Memo 2-- The Tools of Teaching Graphic Novels

During my research this week, I have been investigating Jessica Abel and Matt Madden’s Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, a textbook-course in creating comics for comic artists, students, and teachers who wish to learn more about (and, more importantly, to create) manga, graphic novels, comic books and the like.
Madden is a cartoonist, editor, and translator who teaches comics and drawing at the School of Visual Arts, and Abel is a cartoonist and a writer.  The husband and wife pair wrote their textbook collaboratively and had it published in 2008.

The goal of Drawing Words & Writing Pictures is to set up what is essentially a full curriculum for anyone who wishes to create comics of any kind—they begin with single drawings that create narrative and move through the skills required to create complex stories with words and pictures in the comic style.  In total, the textbook is comprised of fifteen lessons that range from a focus on the logistics of comic writing to the narrative structures of a story.  Below are my “notice-ings” from my investigation into the text—things I picked up on while investigating Drawing Words & Writing Pictures as a textbook to be used in a potential classroom.

I was already intrigued as I investigated the first pages of this text.  As I expected, there is, almost immediately, a comic-style introduction to the text which is very reader- and kid-friendly, and it sets up the text itself as interesting and colorful—we know immediately that there will be more than black and white text and bolded vocabulary words here.  I love that.  We also meet the authors—I mean really meet the authors, in their illustrated forms.  This is rare.

The second thing I noticed was how slowly the initial chapters take you through the comic-making process. They emphasize the step-by-step nature as well as the drafting that goes into creating comics. They go back to basics, defining “comics” and some of the other necessary terminology.  They also use lots of examples!! For every point the authors make, they have a comic frame or a short strip to explain it further.

This is a big one—Madden and Abel make an important decision to speak directly to people who don’t think they can draw! This was huge for me, as I’m sure it is for so many students out there.  As soon as anyone mentions creating visual art, I tend to run for the hills.  Madden and Able make the prospect of drawing much more comfortable.  They give us permission to draw stick figures in the interest of preserving our desire to tell our stories!

The authors even show us an alternate “story arc” diagram that moves away from the traditional rising and falling action business—they emphasize the need for telling a story that is worth telling—that is, they emphasize the need for authentic storytelling.  At least, that’s how I encountered that point.

I am seeing so many windows through which a teacher can both write and teach writing using this book.  The authors’ emphasis on words and pictures as one in the same for telling stories can help to expand our conceptions of literature and create space for learning that wasn’t there before—space for a new efficacy among students in creating their own stories.

This is where I am beginning to see some magic in this topic—comic reading and writing creates a space for students with a wide range of abilities and interests to express their ideas through “drawing words and writing pictures.”