Not Just for Kicks: Expressing Difficult Content Using Comics Essay

A common description of comic books comes from their appearance in cartoons and comic strips, where a teacher catches a child reading a comic book tucked between the pages of their schoolwork. Prevailing attitudes formed off of this kind of perception render the idea of the comic form as a diversion, lacking serious content, and perhaps immature. However, the comic form uses many techniques to explore subject matter that is difficult to deal with in traditional educational ways. This paper will look to examine how immersion and symbolism within the comic form can be an effective tool to reproduce otherwise difficult situations, concepts, and ideas by using examples of texts from our class that make excellent use of these techniques, in particular Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Photographer, and Bound by Law. The graphic novel is grounded in stereotypes that belie their true expressive power, and the deconstruction of those stereotypes is the first step in accessing concepts that are misconstrued and difficult. As Scott McCloud states in Understanding Comics, "Sure, I realized that comic books were usually crude, poorly drawn...but they don't have to be" (McCloud 3), something we have witnessed through the sophistication of our texts this semester. By investigating how the comic form interacts with the reader, we can find many benefits that often position comics as an optimal vehicle for delivering informative and educational content where other mediums only barely suffice. However, separating the medium of comics from the content widely associated with them is a difficult task, and one that can only be changed by effective content delivered with effective comic technique. The main benefits of the graphic novel and comi... ...t is possible to express difficult material through methods other than comics, the examples presented in this essay prove that with proper use of techniques and an awareness of the content itself, graphic narrative can provide a much deeper and enriching experience than text or visual representation alone. Works Cited McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins, 1994. Print. Miyazaki, Hayao. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. Volume 1. San Francisco, CA: Viz Communications, Inc., 1995.2nd Ed. 2004. First published by Nibariki/Tokuma Shoten, Japan, 1994. Print. Guibert, Emmanuel, et al. The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors without Borders. New York and London: First Second, 2009. Print. Aoki, Keith, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins. Bound by Law. Duke Law School. 2006. Print.