The Comics As New Form Of Communication

In Understanding Comics, McCloud defines comics as, “Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud, 1993, p. 9).

The representation of diverse people and experiences in comics is important to expand the thoughts and minds of readers. Yang and Wilson, the minds behind American Born Chinese and Ms. Marvel, use the medium of comic books and graphic novels to help bring a new sense of belonging and acceptance to marginalized people. They do this by applying a “millennial mindset” to their respective stories. What this means is that the characters they have created, whether they are based off real people or are fiction, address the problems of race, religion, or sexuality that we are facing today. These characters also act to threaten the current atmosphere of the comic book industry. Typical comic book characters and superheroes, before now, were mostly white and from a typical American background. Heroes that were women were generally over-sexualized and unrealistic. These two authors hope to challenge the current status quo of the comic book industry by creating characters whose background is much different than previous superheroes.

Cartoons have been use for many years and its modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or mock different things. John Backderf, known as Derf, is a famous and recognized cartoonist “who works out of an unheated, attic studio in his Cleveland home, grew up in a rural, small town in Ohio and went to high school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer” (“Bio”). He drew a cartoon in 1995 in which he presents an implicit theory about how and why things evolve to be “cool”. This paper will elaborate on explaining what Derf’s theory actually is, an interpretation of the meaning presented in the cartoon, and a fad or style that follows Derf’s theory.

With this alone time, Junior learns to cope with things and discovers a new passion: drawing cartoons. Junior admired how art was so freeing and how everyone could understand a picture, saying that words were too unpredictable and limited. Drawing made him happy with his life, giving him hope and a sense of importance. “I draw because I feel like it might be my only real chance to escape the reservation” (Alexie,

In Scott McCloud 's graphic essay, "Show and Tell," he explains how words and images work together in the form of comics to convey a message. An example where he demonstrates this is during the first 16 slides. Without the use of images, the reader would not know what 's going on because the boy is not specific in his dialogue. Without the use of words, the reader would have no context about what 's going on in the pictures. A great analogy that McCloud uses on page 745 is that words and images are like dancers. He explains how both partners work together and support each other 's strengths so that they can be presented well as a

I have learnt that as adults, we already have the skills for reading but using illustrations, sounds and words is a multimodality tool. I tend not to use these different strategies and I think at first, this made my writing in Storybird difficult. I had plenty of ideas but had trouble finding images. I learnt children have far more of a free flowing attitude than adults do, and it took me a while to focus on writing around the images rather than finding an image to match my writing. Children already know much about multimodal texts from their home experiences. As teaching assistant’s it is our responsibility to build on these experiences and the children’s knowledge, recognising the relationships between different modes and use this in our teaching. The future of reading and writing is interwoven with the future of digital technology (UKLA 2005).

Why are comics not appreciated as much as the dry narratives of novels in the literary world? A comic is composed of symbols to express concepts shared by all people in their own social environment, and provide more tools than conventional art to truly show artistic intention.

Comics allow for a unique type of learning through the combination of prose and images. Not only does the reader have the ability to take away meaning from the text, but the images offer clarification and small details that one might miss when reading a novel or short story. “The Mixed Up Files”, a comic by Gabrielle Bell about how literature affected her life, and “Superman and Me”, an article by Sherman Alexie regarding comic books, include information about their childhoods. However, due to the ambiguity and the detail of the pictures and text in “The Mixed Up Files”, more information about Bell’s childhood is available to the reader.

Both essays focus on children's ability to blend visual drawings and writing and how they interact with one another. In some classrooms young children are being urged to see drawing and writing separately rather than as a unified system of meaning making. Thomas Newkirk makes us think about how pictures relate to language in written texts, and Alexie Sherman explains how he had the help from comic books (graphic novels) and watching his dad's passion for reading help (sponsor) him want to learn how to read. They both believe that visual images communicate meaning. Its not just about the design and creativity but also about how culture and meaning are reflected, communicated and altered by images. This is visual literacy, it involves all the

Well-written and inspirational literature not only has the ability to carry a reader into another world but they are able to accomplish this feat while simultaneously delivering deep messages that surpass the written text. Children’s literature is sometimes overlooked in terms of reaching these standards and being considered worthy of critical analysis; this genre is often perceived as having juvenile storylines and concepts portrayed through simplistic language. However, the common writing styles in children’s literature, often being either illustrated books or picture-books, offer the genre with a unique opportunity to achieve deep themes and messages through the dynamic

Perhaps many people already know what a comic looks like. Many may refer to it simply as a strip of boxes with basic illustration and simple words pasted together. In “Show and Tell”, Scott McCloud gives his readers a sense of how comics are composed. He states the two main things that a reader sees on the outside of comics are the illustration and literature parts. Although many people may consider comics as a simple work of slapping words and pictures together, he believes that comics are more complex than just that. A form of communication that can be compared to comics, not directly stated in “Show and Tell”, is the art of public and private speaking. The skills required for effective speaking include a balance between body gestures

Scott, Laura. “The Importance of Representation in Kids’ Cartoons” [“The Importance of Representation in Kids’ Cartoons”]. Affinity magazine, 28 Jan. 17. Affinity magazine, Affinity, http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/01/28/the-importance-of-representation-in-kids-cartoons/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2018.

In the essay, “In Defense of Graphic Novels”, Kathryn Strong Hansen explains the different opinions about using graphic novels in a classroom. When most people hear of a graphic novel, they assume it’s a comic book and that it has no relevance in a classroom. Because they have pictures, they also assume that they are meant for children. Hansen explains, however, that students can analyze graphic novels the same way they would a prose-only novel. She also states that low level reading students could benefit from reading graphic novels. Because they can be used to help struggling students, students who are doing well believe that graphic novels are too easy of a read. It could also

Since the beginning of time (particularly beginning in the 1920’s), comic books have always been a creative reflection of what’s going on in popular culture. Comic books tend to perfectly depict animations that relate to current politics, historical events, and current social issues that we face every day in the United States. Comic books cover a wide range of pop culture genres such as: adventure, horror, crime, mystery, romance, westerns, and humor (just to name a few). However, comic books also discuss serious American popular culture issues but utilize superheroes (such as Spiderman, Batman, and Superman) and villains (such as The Joker, Dr. Doom, and Lex Luthor) as the main characters; which fascinated the youth and thus resulted in a popular, successful, and booming comic book industry.

From an early age I loved to read. At just two years old I would beg my mother to enroll me into school. I watched as my older sister meticulously picked out her outfit each night in preparation for the next school day. At such a young age I somehow knew that this thing called “school” was the answer to something spectacular. My home was chaotic and reading became an escape and helped distract me from the unpleasant family dynamic.