Given the positive changes that occurred in the comics industry as well as their ability to attract young readers, the scholarly world has finally begun to re-examine their potential as educational tools.
Brief History
Comics is the art of visual story telling (less commonly known as sequential art). When and where comics originated is debatable but telling stories using pictures have been around since the beginning of time. The discovery of the cave paintings in Spain in 1879 [3] attest to this fact. Telling pictures are also evident in Egyptian hieroglyphics [4], Japanese emaki [5], and the Bayeux Tapestry [6].
Comics Today
Comics today have evolved to become a sophisticated medium, in both visual and literary qualities, in the form of graphic novels. Graphic novel is defined as a novel whose narrative is related through a combination of text and art, often in comic-strip form.
The term graphic novel goes hand in hand with the name Will Eisner [7], universally acknowledged as one of the great masters of sequential art. A compelling visual storyteller, Eisner is considered to be one of the most influential comic book artists of all time. He has be called the “Leonardo of the comic book form” and the “single person most responsible for giving comics its brain.”
The Future
The potentials of graphic novels are being realised in the field of education across Europe, Japan and the USA. As the web, mobile content, social networking and video games become the language of youth culture; educationists and librarians there are convinced that graphic novels will become an even more important tool for literacy and education.
Graphic novels offer appealing stories and engaging visuals that reach out to reluctant readers, visual learners, and others who may shy away from traditional, print-heavy books. Yet graphic novels offer the same benefits of regular books: introducing young people to new vocabulary, “book language,” and stories and information to teach them about their world and spark their imaginations.
Graphic Novel Categories
As with regular books, graphic novels are categorised under fiction and non-fiction and both have its sub-categories.
1 Fiction
* Science fiction
* Fantasy
* Drama
* Humour
* Crime
* …
2 Non-fiction
* Historical
* Literature / Language
* Biographical
* Religion
* Political
* …
Like any form of pop culture (movies, television programmes, books, magazines, video games etc.) graphic novels should be chosen responsibly, by parents or teachers. Its themes and appropriateness of its content varies with age groups.
[1] Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster in 1932 and sold to Detective Comics, Inc. in 1938. Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in June 1938.
[2] Co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger and published by DC Comics. The character made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939.
[3] In 1879, amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola was led by his five-year-old daughter to discover the cave’s drawings. The cave was excavated by Sautuola and archaeologist Juan Vilanova y Piera from the University of Madrid, resulting in a much acclaimed publication in 1880, which interpreted the paintings as Paleolithic in origin.
[4] A hieroglyph is a character of a logographic or partly logographic writing system. This ancient Egyptian writing consisted of over 2,000 hieroglyphic characters where each hieroglyphic character represents a common object from their day.
[5] Emakimono, often simply called emaki, is a horizontal, illustrated narrative form created during the 11th to 16th centuries in Japan. Unique to Japan, emakimono combines both text and pictures, and is drawn, painted, or stamped on a handscroll. They depict battles, romance, religion, folk tales, and stories of the supernatural world. It is seen as the origin of modern manga.
[6] The Bayeux Tapestry (French: Tapisserie de Bayeux) is a 50 cm by 70 m (20 in by 230 ft) long embroidered cloth which depicts the events leading up to the 1066 Norman invasion of England as well as the events of the invasion itself. The Tapestry is annotated in Latin. It is presently exhibited in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
[7] William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an acclaimed American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an instructional medium; for his leading role in establishing the graphic novel as a form of literature with his book A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories; and for his educational work about the medium as exemplified by his book Comics and Sequential Art.
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