Weigh in on the question that’s becoming more and more popular in colleges and even public schools today: Do comic books belong in the class room?
If you were to hear a professor or a teacher suddenly announce, “Today we’re going to start reading Watchmen,” and hold up the graphic novel for his students to see, how would you react? Not to mention, do you even think that would happen?
Well, believe it or not, the university I attend offers a spring class that does just that. But not only do students enrolled in the course read Watchmen—the highly praised and award-winning graphic novel set to be turned into a movie next year—they also read well-known science fiction novels and watch and analyze film. And it’s not just my university, either: more and more universities and colleges are following this trend. What does this mean? In our modern world, comic books are being considered respectable mediums of literature.
Now, you’re most likely thinking along the lines of one of two things: “No way, that’s ridiculous!” or “It’s about friggin’ time!”
As a comic book geek, it’s not hard to figure out which category I fall under—but I’m not just a comic lover, I’m also an English literature major. I have a passion for the English language, writing, and literature, and I absolutely love analyzing a good film (one form of literature) or book on an in-depth level (hey, I did say I was a geek).
Comics have come a long way. They’re not written for kids anymore. Marvel Comics branched off from the Comics Code Authority (which is really only used sometimes by DC and Archie Comics anymore) in 2001 and established their own rating system that goes from All Ages comics (appropriate for any reader) to Max: Explicit Content (mature, recommended for readers 18 years and up). Graphic novels are a different matter: emerging from the Golden Age around the mid-1980s, they tend to be longer and more mature by nature.
Comic books started to deal with more realistic and serious issues. Tony Stark became an alcoholic in Demon in a Bottle. Roy “Speedy” Harper, Jr.—Oliver Queen/Green Arrow’s adopted son/sidekick—once battled a heroin addiction in 1971 (see the weekly Comic Junkie header). Comics today deal with all kinds of issues—rape, abuse, murder, insanity, anarchy, what have you—and can be very violent or graphic depending on the rating or book.
This past year I wrote a paper examining the connections between Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem) of the film No Country for Old Men and Harvey Dent/Two-Face of the Batman comics. And can you believe that—as I analyzed and took notes on both closely and meticulously—I found more to talk about character-wise in a single Batman comic (Batman Annual #14 to be precise) than I did in NCOM?! In a film like NCOM, everything ties together: directing, acting, dialogue, etc. Comic books are no different: the art and writing (both the overall story and the dialogue) have to compliment each other, and both can say a LOT on their own—just like directing is so crucial to a good film and can speak volumes.
Graphic novels like Watchmen, especially, have layers upon layers available for analysis and discussion; truly good comic books—whether single issues like Batman Annual #14 or story arcs like The Long Halloween (still much debated today) or Demon in a Bottle (writers David Michelinie and Bob Layton won a prestigious award from an alcohol abuse foundation for their realistic depiction of alcoholism)—can do the same.
So do comics belong in the classroom? More and more respected professors and scholars will tell you, “Yes!” Comics are showing up in classrooms of all kinds—from elementary to help children learn to read and enjoy it, to the college level to analyze and savor them for their deeper meanings. They’re being found more often on the shelves of libraries, and some universities even offer graduates/postgraduates to specialize in comic books studies (how cool is that?!) as an analysis of pop culture and literature.
Meanwhile, those of us who were already fond of comic books will tell you, “It’s about friggin’ time!”
Inspired by “POW! ZOWIE! Teachers Discover the Comic Book,” a special from CSMonitor.com.
August 25th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
To tell the truth, I think it is a good thing. There are many great works of literary art to be found in comic books. Not all are above belief. Or does anyone want to argue with me the merit of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spielgelman… the only comic book graphic novel to ever win a pulitzer? If you had read that, you know that comic books can tell any kind of tale. And be meaningful as well. I was crying so hard reading that book and I am not afraid to admit it.
August 25th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Ohhhh I have never read that one!! I definitely have to pick it up now.
And yeah, I think it’s a good thing, too. A lot of people today still carry the notion that comics are just silly funnybooks—they don’t read them or pay attention, so it’s not REALLY their fault for not knowing how they are in modern times. But comics in the class can convince them otherwise.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Actually the one time I attended SDCC there was a panel on this topic with Scott McCloud and Will Eisner. I think it’s just a sign of the times that Comics are being more widely accepted. It’s still an infant medium, although traces of comics can be tracked back to cave paintings, it’s only been the last 100 years that comics have been around. Where as non-illustrative books were already “old” by the time comic books started.
I think that it’s great that they are being accepted and taught in schools. However I think that the number of comics that could be taught are severely limited. Part of this is due to the fact that so many of the most popular comics are franchise serials. There might be worth story-arcs in Spider-Man or X-Men, but they’re not a complete story. That’s the problem I would see with teaching something like the Iron Man/Alcoholic story or Green Arrow/Heroin stories. The writing may be awesome, but there’s not necessarily a beginning and an end as there are issues before and after that story that continue the tale of Iron Man/Green Arrow. It may be one of the better story-arcs, but it’s going to be hard to have the literature world accept them as anything more than good pulp fiction.
Graphic Novels like Watchmen are much more readily accessible for teaching because they actually tell a story from beginning to end, like any other book in a library. The Dark Knight Returns is another one that has been taught at universities, and although it uses a franchise character, it doesn’t require any special knowledge. All you need to know is presented in that book.
Ultimately I think for comics to grow and become widely accepted as legitimate literature they need to move beyond the issue system. I still love comics, but I hate issues. It’s the worst way to tell a story in my opinion. Books aren’t released a chapter every month. Movies aren’t shown 10 minutes at a time. TV is the only other medium that does the staggered delivery system, and even that has begun to come under fire. Lost took so much heat for having such a haphazard schedule that they’ve gone to the “new-episodes-every-week-until-the-season-is-over” style that shows like 24 have employed for a while now. People are less patient, and I’m one of them. If I like TV show, I don’t want to take it in at the pace in which it’s made. I much prefer to spend a week and watch an entire season of a show than waiting a week for a new episode. Same goes for comics. I won’t buy issues anymore because it sucks (in my opinion) to get a bite sized chunk of story, that is over with in 15 minutes, only to wait a month for the next minuscule segment. If I can read a graphic novel in a night, why would I want to drag the story out, over the span of a year?
Issues also limit the way in which the story can be told as well. Most franchise characters/titles have to have a recap in the first page or two, incase you missed the last issue, or never read the title in your life. And as most issues are limited to 22 pages you’re limited to how much you can cram into one issue. While the same goes for TV (shows must be 22 or 44 minutes to fit time slots), movies and books aren’t limited to a specific size. The story itself is what dictates how long the book or movie is. Which I think makes for a more pure story, although you could argue that the limitations force the writers to trim the fat and make the story work as best as possible within those limitations. Having the luxury to ramble on about things inconsequential to the plot, does not always make a story better.
I guess I just think the limitations of issues is something that holds comics back. There are exceptions, such as Preacher, where the story had a beginning and end, and never recapped the story in the first pages. However Preacher is essentially a Graphic Novel in spirit, that was first printed as issues. However most comics, like Batman or Spider-Man just go on and on forever. There are great storylines, but the issues must continue. The lack of a beginning, middle and end are what keep them from becoming great literature. They remain serialized stories, that will go on forever. And I think that structure of having a beginning and and end is what makes a story great. It gives it a destination, and not just an endless journey (which is also one of the reasons I can’t stand MMO’s. You can’t beat a game that has no ending). I think the endless nature of most comics has a certain appeal, in that you’re favorite character will never go away. I certainly don’t want to see Wolverine go away anytime soon. But the best comics I’ve ever read (Akira, Watchmen, Preacher) have an ending, and that’s part of what makes them so good.
Phew! Clearly you found a topic I’m highly passionate about, WITA! I’m sorry if I kinda rambled on and repeated myself. But you get the gist of what I’m saying
August 25th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Great response and great points!!
And I totally agree with you. I was only using Iron Man/Green Arrow as an example of how comics have become more grown-up and mature—I don’t think teaching trades in classrooms would work. But graphic novels, definitely—and they can represent the comic book genre. And that’s what I was trying to get at. Graphic novels can represent the genre and invite more people to dig into comics—whether issues, trades, or graphic novels.
And yes, issues are a pain. Trades are so much nicer, but there’s just that nostalgic feel about holding an issue in your hand … but yeah, they go on forever and it can be very frustrating to both keep up and try to jump in and know what’s going on.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I might sound like a total tard… but I think it’s a good thing! Comics are a huge part of our culture. The art and writing along with creative characters and stories are good for the imagination! Art comes in many forms and they are all good!
We hide to much from our kids as it is (i.e schools that have banned the teaching of evolution, banned the Harry Potter books/movies, etc.) … no good!
August 25th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Haha, you don’t sound that way at all, Traycee! And you’re right—comics are a very unique medium and it’s great to embrace that!
August 26th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Comics are actually one of the oldest mediums, dating back before the written word. Of course not in the form they are now, but using illustrations to tell a story has existed since the dawn of humankind. So it only makes sense to have them used in schools. They’re tried and true. It’s only the modern incarnation of newsstand comics that are in their infancy and under scrutiny.
And I agree with Traycee, I think we hide too much from kids today, and things are too dumbed down for them. I think Harry Potter is great for getting an entire generation of kids excited about reading. That’s an incredible achievement! And I think comics could do the same. Not only get kids excited about reading, but art as well. Certainly something like Watchmen or Preacher is way beyond what kids should be reading at that age (especially Preacher), but something like Bone should almost be required reading. Anything that will get kids excited about expanding their intellectual horizons is awesome in my book.
(And thanks for fixing my huge post)
August 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I don’t think comics as issues are in their infancy, though. They’ve been around for a WHILE now—but still fairly young, I agree. Maybe toddler years? LOL!
Harry Potter HAS done wonders for reading. They SHOULD be taught, holy crap!
Well, yeah, it depends on the grade level. I would never teach elementary or maybe even not middle school kids Watchmen. Oo But high school (maybe—parents are so dumb about stuff, no offense to anyone, LOL) students could handle it, and DEFINITELY college students, ha! (I am TAKING that class now, btw.
I can’t wait! We don’t read it until the very end though, poo, haha!)
(I’m not sure who did! Haha, maybe Aktrez?)
August 28th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I agree they belong in the classroom (in fact I dealt with Maus in a lit class a few years back), I do think there are some limitations with the issue format as well, however… the issue format comes with it’s own set of problems, and challenges. Seeing how those are dealt with in a literature format can be interesting and worthwhile
While it may be argued that a story in a novel has a finite beginning, middle and end, Life itself tends to be a bit less rigidly defined. While we are born, and die, our stories can go on for long after we have passed, and come from long before we were born.
Edges and boundaries around the story arc of a human life are fairly blurry, and really individual portions of our life represent simply story arcs of a series of events. For our lives to make sense in context, we do sometimes need to follow a lot of the same conventions found in an issue/serial format - recaps etc. So in some ways an issue format is more naturalistic than a book format that has a finite directed goal, and structure because it evolves as the work progresses much like our lives do.
I’d also mention that serials are as old as Dickens, and were quite common in the old days. Many of his stories were sold by the chapter after all.
So while I do agree that it’s difficult to analyze them in classes and there are challenges (especially given the size of some arcs) I do think that comics even in issue format can still represent a valuable sociological and literary entity.
Definetely something that’s been a long time in coming. Finally the world is beginning to accept this medium (much like they are with videogames). Once it becomes the norm I expect controversy will remain, depending on the subject matter of the various comics brought into the classroom, but for now, its an excellent way of connecting younger people with a love for learning, and a completely legitimate literary art form worthy of study and recognition.
It’s also worthy of study from the perspective of artistic merit, the methodology/style/technique/framing etc are also important when it comes to storytelling visually and represent an artistic form that also should be explored in classrooms (although clearly some comic artists are more important visually in terms of style and technique than others it’s the same for the writing too)
So yea, I think its about time.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Awesome response, Fred! Great point about the issue format.
Yes graphic novels are easier to teach because they follow novel format, but issues are more realistic in that they’re like a story of one’s life—well, they ARE. They’re the stories of these characters’ lives.
However, it’s hard to teach it. I’d love to see someone experiment with teaching a story arc, though. Not one that’s hard to get into, but one that even if you have no prior experience with the character you can still enjoy and understand. A good intro trade to a title—yeah.
And while issues are still being accepted as a medium, I LOVE the fact that these characters and their stories can go on forever—they become so iconic, and just like good characters from books that stay with you forever, they never die. They’ll continue to have adventures and tragedies and victories.
(Well, with exceptions, of course. Of course they do kill off characters in comic books—even main ones—and titles don’t necessarily last forever. And then there’s the whole “the character died and got resurrected multiple times” thing … heheh.
)