Graphic Texts in the College Classroom
Doré Ripley, a lecturer at Cal State East Bay, has been using graphic novels in her college classrooms for a while now, using them to teach remedial reading and writing to her students. But now she's about to embark on a new graphic-novel endeavour. She explains how it will work and what she's expecting.
Act of Creation
When a writer and an artist both contribute to the creation of a character in comics, who owns the rights? Is the character's powers more defining and more important than the creation of the world he inhabits? That's the question, and the cause of many feuds in the comics industry.
If You Were a Graphic Novel, Where Would You Live?
Where should graphic novels be shelved in bookstores? With similar genres, with other graphic novels, or elsewhere? Here’s one view on the issue.
The Call
Bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz (The Crime Writer, Last Shot) explains how he came to write his childhood antihero, the Punisher. And he gives you a chance to enter a contest related to his new thriller, Trust No One!
Teaching Something New
Teacher Leigh Brodsky tells how she started incorporating graphic novels into the classroom—and what kind of reaction she got when she told her supervisor that she wanted to teach them.
Reteaching the Watchmen
John C. Weaver, an English teacher at Williamsport Area High School in Pennsylvania, first documented his experiences teaching Watchmen in his classroom. Now he's back to tell us what he learned, what he'll do differently next time, and what worked well with his students.
Words, Pictures, and Learning to Read
Phil Yeh is a writer and the creator of the educational Dinosaurs Across graphic novel series from NBM Publishing. He also started a literacy tour nearly a quarter of a century ago, a tour that has taken all over the globe. Here, he writes of his experiences in the industry and how graphic novels could properly be used to help teach both children and adults.
A Thought Bubble
If we're in the middle of a graphic novel bubble, what happens when that bubble explodes? Actually, we've been in bubbles like this before, and as writer and artist Jeffrey Brown explains, the format we love so much will not only survive the bubble, but will also thrive.
Comics and the Academic Library: Plans in the Present and Hopes for the Future
Public librarians have been making huge strides in the recognition and acceptance of graphic literature. But what about academic libraries? They face special challenges and needs that public libraries don’t. In this essay from Columbia librarian Karen Green, you’ll find out what it took to build a graphic collection at one of the most prestigious universities in the country…and you’ll gain insights into how her methods can be applied elsewhere.
Who Teaches the Watchmen?
John C. Weaver is an English teacher at Williamsport Area High School in Pennsylvania. As a teacher looking for active ways to engage his students, he’s found one book that captures his students’ attention like no other: Watchmen. Here, he shares how he teaches the book, the lessons it provides for students, and how the kids react to the book.
Graphic Teaching: Watching a Book Come into the World
This is the second year of the Stanford Graphic Novel Project, an endeavor to teach narrative through graphic storytelling. Stanford professor Adam Johnson explains what it takes to make comics an effective teaching tool in the college classroom and shows why it's been so successful.
The Revolution Will Be Visualized . . . and Communicated
We're in the middle of the greatest communications revolution in history, and comics, graphic novels, and manga are definitely a part of it. So why do some people still have trouble classifying them as books?
Influences
First-time graphic novelist Alissa Torres reveals the artists and writers who made an impact on her work and how her life began to resemble a comic book after the tragedy of 9/11 unfolded.
