Books

Graphic Novels and Comics in Libraries and Archives

Essays on Readers, Research, History and Cataloging

Robert G. Weiner

To say that graphic novels, comics, and other forms of sequential art have become a major part of popular culture and academia would be a vast understatement. Now an established component of library and archive collections across the globe, graphic novels are proving to be one of the last kinds of print publications actually gaining in popularity. Full of practical advice and innovative ideas for librarians, educators, and archivists, this book provides a wide-reaching look at how graphic novels and comics can be used to their full advantage in educational settings. Topics include the historically tenuous relationship between comics and librarians; the aesthetic value of sequential art; the use of graphic novels in library outreach services; collection evaluations for both American and Canadian libraries; cataloging tips and tricks; and the swiftly growing realm of webcomics.

Bunnicula

The Graphic Novel

James Howe, Andrew Donkin

Though scoffed at by Harold the dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human family that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire.

Using Graphic Novels in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Classroom

William Boerman-Cornell, Josha Ho, David Klanderman, Sarah Klanderman

This book provides everything STEM teachers need to use graphic novels in order to engage students, explain difficult concepts, and enrich learning. Drawing upon the latest educational research and over 60 years of combined teaching experience, the authors describe the multimodal affordances and constraints of each element of the STEM curriculum. Useful for new and seasoned teachers alike, the chapters provide practical guidance for teaching with graphic novels, with a section each for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. An appendix provides nearly 100 short reviews of graphic novels arranged by topic, such as cryptography, evolution, computer coding, skyscraper design, nuclear physics, auto repair, meteorology, and human physiology, allowing the teacher to find multiple graphic novels to enhance almost any unit. These include graphic novel biographies of Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Alan Turing, Rosalind Franklin, as well as popular titles such as T-Minus by Jim Ottaviani, Brooke Gladstone's The Influencing Machine, Theodoris Andropoulos's Who Killed Professor X, and Gene Yang's Secret Coders series.

Wham! Teaching with Graphic Novels Across the Curriculum

William G. Brozo, Gary Moorman, Carla Meyer

Graphic novels are an excellent medium to motivate today’s youth to become independent learners and thinkers. This practical guide shows secondary school teachers how to incorporate graphic novels into content area instruction as a tool for meeting the needs of diverse learners and achieving the goals of the Common Core State Standards. The authors provide instructional guidelines with classroom examples that demonstrate how graphic novels can be used to expand content knowledge and literacy in science, social studies, math, and English/language arts. Teachers will appreciate the book’s specific suggestions for selecting graphic novels and for employing responsive practices that will build students’ reading, writing, speaking, listening, and media competencies. “The range and complexity of graphic novels being published right now is simply amazing to me. . . . They are part of what should be a balanced array of texts that all can read, enjoy, and learn from. In this volume, the authors point to this proliferation, as well as the educative potential of graphic novels. After reading its pages, I feel others will agree with me that they have done an excellent job pointing out how graphic novel creators such as Jim Ottaviani and Larry Gonick communicate much about history, science, and mathematics while also making connections to comprehension and thinking skills that accompany both literacy and content-specific learning.” —From the Foreword by Stergios Botzakis, assistant professor of adolescent literacy in the Theory and Practice in Teacher Education Department at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville “The authors have set forth on a task I feel long is overdu—connecting the literacy potential of graphic novels to the content areas. This book is a wonderful contribution to the field of content area literacy studies.” —Michael D. Boatright, assistant professor, Department of English, Western Carolina University Book Features: Advice for selecting and evaluating graphic novels. Teaching strategies for each of the four major content domains. Guidance for aligning instruction with the Common Core State Standards. A list of educational graphic novels organized by content area. Study group questions.And more! William G. Brozo is a professor of literacy in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and author of RTI and the Adolescent Reader. Gary Moorman is professor emeritus at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Carla K. Meyer is an assistant professor in the Reading Education and Special Education Department at Appalachian State University.

Exploring Comics and Graphic Novels in the Classroom

DeHart, Jason D.

Art can be used in education to assist in engagement, comprehension, and literacy. For years, comics and graphic novels have been written off as simple sources of entertainment. However, comics and graphic novels have tremendous value when utilized in the classroom as unique texts that can be approached philosophically and cognitively. Exploring Comics and Graphic Novels in the Classroom highlights voices from a number of disciplines in education, showcasing research and practice using both popular and lesser-known examples of comics across time in terms of publishing history and across geographic contexts. It explores comics from multiple viewpoints to share the efficacy of these texts in descriptive, narrative, and empirical ways. Covering topics such as intersectional identity representation, sequential visual art, and critical analysis, this premier reference source is a dynamic resource for educational administrators, teacher educators, preservice teachers, faculty of both K-12 and higher education, librarians, teaching artists, researchers, and academicians.

Using Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Grades 4-8

Melissa Hart

Since todays young readers live in a highly visual world, its no surprise that graphic novels are growing in popularity. With this book, teachers can lead students in literary analysis of this unique genre, introduce them to good quality graphic novels, and encourage them to write and illustrate a graphic short story. Each lesson in the book is based on standards.

500 Essential Graphic Novels

The Ultimate Guide

Gene Kannenberg

Featuring full-color images from the best moments in graphic novel history, this comprehensive reference explores everything from dragons, cow races, and monstrous rats to insider secrets from Casanova himself. Includes top ten must-reads for every popular genre.

ATTU

The Collected Volumes

Sam Glanzman

A caveman finds adventure among giant tigers, dinosaurs, and visitors from another planet in this magical slice of old-fashioned comics fun. Rendered in stark black-and-white, the saga combines prehistory, super-science, and time travel.

Animal Farm: The Graphic Novel

George Orwell

A beautiful graphic adaptation of George Orwell’s timeless and timely allegorical novel. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” In 1945, George Orwell, called “the conscience of his generation,” created an enduring, devastating story of new tyranny replacing old, and power corrupting even the noblest of causes. Today it is all too clear that Orwell’s masterpiece is still fiercely relevant wherever cults of personality thrive, truths are twisted by those in power, and freedom is under attack. In this fully authorized edition, the artist Odyr translates the world and message of Animal Farm into a gorgeously imagined graphic novel. Old Major, Napoleon, Squealer, Snowball, Boxer, and all the creatures of Animal Farm come to life in this newly envisaged classic. From his individual brushstrokes to the freedom of his page design, Odyr’s adaptation seamlessly moves between satire and fable and will appeal to all ages, just as Orwell intended.

Teaching Unit for the Graphic Novel Brain Camp

Talia Baskaya

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 9, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: Living in a time in which working with technology has become usual in all kinds of situations and especially in educational terms, people still tend to underestimate the benefits of using several kinds of media which are actually obvious. Parents and politicians tend to focus on the usage of technology and emphasize its pros and importance for teaching. On the one hand, they demand for the newest media and technologies, but on the other hands they seem to refuse innovations such as using youth literature, especially graphic novels. While reading the classics keeps being a big part of the curriculum, the educational standards themself have changed. Especially while teaching English in a foreign language classroom it is now demanded to concentrate on fostering competences than making the students memorize several information. But the curriculum and the methods of teaching remain instead of innovating them. One innovation which still is not considered may be teaching English by using Graphic Novels. Firstly, it is important to define the term “graphic novel” correctly and to know about its traces and development. According to Hallet, graphic novels are fictional and similar to long novels, but uses the narrative form of comics. Graphic novels mainly arisen from the comic books from the US. Secondly, it is necessary to be aware of their benefits and how to use them while teaching English. Although graphic novels seem to remain as media which are not considered while teaching English in a foreign language classroom, an increasing number of educators try to integrate them in the curriculum and stand against the criticism. The following term paper will discuss the usage of graphic novels in the foreign language classroom, will relate to the educational policies and compare the advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, a graphic novel will be analyzed and a teaching unit using it will be presented.

Ministry Of Space

Warren Ellis

This is the story of how we could have gone to space. Maybe how we should have gone to space. This is the story of the Ministry of Space: The black budget that financed the move into space. The deaths of the test pilots taken from the surviving Spitfire flyers of the Battle of Britain. And in 2000, the end of the Golden Age, as America and Russia begin moving into space. The secret revealed, and the destruction of a man who sacrificed himself for the Ministry of Space. Plus, a sketchbook section by Chris Weston and an all-new appendix by Warren Ellis revealing the facts behind the fiction!

Graphic Novels

Stories to Change Your Life

Paul Gravett

A comprehensive book about comics, covering the following aspects: Criticism, childhood, war, superheroes, dreams, fear, crime, morality, humor, time travel, love, and desire.

Make Comics Like the Pros

The Inside Scoop on How to Write, Draw, and Sell Your Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente

A step-by-step guide to all aspects of comic book creation--from conceptualization to early drafts to marketing and promotion--written by two of the industry's most seasoned and successful pros. Discover the Secrets of Your Favorite Comic Book Creators Do you want to break into the comics industry? There are many creative roles available—writer, penciller, inker, colorist, letterer, editor, and more. Each creator serves a vital function in the production of sequential art at companies such as DC, Marvel, Image, and Valiant. In Make Comics Like the Pros, veteran comics creators Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente team up with a who’s who of the modern comic book scene to lead you step-by-step through the development of a comic. With these two fan-favorite writers as your guides, you’ll learn everything from script formatting to the importance of artistic collaboration to the best strategies for promoting and selling your own sequential art masterpiece. Pak and Van Lente even put their lessons into practice inside the pages of the book—pairing with Eisner Award–winning cartoonist Colleen Coover (Bandette) to produce the swashbuckling, adventure comic Swordmaids, and giving you front row seats to their creative process. Make Comics Like the Pros provides all the answers you’ve been seeking to take your comic book–making dreams all the way to professional-level reality.

The Black Panther Party

A Graphic Novel History

David F. Walker

WINNER OF THE EISNER AWARD • A bold and fascinating graphic novel history of the revolutionary Black Panther Party. Founded in Oakland, California, in 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a radical political organization that stood in defiant contrast to the mainstream civil rights movement. This gripping illustrated history explores the impact and significance of the Panthers, from their social, educational, and healthcare programs that were designed to uplift the Black community to their battle against police brutality through citizen patrols and frequent clashes with the FBI, which targeted the Party from its outset. Using dramatic comic book-style retellings and illustrated profiles of key figures, The Black Panther Party captures the major events, people, and actions of the party, as well as their cultural and political influence and enduring legacy.

Boxers

Gene Luen Yang

Boxer & Saints: "Boxer & Saints is an innovative novel in two volumes - the parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of violent rift."

The Librarian's Guide to Graphic Novels for Children and Tweens

David S. Serchay

A guide to graphic novels for children and pre-teens offers historical and genre information, provides collection building tips, and discusses how to manage, promote, and maintain the collection.

Stranger Things: SIX (Graphic Novel)

Jody Houser

A prequel comic from Netflix' award-winning series, delving into the mysterious workings of Project MKUltra and the weird science that opened the door to the Upside Down. Francine, a teenage girl with precognition, has struggled through a lifetime of exploitation: first by her parents, then by Dr. Brenner of Hawkins Laboratory. Dr. Brenner wants to harness her powers as well as those of the other gifted children that they hold captive at the lab. Wracked by increasingly disturbing visions, she sees an opportunity for her and all the children to escape. But at what cost? From the pen of Jody Houser (Faith, CMYK: Magenta, Max Ride: Ultimate Flight) and featuring art from Edgar Salazar and Keith Champagne (Black Panther), Stranger Things comics is essential reading for fans of the hit Netflix series as well as fans of the urban fantasy and horror genres in general. Collects Stranger Things II issues #1-4.

Frame Escapes: Graphic Novel Intertexts

Mikhail Peppas, Sanabelle Ebrahim

This volume was first published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in 2016. The graphic narrative – in merging text with image – showcases an experiential panorama of visceral emotions for the users. Central to the format are considerations about the place of the image story in history and location. Both the comic and the graphic novel appropriate and are appropriated by diverse media in the enactment of individual, social and cultural identity. Intermediality morphs literature into pictures, films into graphic fiction, images into frames, and incorporates a host of flexible production values linked to high/low graphic arts. The structure of the graphic novel, city imaging, food fetishes, autographics, parallel worlds, Superhero guises, character patterning and shifting identities are explored in the eclectic volume by a range of authors using multimodal devices to analyse the composition, reading and interpretation of graphic narratives. The unstoppable momentum of holistic literature promises a converged means of expression that transcends the separation of print, digital and screen while transporting the dialogue about comics into a central scenario of popular culture. Throughout, the story stands strong in parallel with the probing of key concepts such as boundary transgression, moral searching, and the predictiveness of ‘frame-casting’ that allows feedback between the comic book frame and the silhouette of the future city.