History of ComicsAnd Comics as an Educational Tool

By: Samantha Abela

Who are we?

• A group of people whoLike comics and manga

We organize various activities through out the year and participate in others in order to promote comic culture in Malta and abroad.

What do we do?

We promote comic culture.

We encourage the creation of comics

We inform the public about new comic publications through reviews on our website

We provide a platform for discussion about comics and their use in education.

We provide various opportunities of exposure for Maltese artists.We organize activities to bring comics closer to the public and provide a ‘cultural encounter’ with foreign comic creators.

A typical Comic Shop

• “A comic book or comicbook is a magazine or book containing sequential art in the form of a narrative. Comic books are often called comics for short. Although the term implies otherwise, the subject matter in comic books is not necessarily humorous, and in fact its dramatic seriousness varies widely.”

• - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Comic Books are wildly popular!

• From 2001-2006, comic books have grown from• a $75 million to a $330 million industry• Movies and novels are now being made into• comic books specifically aimed at children• Many popular writers, musicians and creative• designers are working with comics.• Google Chrome presented by Scott McCloud.

http://www.scottmccloud.com/googlechrome/

Comics come in different sizes

Graphic Novels & Collections

(Hard Cover or Trade Paper Back)

Dissecting a Comic (the

basics)?

SEQUENTIAL ART

PANELS

SPEECH BUBBLE

TOUGHT BUBBLE

1 PANEL

Comic Strip

Web Comic

A comic that is not ‘published’ but is shared

online usually for free others

against a small payment. Easily read on ebook readers, pcs,

tablet pcs and smart phones.

A Maltese Webcomic

A webcomic written by Adam Cassar and illustrated by Samwel Mallia

Planning

Scrip writing

Character design

Sketching

Fine tuning

Add dialogue

Character Design

Basic Planning

• Name:• Age:• Sex:• Physical description:• Personality:’• Job:• Background story:

The Comic Audience?

They are for everyone, from toddlers, pre-

readers up to grandparents! As long

as you like a good story, reading and Art!

Why create comics?

•To send a message•For fun•To recount true stories

American

European

Japanese

HISTORY

Comics for SatireComics PoliticsComics for Children/boys & girls

THEGOLDEN AGE

THEGOLDEN AGE

1930’s to mid 1950’s

Adventure Comics

Superhero Comics

The Heroe

s went to

war.

The Heroe

s went to

war.

THE SILVER AGE

THE SILVER AGEMID 50’s TO EARLY 70’sMID 50’s TO EARLY 70’s

STAN LEE STAN LEE

The 70’s - social & political

- films

THE MODERN

AGE

THE MODERN

AGE

The 80’s-THE BRITISH INVASION

& DARKER HEROES

Manga

90s

FILMS

TV

Games

Cosplay

Comic Conventions

COMICSCOMICS

• FUN• SATISFACTION• INVESTMENT• COLLECTION

READ and CREATE COMICS

• FUN• SATISFACTION• INVESTMENT• COLLECTION

READ and CREATE COMICS

Tim PerkinsDavid

Llyod

Warren Pleece

Sean Azzoppar

di

Mike Collins

Events…

• 5-6 June 2010 – Earth Garden• Malta Comic Con at Notte Bianca

Earth Garden@ Notte Bianca

Dave Windett& Renee

Witterstaette

Workshops and

Audience

Some MaltesePublications

•The Golden Lizard - Fabio Agius, Mark Ellul and Chris Le Galle (Sierra Books)

•The Tsar - Issue 1 - Joseph Bugejia and Joseph Whizz Farrugia (BDL) 

•Hal Mudlam - Issue 1 & 2- Joseph Bugeja (BDL) 

•Arcana Crusade – Bernard Micallef

•For Gallantry Issue 0 & 1 – Fabio Giangolini

•Apocalyse Rocked – Dean Fenech

•Pilot – The Steampunk ed. – The Pilot Group

•RPG Game – Jeanelle Zammit and Bernard Micallef

•Komiks tas-Sikkina

Contact Us

• Facebook Group : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1128229550

• Website: http://www.maltacomic-con.com/

Comics as an Educational

Tool

A brief history of Comics in Education

• The first comics used to ‘educate’ people were the political cartoons used to send messages about politics and social issues to the illiterate public

The first comics

• They were issued in the 1930’s (pre-WWII) and by the 1940’s an estimate of 95% of all 8-14 year olds read comics.

• 65% of the 15-18 year olds read comics too!

Whilst some see the positive in the use

of Comics in education others

criticize…

• A stumbling block to literacy• Impede reading comprehension• Reduce imagination• Provide eyestrain

Nonetheless…

• A ‘Scholarship on the Educational Value of Comics’ was established in America in the second half of the 20th century

Still…

• Some criticized comics as promoting ‘violence’ and ‘delinquency’

• Of using ‘slang’ and ‘dialect’ too much…

Can comics be used as an

effective medium in education?

• Yes! Comics can be used to transfer Knowledge!

• They can be used as a ‘TOOL’ or• Use ‘Educational Comics’.

What are Educational

Comics?

• These are comics devised on purpose to teach a subject / with a clear intent and message.

• = a comic on Maltese legends / important events – Great Siege + Consalvo Monroy

Comics as educational

tool

• These are comics that their initial purpose was not to ‘educate’ but for leisure. Nonetheless teachers and parents use them to teach:

• History• Reading• Language• Culture context• Science• Story telling

• Science• Social studies

Why use comics in the classroom?

• For pre-readers they provide practice for:

• - sequencing• - prompts for language use

(visual cues)• -connect words with images

• For Advance Readers• - complexity of normal written

word with visuals• - a step-stone to more complex

texts• -make reading more approachable

Comics meet the needs of Students

in a variety of learning styles

Learning

It is a product of the agreement between

teaching strategies and the individual differences among

learners. According to Dr.Steve Hunt,

every learner use his own unique style of

learning and thinking which differentiate him from others.

At last, this is not true anymore!

Learning styles

• Information processing• Instructional preferences• Learning Strategies

Learning Modalities:

This is the theory that all learners have a preference for receiving and storing information through one or more of the sensory modalities.

How to use comics in the classroom?

• The teacher provides the material

• The students create their own comic

• Use IT Skills through various software to create comics

Advantages of using comic assignments

• Story telling• Character analysis• Plot analysis• Biographical work• Timelines

The use of Graphic Novels

• They offer value, variety and a new medium for literacy that acknowledges visuals. They are useful across the curriculum depending on the creativity of the teacher and students.

• (Lavin 1998) suggested that reading Graphic Novels employs more cognitive skills.

• Graphic Novels present an alternative view of culture, history and human life in accessible ways giving voice to minorities and those with diverse view points.

• Ex: Classic Comics lead to the reading of the full ‘novel’

Graphic Novels:

• Brain Food• Gentle Persuasion• Think small (don’t go into the big titles)• Improve reading comprehension• Promote Socialisation• Motivate• Help students with reading difficulties• Leave a permananet mark• Provide intermediary link to other subjects• Are popular and cool – bring youth culture to the

classroom• Ideal for differentiated teaching

Some examples

http://www.thechesscomic.com/

“Why?” is a Korean science comic book series.  The series had 20 million copies sold over

the last six years, which is a new record in the local

publishing industry.  

• Comics make language manageable and language profitable for beginners. They help to engage students. The brain seeks patterns/association/ links… comics help to provide them!

• Comics provide the ‘spark’ for attention which will help knowledge to be embedded.

• Comics used as a means to teacher dialect

• To engage reluctant readers• Also a defence against the enemy

of literacy - TELEVISION

Winner of Pulitzer Price in 1992 (the first comic to win such a prize!)

Experience of a prisoner at Auschwitz

Cats – Nazis

Mice - Jews

Comics for awareness campaigns

• A comic by a US hospital about testicular cancer using patient stories

• Marvel / DC campaign against breast cancer

• ‘Donate Blood’ campaign – Malta Blood unit

Comics and heritage

• Exercise in Empathy• Help to illustrate ‘Causes and

Consequences’• Offer visual aids to ‘Chronology’ in

history• Political Cartoons offer a platform to

discuss ‘bias’ and ‘perspectives’• Make history more exciting and

engaging

Some ideas:

• Time traveller• Bios of Historical Figures• Re-telling of an important battle• Adventure story leading to

discovery of artefacts – Indiana Jones style

Tim Perkins-

British Comic writer and artists

Special Guest at the Malta Comic Con

Created a comic strip as a promotion for his own comic using as inspiration HAGAR QIM!