Why Comics?

One of the reasons we all love stories is that they offer proposals for life's meaning and purpose. By presenting characters with competing philosophies of life, you can offer a triangulated, fuller picture of the world your characters live in. An for all of the beautiful art or wordplay that you might deliver, it's that picture of the world that your readers may remember best.

Steve McCloud, Making Comics

Comics are juxtaposed images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to elicit aesthetic response in the viewer (McCloud, 1994).

Comics and graphic novels are great teaching and learning tools. There are several reasons for this:

Comics as a Teaching & Learning tool

1. There is a great deal of student interest in this genre
2. They are relatively inexpensive
3. They are easy to comprehend
4. They offer visual support
5. They provide a rich and meaningful context
6. They introduced more rare words than other educational media
7. Complex concepts and relations are conveyed in digestible chunks

( Davis, 1997; Kerr & Culhane, 2000; Nakajima, 2002; Wright & Sherman, 1999)