deal with life's angsts. I was very impressed.

Hilda also had a very intriguing thematic bridge. She pulled hers from the exquisite collection Best American Comics 2008. Hilda wanted to bridge Carre's "The Thing About Madeline" to Midsummer Night's Dream and even suggested the song "Time of the Season" by The Zombies as another textual link in the bridge. The big theme seemed to be "Who are you, really?" if I read Hilda correctly.

2009 Friends of Lulu Winners Announced

See the list here!

Among Adults who buy books, 1 in 10 read comics

Thanks to M. Streeter for calling my attention to this report from Simba, a company that helps publishers understand their markets. According to the study, comics readers are a strong force among those who buy books of all kinds.

A quote from the report that is making the rounds: "...about 70% of adults who have read comics in the previous 12 months also bought at least one book. This is quite notable, given that only about 56% of the entire U.S. adult population buys books....."

Another Graphic Novel Pulled from Libraries

ICV2 reports that Stuck in the Middle: Seventeen Comics from an Unpleasant Age has been removed from two middle school libraries in Souix Falls, South Dakota.

"The school district averages about one complaint per year concerning library material, but this is the first time since at least 2001 that a book has been made unavailable to students.

A committee that reviewed the graphic novel said unanimously that it's inappropriate for middle school students. The book's editor says the cartoons are true to life and could help struggling teens and pre-teens understand that they're not alone," states an article on the event from ArgusLeader.com (see link above). Also, Ariel Schrag, who wrote the book centering on teen angst and issues of sexuality that young teens often confront, has defended the book while respecting the thoughts of parent Shelly Miller, who complained and drew attention to the text, apparently in relation to her sixth-grader's response to it.

A Scene from Persepolis/ AKA My Students are Cool

In my ENG 3349 class, "The Dramatic Modes of English Language Arts," students learn about the six English Language Arts and how they can use all of them to integrate new and multimodal discourses into their teaching and into the types of work in which they might have their future students engage. They choose from a host of assignments (well over 20) to craft a portfolio of work illustrating them using technology to create texts that tell a little about themselves and/or offer pedagogical opportunities.

Here is a draft version of a "reader's theatre" based on one page of Marjane Satrapi's excellent graphic novel, Persepolis. The students even provide you with post-viewing discussion questions. They need to edit the text a little bit, but this still struck me as an intriguing clip that shows how knowing one form can help readers produce another. Enjoy!

GNR Updates with Interview of author of The Physics of Superheroes

James Kakalios can tell you if Havoc could actually channel plasma, how Nightcrawler might actually be able to teleport, and how he'd need to do it if Superman could actually fly. He's the author one The Physics of Superheroes, which has just been revised in its second edition. Graphic Novel Reporter.com has an interview with the wizard of how.

Go Read: Katie Monnin's New Book Teaching Graphic Novels

The folks at Maupin House sure know how to market a book on teaching graphic novels in the English Language Arts classroom. This hot new text looks to be an important and necessary addition to the comic-and-literacy movement.

I know I can't wait to read it. Click this post's title to learn more about the book, and be impressed by the multimodal efforts to draw attention to what is surely going to be an excellent addition to the growing body of work on teaching comics in the secondary classroom.

The ALAN Review Fall 09 Has 2 Articles on Comics

The "seems to get mentioned in clumps on En/Sane World," indispensable Peter Gutierrez makes the case for eleven graphic novels in your classroom in "Integrating Graphica into your Curriculum," and West Virginia University's Rosemary Hathaway impresses in "'More than Meets the Eye': Transformative Intertextuality in Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese." Both are great reads!

This Week's NCTE Inbox Mentions Article on Manga Quoting Peter Gutierrez

The article is from the AARP Bulletin and is entitled "Drawn Into Manga." Peter holds court pretty well.

Little Women, Other Alcott Stories Comprise Latest Graphic Classics Volume

Press Release: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, ILLUSTRATED

Eureka Productions is pleased to announce the publication of GRAPHIC CLASSICS: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT, the eighteenth volume in the GRAPHIC CLASSICS® series of comics adaptations of great literature.

GRAPHIC CLASSICS: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT features "Little Women", adapted for comics by Trina Robbins and illustrated by Anne Timmons. Plus lesser-known gothic mysteries and horror stories including "A Whisper in the Dark" by Antonella Caputo and Arnold Arre, "The Rival Prima Donnas" by Rod Lott and Molly Crabapple, and "Lost in a Pyramid" by Alex Burrows and Pedro Lopez. Also two poems and two strange children's stories, "Buzz" and "The Piggy Girl", illustrated by Mary Fleener, Shary Flenniken, Toni Pawlowsky and Lisa K. Weber.

GRAPHIC CLASSICS are available in bookstores, comics shops, or direct from the publisher at http://www.graphicclassics.com/. Libraries and schools can order from Diamond Book Distributors, Baker & Taylor, Ingram, Follett or other distributors.

“The selections range widely across the Alcott oeuvre to include not just Little Women but also poems and short stories for more sophisticated audiences. An excellent addition to both school and public library collections, whether this series is already a mainstay or will be a new discovery.”— Booklist

“This attractive,full-color anthology contains a complete adaptation of Little Women scripted by Trina Robbins, plus a number of other Alcott works, from verse to gothic melodramas with various creators. The art is uniformly skillful and brings new verve to Alcott’s oeuvre.”— Library Journal

GRAPHIC CLASSICS: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

Edited by Tom Pomplun

Published November 2009, Eureka Productions

Distributed by Diamond Book Distributors

(ISBN 978-0-9787919-8-8) 144 pgs, 7 x 10", paperback, full color, 4c cover, $17.95

(Maybe it is just because the cover reminds me of my first-ever comic, which featured redhaired beauty Hellcat writing a letter at a desk, but that lil' woman in the blue dress is sorta hot! Mrowr!)

ICV2 has Even More on Kentucky Librarian Shocked by LOEG

The story that just won't die keeps spurting out extra details like some lascivious alien pig teat. To be sure, LOEG: The Black Dossier, the hijacked library book at the center of all this, is one of Moore's more self-indulgent works, almost on the same level as Lost Girls. There does seem to be gratuitous nudity in it, but as is often with Moore's work, it seems to be necessary gratuitous nudity (hey, I just used the phrase "lascivious alien pig teat." You think I worry about writing "necessary gratuitous?") as the author unravels the threads of reality and storytelling itself.

I love the text because I see it as offering evidence that Mark S. Bernard and I were correct in our analysis of Moore's use of space-time relationships and 4th wall dynamics. But, I can see where someone not familiar with Moore's themes might see it as salacious. Not that I think that would merit someone embargoing the book so others couldn't see the images, nor that I think that I would ask people to pray for me just so the images wouldn't get stuck in my head. (There are so many other terrible things one can see that I'd rather not think about. That truck with the pictures of aborted babies I saw on campus at UVA one semester comes to mind).

I find it interesting that the whole "I was trying to save it from the eyes of a child" angle has given way to a sort of "I was trying to protect anyone from seeing these terrible images" slant from the librarian. Where will this story go next? Will basketball season be enough to pull Blue Grassers away from this enthralling story about the blue-haired moral crusader?

Texts I've Read Recently: Quick Reviews for What They're Worth

Best American Comics 2009: Another great contribution to the series but not as much that grabbed me as in years past. Will anything ever top "Turtle, Keep it Steady!" from 2008? Lots of standard figures in there: Clowes, Crumb, Spiegelman, Ware. A set of interesting comics as meditations on art are sprinkled throughout the pages. If the series runs long enough, one will probably be able to read Berlin and Shortcomings in their entirety without every buying those two texts on their own.

Ball Peen Hammer: Adam Rapp and George O'Connor's tale of an disease-ridden apocalyptica where people earn sway with power figures by killing live or bagging already-dead children is a swing and a miss for me, but unfortunately not for anyone under 15 who appears in this book. The text seems too condensed, too rushed, like there are scenes missing that really ought to be in there. Rarely do I say that a comics story might have been best represented via traditional print text ( I sort of see it as blasphemy, frankly), but I get the feeling this would work better as a YA novel or film script than it does as a graphic novel.
The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb: I'm only..... Well, shit, the book doesn't have page numbers, but I'm less than halfway through and am enjoying it thoroughly so far.

Best. Thematic. Braiding. Ever!

Comic Artist on Comic Artist

Vanessa Davis shares her thoughts on Crumb's Genesis and more via... her own comics. Thanks, Comics Reporter for sharing the post.

What was I just saying?

"The battle has been won" proclaims The Beat regarding this article from The Telegraph where a researcher extols the virtues of kids learning from comics. My thoughts? Well, read a couple of posts below this one for my take on those who say the battle has been won.

"And if you really consider how the pictures and words work together to tell a story, you can make the case that comics are just as complex as any other kind of literature," says University of Illinois researcher Carol Tilley.

Why The Beat suggests people will listen to her over the scores of previous and current other researchers, I don't know. I wouldn't be opposed to it happening, though! :)

Click this post's title for more of Dr. Tilley's findings.

More (and Moore?) on the Kentucky Librarians vs. LOEG

Amazing article with a great timeline. Thanks, The Beat!

Fightin' Fallacies Again: Mythbusting with Bucky

It's been a while since I posted something on fighting' fallacies associated with comics in education, but I think it may be time to revisit the topic based on certain ideas, trends, and opinions I've noted over the last six months or so.

1. Talk about how graphic novels match up with local/national standards is moot because of the new CORE standards being developed by the National Governors Association and the CCSSO.

I have seen much hubbub about how the CORE standards being developed under the Obama administration are going to obliterate any and all other lists of standards available nationwide, and while the CORE documents will certainly influence state and organizational standards, I think it might be a bit of hyperbole (at least I hope it is) to suggest that states will drop years of work on crafting standards to adopt the CORE standards. Rather, what I think we'll see is that the CORE standards will be suggested as THE BARE MINIMUM, and states will be encouraged to adapt -- not adopt -- them to the standards documents they've already crafted.

As for standards like those for the English Language Arts that have been published by NCTE/IRA, I have it on good authority from a representative at NCTE that these standards are not being updated in response to the CORE standards, not yet anyway.

Several recent and upcoming publications deal with how comics and graphic novels can be used to meet state and national (NCTE/IRA) standards. Brian Kelley recently published a document relating to New Jersey's ELA standards. Michael Bitz's recent book and his upcoming book, as well as a couple of his articles, reveal how using comics as composition meet many of New York's state ELA standards. Katie Monnin will soon publish a book that deals explicitly with NCTE/IRA's standards for ELA. All of these are and will be valuable to teachers and will help make the case for comics' worth in America's school rooms.

I've also heard folks try to make a distinction between having standards and the phenomenon of standardization. The problem is in interpretation. Too often, once standards are set, they become the rationale for standardization of curriculum. This leads to stolid curricula that focus more on the standards than on best practices, and after time, this also forms a sort of indoctrination that state education leaders accept and then feed their teachers. The "cure" for this, of course, is trusting teachers to be intelligent enough to see any set of standards as a bare minimum rather than the "gold standard" and having leadership that finds ways to assist teachers in being critical thinkers and experts in their fields.

2. Graphic novel proponents seek to supplant traditional print-based literature with graphic novels.

I think I can speak for most of my colleagues who advocate for using graphic novels and comics in the classroom when I say we probably all support a supplemental or complimentary approach, one where graphic novels are integrated into the ELA classroom along with traditional-based print texts.

I get it from both ends, it seems. I've read criticism of my edited collection Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels that suggested I and my contributors wanted to replace canonical texts with graphic novels. This isn't the case -- not in every possibly exigency, anyway. On the other hand, folks wonder if I and my co-writers aren't suggesting that comics and graphic novels aren't good enough, strong enough, to stand alone and be taught on their own. I think folks need to give comics-in-literacy scholars and teachers the benefit of the doubt (and read their texts more deeply).

I think most of us seek a balanced approach, where comics are used in pre-existing curricula where they fit best and with students who they can best engage (read "all students" on one level or the other) and only replace a text when a teacher was already looking to do so before considering a sequential art narrative as the replacement.

I think most of us do feel that certain graphic novels are good enough to be taught in their own right. I just think most of us are knowledgeable enough as pedagogues to know that teaching any text in isolation is not the most effective means of teaching.

3. The argument has been won. There is no need to continue work that falls under the rubric of "graphic novel advocacy."

There are so many of us using comics in the classroom now, so many blogs, so many books coming out, so much attention from MLA and YALSA and the ALA and NCTE, etc., and so many articles on sequential art in the classroom that it may seem that everyone has gotten the message. Especially for those of us who live and work in progressive environments where all or most of the people we see everyday are the kinds who readily accept comics' place in the classroom, this is dangerous thinking. Your world may not be my world may not be the world of a teacher in rural Wyoming or even in Washington, D.C.

As someone who lives in Texas, as someone who has, since 2000, taught in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas, and as someone who travels the country talking with teachers about comics' use in secondary education, I can tell you that it is a Manhattan-sized assumption to think that everyone everywhere -- whether "everywhere" pertains to state, k-12 school, college of education or university English department -- is on the same page or at the same level of their development when it comes to graphica. Austin is not El Paso is not Houston is not San Diego or New York.

While I get as frustrated as anyone when newbies try to reinvent the wheel regarding comics terminology, use, and advocacy in the classroom, especially when they do this in print (and especially when that print doesn't cite previous writing that has established a groundwork), I accept that, nationally, we see a range of acceptance of the form, ranging from elective courses on GN's at the high school level and courses focusing on them at colleges like Stanford, MIT, and Yale, to fogies still afraid to accept the form as viable for their sixth graders and considering it a threat to literacy, intelligence, and quality living.

The battles are still being fought in k-12 and university departments near you, whether it seems that way or not. So, there's plenty of room for more advocacy work regarding the sequential art narrative, and any work that deals with it in a positive light, even if it is crafted by those who believe the good fight has been won, might be said to be advocacy literature anyway.

(*draft. I may revisit this for edits later)

Wolvie Knows the Tropes

Here he tells Marvel Boy, "You never had a team-up before, huh? That's all right. I'll break you in. Usually we start by fighting each other, but we'll just skip that part this time." :)

Peter Coogan knows what I'm talkin' 'bout. Les Daniels does. Bradford Wright too. Yeah they do.

Amazon.com's "Best Of" 2009 for GN's

Crumb Controversy in Richmond, VA.

What? R. Crumb has said and drawn some pretty controversial things concerning women? Get out! I love it and I hate it when comics folks have to deal with conversations that seem new but that most are joining in on about 30 years too late.

Parents Want More Focus on 21st-Century Skills

"21st-century skills" are mostly defined as skills associated with technology in this article from E-School News.

_Wimpy Kid_ Mocked Again

This time it's more zombie satire!

EL Paso Press' Graphic Novel Getting some YALSA 2009 Love

Cinco Puntos' first graphic novel, Pitch Black (which I've reviewed somewhere around here), is on the 2009 List of Great Graphic Novels For Teens. That list is created by The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), which has been leading the way in graphic novel advocacy since the early 00's. It even made the "Top 10," which isn't bad since over 50 titles were honored.

Congrats to El Paso's own Cinco Puntos and to Pitch Black authors Youme Landowne and Anthony Horton!!

Halloween Shout-Outs!

Chris McCay, a longtime friend of mine from my days as editor-in-chief of OutcastStudios.com and their journalism efforts via Comicbookinsider.com and the Outsider Views section of the main site (check them out at the wayback machine at archive.org someday), has published another comic just in time for Halloween.

Offspring is described as a story featuring "a child abandoned who returns home to a world of shadows and blood just in time for a war with her father's greatest nemesis! Will she accept the power that courses through her veins and stand against the creature that attempted to slay her as an infant?" Hey, the title has product tags such as "werewolf," "vampire," and "zombie." What else can you want for late October comics reading?

Learn more here.

Also, if you're in El Paso this Halloween, check out the signing for local studios' graphic novel, Infestacion: The Mythology.

Students Craft Katrina Epics

I found this link from the ASCD daily web letter. The Times-Picayune reports that Greater Gentilly High School students are learning about the epic form via crafting Katrina narratives. It sounds like a great idea to me. I wonder if the teachers are incorporating Josh Neufeld's A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge graphic novel in the lessons. I love when we can see how the epic and the everyday often intersect, and when we consider how everymen and everywomen become epic heroes simply by living their lives with drive.

Kentucky Librarians Fired For Refusing Access to Child

Thanks to The Beat for drawing this story to my attention. Two librarians from Nicholasville, KY, thought Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels were too mature for one young girl (age unknown, but possibly 12). So, they didn't let her check out the book.

ABC 36, which broke the story in the media, also has published some community feedback, which is varied.

"The Jessamine County Library director says it's against their policy to speak about employee terminations but he did give me a copy of their policy and it clearly states the responsibilities of the child's reading must lye with the parents and not with the library," says the article's unnamed writer.

The librarians refer to the comics as "porn."

While the books do have sexual situations, they're far from porn. Furthermore, they're laden with more allusions to other "traditional" literature characters and motifs than they are with sex scenes (OK, maybe at least as much as).

This reminds me of a time when I visited my local public library in Mocksville, North Carolina. I saw this book on 1950s culture that fascinated me, and I also saw this reprint of a nude Marylin Monroe spread that confounded me: I couldn't tell if it was a painting or a photograph. So, I decided to check out the book and ask my mother what she thought. I explained this to the librarian, who knew of the nudity in the book, and she simply asked if she could call my mother to see it it was OK for me to check out the book. She said "yes," and I learned about photo-editing techniques using soft lighting and soft focus from the mid 20th century to help certain images/people look more sexy and mysterious. And, yeah, I enjoyed looking at Marylin too -- and I'm sure my mother accepted this -- but the busty bombshell was just one part of the book that interested me.

It seems to me that if the librarians had followed a similar protocol -- one in keeping with their employer's policy -- they'd still be working and the decision regarding access would have been a nice blend of bringing together all stakeholders in the matter.

Why I Stopped Believing in the "Power" of Traditional Literatures, or The Truth as Presented by Beto

I'm not at all surprised that an image from a graphic novel would sum up the feelings that I've had for years that led me to see myself as an ELA pedagogue rather than a content monger. Nor am I surprised that the panel below was found in Luba, a work from the brilliant Gilbert Hernandez (Beto). This image is definitely going on my office door (not to upset my English Department colleagues, of course, but because it captures so perfectly part of my identity as an English Educator and as a reader of "alternate" literatures).

NY Times Reviews R. Crumb's Genesis

I actually saw this book in the West side El Paso B&N. So, maybe this religious text really is about miracles!

Thanks to DM for sending me this link.

Death of an Elder

From the AP wire:

Professor who pioneered study of pop culture dies
JOHN SEEWER,Associated Press Writer

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Ray Browne, an Ohio university professor who was credited with coining the phrase "popular culture" and pioneering the study of things such as bumper stickers and cartoons, has died. He was 87.

Browne died at his home Thursday, according to his family and officials at Bowling Green State university.

He developed the first academic department devoted to studying what he called the "people's culture" at Bowling Green in 1973.

Browne wrote and edited more than 70 books on popular culture — including "The Guide to United States Popular Culture," published in 2001.

"Culture is everything from the food we've always eaten to the clothes we've always worn," he said in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press.

While many in the field credit Browne with coming up the name "popular culture," no one could say for sure whether he originated it. He said he made a mistake in 1967 when he first used the phrase.

"If I had called it everyday culture or Democratic culture, it would not have been so sharply criticized," he said.
Browne worked for decades to convince academics that much could be learned from studying seemingly insignificant elements of our lives.

"He was really going against the grain," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "He seemed to be interested in anything. You could drop a gum wrapper in front of him and he would see a text to be studied."

Professors at universities nationwide thought Browne, an English professor, was trying to demean or trivialize what they were teaching when he founded the popular culture department.

That wasn't the case, he said. His interest was rooted in finding out how society affects culture and how culture affects society.

Dozens of schools now offer classes rooted in popular culture.

His interests ranged from Western cowboy movies to wallpaper.

"The covering of walls has been one of the most important items in housing since the beginning," he said. "But nobody ever wrote a book on it."

Browne taught at the University of Maryland and Purdue University before moving to Bowling Green with the idea of starting a popular culture department.

He often was quoted in the media and always had a ready thought on virtually any subject. He stopped teaching in 1990 but continued to research and write — often working on several books at once.

Browne is survived by his wife, Pat, two sons and a daughter.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

The Dominator

Just learned about this story about comics, fighting, cancer, and (hopefully) healing while reading through Graphic Novel Reporter

Learn About The "Reading With Pictures" Project with Graphic Novel Reporter

Ties to Northwestern University research, education consultants, and Diamond. This project associated with comics-and-literacy has a little bit of everything (except, to date, me, * sniff, sniff*)

Did You Know This Was Teen Read Week?

Yup, all week, till tomorrow. Here's the website.

ICV2 Covers the Maryland Schools Dragon Ball Controversy

They're a little late to the game, but ICV2's short article on the Salisbury, MD, school district's decision to pull Dragon Ball Mangas from all its school shelves is short and gives the facts.

Renowned Cartoonist May Seek Grant to Create Comic on Juarez Violence

Thanks to The Comics Reporter for bringing this to my attention. As readers of this blog know, one doesn't need a renowned comics artist from France to find comics dealing with violence in the Border Region: There are plenty of artists in El Paso and Juarez already exploring that theme in their works. But perhaps Edmond Baudouin could offer an outsider's perspective.

Here is a rough translation (via Google's translator tool) of an answer Baudouin gave about upcoming pet projects in a recent interview:

"If France will allow me, I have one. I asked a scholarship to go to the Mexican border in Ciudad Juárez. I would write a book about the city of bandits and drug traffickers, the drawing and ask the dreams of its inhabitants. I do not want to talk about death in the city where most people die in the world. "

The "dreams" angle would probably be a new one, as most of what I've read is horror-themed. I do hope Baudouin would make an effort to talk with current comics artists in the region if he were to gain his grant.

Hilarious Spoof of Diary of a Wimpy Kid...

...featuring Charles Xavier and the X-Men. Thanks to the Beat for sharing this work from Chris Sims!

Trial-And-Error Seems to Boost Learning

From the ASCD daily e-mail newsletter:

Students learn more effectively through trial and error in answering questions about challenging material, according to researchers who found that getting answers wrong actually helps learning. Their research revealed that students perform better if they try to answer questions about a textbook passage before reading it. For example, students should try to answer questions before reading a textbook chapter, then read the chapter and answer them again during and after reading.

Literacy experts among us will think of pre-reading, post-reading, and during-reading strategies and research on grammar and writing when they read this. I find support for how I do my classes, which often have "do it and let's see how you do; then we'll offer commentary and let you go from there" sort of tasks and assessments.

SASSY is LIVE!

"Sequential Art Stories Submitted by Youths!," an online writing gallery associated with the National Council of Teachers of English and their National Day on Writing, is now live! View examples of comics art stories submitted through me and my co-curator, the awesome Michael Bitz! And, it is never too late to upload your own story for consideration! :)

Pose Maniacs!

Like posers? If you like to figure draw, you love girls and guys who are posers. Here's a blog with so many anatomical poses, it'll make you want to grab your pencil and get back to drawin'!

This Looks Like fun: The Big Blog of Kids' Comics

Heidi at The Beat thought this was a fun blog for readers to notice. I thought so too.

Kill Bill: Willy D. Shakes to Get Graphic Novel Treatment with a Twist!

Kill Shakespeare is coming! Here's a note from the authors:

“Kill Shakespeare” is going to start as a 12-issue comic-book series. IDW (the third largest comics publisher right now) is publishing the first issue in April. Then we plan to collect the series in two six-issue trades and one “Absolute” collection.

So what is “Kill Shakespeare”? Well think of a “Lord of the Rings” style action-adventure but with The Bard’s characters. In our story Shakespeare’s greatest heroes are pit against his most menacing villains in a race to save, or kill, Shakespeare himself. The short comics pitch is “The Justice League of Shakespeare”, but I prefer “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” meets “Fables” with a dash of “Northlanders” tossed in.

In our story Hamlet is banished from Denmark and the Pirates attack his ship just as they do in the play, but in our world instead of ending up in Elsinore he ends up in another place – one where everyone he meets is a Shakespearean character. There he meets Richard III who makes him a bargain: if the Dane will seek out a reclusive Wizard and take the source of his power, Richard will return Hamlet’s Father from the dead.

The name of this reclusive Wizard? William Shakespeare.

On his journey Hamlet meets Falstaff, Juliet (who has survived her ordeal with Romeo) and Othello (also alive, but Desdemona is dead). They tell him Shakespeare isn’t a Wizard, but the Creator and that Hamlet is fated to meet and save Shakespeare – not kill him (in effect triggering a literary “Second coming”). They tell him that Richard is an oppressive “King” and that Hamlet is their land’s best hope to depose the King and his evil associates – Lady Macbeth and Iago.

Kill a Wizard and save his Father? Or save a God and rescue a land….? (and dare we mention Juliet and Hamlet’s growing love and what happens when Romeo shows up????)

Sounds fun, eh? Publisher's Weekly thinks so too. Of course, the yummy irony is that a project with a murderous title might actually help bring the Bard to life for students.

_Stitches_ Among National Book Award Finalists

David Small's graphic novel joins Gene Yang's American Born Chinese as theo nly two ever GN's ever nominated for the award.

Comics-And-Literacy-Related Programming Announced for Miami Book Fair

I was asked about doing something for this year's Miami book Fair but felt I couldn't swing it due to other travels interfering with my teaching schedule, but there are going to be some excellent speakers talking about graphic novels and education November 13-15.

They include the unstoppable John Shableski of Diamond, James Sturm of the Institute for Cartoon Studies, Alex Simmons, and UNF professor Katie Monnin, who has a book on teaching comics in the ELA classroom debuting this December. It should be some great programming at a great conference!

Parent Complains about Dragon Ball Z Manga; School Library Removes Book

Here's a link to the article in the local paper. The Beat reports this happened in a school library in Salisbury, Maryland. What is it with the Mid-Atlantic states lately? Maryland now, Connecticut a year or so ago. Is there a push to get another coastline for Alabama or something???*

(*reference to Corville's humorous claim that Pennsylvania is nothing but Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama in between)

2009 Harvey Award Winners Announced

The Beat has the scoop. Click the title to this post for more info.

Blogger Celebrates Banned Book Week with Look at SOTI Comics

Great blog post that offers downloadable links to many of the comics mentioned in Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent as attributing the delinquency of American youths.

Oregon Librarian Talks about Getting Spanish-Language Comics in Her Stacks

This excellent op-ed is part of this week's update at GraphicNovelReporter.com.