NPR: Comic Book Science in the Classroom
NPR ran a story the other day on the use of comic books in the classroom. Educators are starting to look to them for help with everything from reading to science, but the old debate continues. While comic books certainly can’t fill every role, there are some jobs they do exceeding well. For example, Joe Sacco’s Safe Area Gorazde (see example pages here) the war in Bosnia closer to the reader than probably any other work. The drawings allow Sacco to show the reader the gruesome images of war without them being completely repulsive, as would be the case with photographs (which, of course, simply don’t exists for many of the events being described). Thus, comics journalism is one area where the medium is perfect, and there are many more.
Criticism of the graphic novels and dramatic comics is, as is so often the case, born straight out of ignorance of the form’s strengths and weaknesses. Works like Jimmy Corrigan and, of course, Maus show that comic works are an extremely important cultural development that can’t be ignored. Regarding the debate discussed in the NPR story, librarians have the responsibility to understand how comics work and what purposes they serve.
Note, too, that most of the noteworthy artist/authors are being published by Fantagraphics, so that’s the first place to look for great works in the genre.