All the Rage: YA Graphic Novels

Friday, April 18, 10:00 - 11:20

speakers:

• Gene Luen Yang
• Tuan Nguyen
• Laura Jewell

Gene Luen Yang: background

"a little big like Batman--he has two jobs"

teaches computer science at Catholic high school

also manage the school's database

at night, he draws comics (1-year old and 4-year old kids)

been doing this for about 10 years

originally self-published his first book, Gordon... and King of the Geeks

why would anyone want to make comics?

well, why not comics?

• comics take forever to make
  • simple drawing style (friends call him "lazy")--page takes 4+ hours to complete
  • ABC took 5 years
• you will slowly starve to death
  • in 2000, a lot of well-known comic creators had other jobs
  • many of them still ahve some sort of sidejob
• comics will not make you sexy (Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons)

so why comics?

• started when he was young
• son of two immigrants
• parents often told stories
• very different kinds of stories
• favorite stories were about the Monkey King
• loved stories and drawing = animation
  • obsessed with Disney
  • 5th grade: discovered comics
  • powerful combination of words and pictures

Comics vs. Animation

• it takes more than forever to make an animation
• but you can make a living
• animation will make you sexier than comics
• BUT animation is usually created by a team, rather than an individual
  • because of this, comics is a very intimate medium
  • perhaps the most intimate medium

Prose/Poetry vs. Comics

• Shakespearian sonnet vs. the Rabbi's Cat (comic)
• prose/poetry: even the font, ink color, spacing, etc. are chosen by printer and easily changed
• comics display every hand movement made by the creator
  • all color and line choices were deliberate, by the creator
  • only handwritten letters are more intimate
• good examples: The Spirit, Maus, Persepolis

American Born Chinese

• tried to take advantage of the medium's immediacy

how to identify the future comic creator

• likes to draw
• like stories in any medium
• have a unique vision of the world
• may not be very sexy... yet

why would a teacher want to use comics?

• in the old world, text was the primary medium of communication for academia
  • portable
  • easy to create
  • easy to reproduce
  • but not all info is best communicated this way
• new world: multimedia; computers changed everything
  • technology has rendered text's advantages almost obsolete
  • a single document can be made up of a variety of media (like a webpage with audio, photos, text, etc.)
    • approach this as a single, unified information source
  • in the new world, the info determines the medium (instead of defaulting to text)

comics is inherently a "multimedia" mediu,

• pictures + text
• teach them how to read/create comics, you're teaching them how to analyze media (appropriate medium)
  • each aspect to be communicated: in text? or in pictures?
• must combine media into a single, unified experience
  • have to think about how to mesh these two media into one experience

teaching students to make comics

• used to teach a computer art class
  • four units: still art, comics, animation, and film
• objectives of computer art:
  • students will integrate computer technology with traditional art media
  • teach critical thinking skills--integrate writing into an art curriculum

1. write a script
2. create character design
3. thumbnail sketches
4. pencil and ink
5. color on photoshop (after scanning in)

teaching students math using comics

• asked to be a longterm math teacher sub; had to be gone 2 - 3 days a week
• videotaped lectures did not go over well
• wrote lessons in comics (short, informal)
  • xeroxed and had his sub hand these out in class

Advantages

• visual (unlike textbook)
• permanent (unlike TV); student can determine own pace in the class
• http://www.geneyang.com/factoring/

so where did i go from here? (resources)

• Going Graphic, Stephen Cary (in ESL setting, with lesson plans)
• Graphic Novels in Your Media Center, Lyga & Lyga (how to select for a library collection, activities to promote literacy)
• http://www.diamoncomics.bom/bookshelf
  • targeted at librarians and educators
  • free lesson plans and reviews!!
• http://www.geneyang.com/comicsedu
  • talk about the two strengths of comics in education (visual, permanence)
  • in 1940s, there was a lot of research about this (derailed by 1950s outrage against comics)

Tuan Nguyen: outline of history of graphic novels and comics

• slide with many examples of different kinds of comics
• in 1930's, comics had a steady pace in marketplace
• 1950's: Seduction of the Innocents
  • psychologist linked comics and juvenile delinquency
• collections of serial publications in trade paperback
• graphic novels
  • started with Will Eisner's Contract with od
• magna grew shortly after this
  • bound from right side (looks like they read back to front, right to left)
• 1990's: shift in graphic novel / manga movement
  • School Library Journal started including reviews for them
  • libraries started collection them
• explosion in sales
  • 2001 = $43 million
  • 2006 = $330 million ($30 mil from library market, $200mil from manga sales)
• can track trends and sales on Diamond's website--also rated by age level
• study of public library circulation of graphic novels
  • circulate at about 50% of the entire collection: a lot of readers for this medium

Top 10 Mange and Graphic Novel Sales, 2006

• many titles for high school and adult readers in this list

historical events in comics

• Superman appears: 1938
• "Seduction of the Innocent:" 1954
• "A Contract with God" = 1978
• late 1980s: manga in America
• 1992: Maus
• 1998: Pokemon becomes first best-selling novel

Laura Jewell: Graphic Novels: build a collection and get teens involved

• a couple of places to start...

starting small

• seek out core collection lists (see handout)
• check bestsellers from Barnes & Noble
• ICV2.com (popular series, movie tiw-ins); put out sales every month
  • also great mailing list; keeps you up to date on news in the medium

expanding collection

• School Library Journal, etc.--graphic novel reviews
• Great Graphic Novels for Teens List (may be targeted at older teens)

the big leagues

• subscribe to specialty publications like Baker & Taylor Imagery catalog, Diamond Comics Previews
• Tales of Wonder mailing list: www.talesofwonder.com
• read comics blogs

great review blogs

• Precocious Curmudgeon
  • http://precur.blogspot.com
• Manga Blog
  • http://mangablog.net
• Comics Worth Reading
  • comicsworthreading.com

No Flying, No Tights

• website created by a librarian for librarians
• provides genre lists and recommendations
• good to use if you have a patron request for something you've never heard of--will have a review there; also good tie-breaker review source
• be sure to have a way that patrons can get their recommendations to you

more things to consider

• choose a variety of genres
• look for tie-ins to popular movies or TV series
• find similar authors in popular syles
• buy high quality bindings
  • these are getting better
  • more are being rebound as hardbacks, but often teens prefer paperbacks
  • couple of tricks to keeping paperbacks in shape:
    • staple before labeling
    • always laminate them
• there are rating systems, but they aren't perfect
• important to shelve things separately--have adult and kid titles in separate areas
  • your call about nonfiction: to separate out or not
  • easier to browse if you put them with graphic novels, not with regular nonfiction
  • stealing can be a challenge: see ALA's website for help

programming

• build programs to support the collection that you have
• many websites about teaching across the curriculum with comics
• events tailored to a specific book or series often work well--choose what it popular in your system
  • can make it a cultural event, particularly with manga
• superhero template: each person draws their own
• progressive superhero drawings--beating each other's superpowers
  • kind of like visual Mad Libs
• blank templates: Create a Comic Project
  • also like the dinosaura comic--have people fill in speech balloons
• host a discussion comparing movies and comics
• ask around to invite a comic creator or illustrator to speak at your library
  • maybe local comic book store--people who teach drawing, game nights, etc.
  • Comic Store Locator
• could start an anime or manga club
  • Graphic Novels in Libraries (website/list-serv)
• host a cosplay party
  • make candy sushi
  • play anime trivia other/games
• could publish a zine, compile art into booklet (one copy for your collection!)

what to do next

• GN-LIB list-serv
• ICV2.com mailing list
• Comic Store Locator

Q/A Session

• if you don't know about anime/manga, can get a kid to help you out, sponsor the club. found really great ideas from this panel about ways to grow that group.

• taught TX history; cartoon book as the official TX history textbook in the 40's or 50's. Six panels of pictures, and paragraph in the center/bottom. Mobile Oil published/created the book.

used this book and got kids creating their own comics like that. lots of kids who find school boring like drawing.

• Free Comic Book Day: May 3rd (saturday at local comic book stores) . can ask your local store to get the leftovers the day afterward to give out to kids.
  • freecomicbookday.com
  • not all comic book stores get the same free comics; if you're able to, look at several stores and see if you can find ou ahead of time from them what comics they will be getting

• group at our library: Hero Foundry (herofoundry.com); talk about firefighters, Greek myths, etc., also do a drawing workshop
  • George Lucas Activity foundation (?) -- has a herco creator

• what's your current project?
  • collection of short stories with Derek Kirk Kim, "Second Lives" (spring 2009)
  • "Four Angels," based on brother's experiences, drawn by Tin Fam, "I Like Eating" (food review strip)
  • historical fiction piece, set around Boxer Rebellion in China--no date on that

• Funimation: has discounted and free anime titles, good source for anime clubs
  • sent out titles for review--you screen it for your group, and then send it back
  • difference between manga and American comics, as illustrated in Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics
  • Hyai Miyozaki -- great way to talk about the differences in format: Naussica in anime and in manga, differences in storytelling between the two formats with the same story