A Wicked Comics Presentation about Comics, Comics in Education delivered by Samantha Abela for the Hagar Qim open day 29th June 2012

1. History of Comics
And Comics as an Educational Tool
By: Samantha Abela

2. Who are we?
• A group of people who
Like 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.

3. What do we
do?
We promote comic c ulture. We provide various
opportunities of
We encourage the c reation expos ure for Maltes e
of c omics
artis ts .
We inform the public about We organize activities
new comic publications to bring comics
through reviews on our
webs ite clos er to the public
and provide a
We provide a platform for ‘cultural encounter’
dis c us s ion about c omic s with foreign comic
and their us e in education.
creators .

5. A typical C omic
S hop

6. • “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

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

8. http://
www.scottmccloud.com/goog
/

9. C o m ic s
c o m e in
d if f e r e n t
s iz e s

10. G r a p h ic
N o v e ls &
C o lle c t io n s
( H a r d C o ve r o r Tr a d e
Paper B ac k)

11. Dis s ecting a
C omic (the
bas ics )?

12. SEQUENTIAL ART
PANELS
SPEECH BUBBLE
TOUGHT BUBBLE

13. 1 PANEL

14. C o m ic
S t r ip

15. We b
C o m ic
A comic that is not
‘publis hed’ but is
s hared online us ually
for free others
agains t a s mall
payment. E as ily read
on ebook readers ,
pcs , tablet pcs and
s mart phones .

16. A M a lt e s e
W e b c o m ic
A webcomic written by Adam Cassar and
illustrated by Samwel Mallia

20. Planning
S crip writing
C haracter
des ign
S ketching
Fine tuning
A dd
dialogue

21. C haracter
Des ign

22. B a s ic
P la n n in g
• Name:
• A ge:
• S ex:
• Phys ic al des cription:
• Pers onality:’
• J ob:
• B ackground s tory:

25. The C omic
A udience?
They are for everyone, from
toddlers , pre-readers up to
grandparents ! A s long as
you like a good s tory,
reading and A rt!

26. Why create
comics ?
• To s e nd a m e s s age
• F or fu n
• To re cou nt tru e s torie s

34. Ame ri
c an

35. E urope
an

36. Japan
ese

37. H IS T O R
Y

39. C omics for S atire
C omics Politics
C omics for
C hildren/boys & girls

40. THE
GOLDEN AGE
1930’s to mid 1950’s

41. A d ve nture
C o m ic s

42. S upe rhe r
o C o m ic s

43. Th e
H e ro
es
w e nt
to
w a r.

44. THE
SILVER AGE
MID 50’s TO EARLY 70’s

45. STAN LEE

46. Th e 7 0 ’ s
- s o c ia l &
p o lit ic a l
- f ilm s

47. TH E
M OD E R N
A GE

48. Th e 8 0 ’ s -
T H E B R IT IS H
IN V A S IO N &
DARKER HEROES

49. Ma ng a

50. 90s

51. F IL M S

52. TV

53. G a me s

54. C o s p la
y

55. C o m ic
C o n v e n t io n
s

56. COMICS
• FUN
• SATISFACTION
• INVESTMENT
• COLLECTION
READ and CREATE COMICS

57. Mike Perkins
Tim Collins
Warren
David Llyod Pleece
Sean
Azzoppardi

59. Events …
• 5-6 June 2010 – Earth Garden
• Malta Comic Con at Notte Bianca

60. @Earth Garden
Notte Bianca

61. Dave Windett
& Renee
Witterstaette
Workshops
and
Audience

62. Some M altes e
Publications
•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

63. Contact Us
• Facebook Group :
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id
• Website:
http://www.maltacomic-con.com/

64. Comics as an
Educational Tool

65. 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

67. T h e f ir s t
c o m ic s
• 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!

68. 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

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

70. Still…
• Some criticized comics as promoting
‘violence’ and ‘delinquency’
• Of using ‘slang’ and ‘dialect’ too
much…

71. 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’.

72. 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

73. 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:

74. • History • Science
• Reading • Social studies
• Language
• Culture context
• Science
• Story telling

75. Why use comics
in the classroom?
• For pre-readers they provide
practice for:
• - sequencing
• - prompts for language use (visual
cues)
• -connect words with images

76. • For Advance Readers
• - complexity of normal written word
with visuals
• - a step-stone to more complex
texts
• -make reading more approachable

77. Comics meet the needs
of Students in a
variety of learning
styles

78. L e a r n in
g
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 At last, this is not true
which differentiate anymore!
him from others.

79. L e a r n in g
s t y le s
• Information processing
• Instructional preferences
• Learning Strategies

81. 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.

84. 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

85. Advantages of using
comic assignments
• Story telling
• Character analysis
• Plot analysis
• Biographical work
• Timelines

86. 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’

87. 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

88. S ome
e x a m p le s
http://www.thechesscomic.com/

89. “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.

92. • 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.

93. • Comics used as a means to teacher
dialect
• To engage reluctant readers
• Also a defence against the enemy of
literacy - TELEVISION

96. Winner of Pulitzer Price in
1992 (the first comic to win
such a prize!)
Experience of a prisoner at
Auschwitz
Cats – Nazis
Mice - Jews

97. 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

101. C o m ic s a n d
h e r it a g e
• 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

102. S o m e id e a s :
• Time traveller
• Bios of Historical Figures
• Re-telling of an important battle
• Adventure story leading to
discovery of artefacts – Indiana
Jones style

103. 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!