By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/6/2015
Comics might just be the perfect medium for non-fiction. Words and pictures can combine with a narrative to allow for better communication. Graphs, photos, maps, schematics… all can be used to great effect. Couple this with the reader’s ability to set the pace of reading and comprehension, and the option of referring to previous pages and […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 3/25/2014
The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction has just announced a new MFA course in “Applied Cartooning”, which is a word I hear a lot hat talks about using comics for educational and informational purposes. When the cartoon Illuminati gets together they are all about Applied Cartooning, trust me. According to the announcement, this program will explore “how comics can impact such diverse fields as health, business, public policy, and education.”
With the increased interest in comics as a teaching and learning tool, this seems like a very forward looking course of study, and CCS is just the place to develop this program. CCS has already formed partnerships with White River Junction VA Medical Center, Montshire Museum of Science, Museum of the City of New York, and the US embassy in Bahrain to use comics in this way. More:
“This ground-breaking program builds on the past decade of rebirth and innovation in the comics world, and brings the power of cartooning and sequential art – not to mention the creative powers of CCS’s MFA students – to new frontiers, industries, and communities. Students will gain valuable job experience and connections, creative stimulation, and professional challenges through their applied thesis projects,” says cartoonist Marek Bennett. Marek, one the Applied Cartooning program advisors, is a New Hampshire-based teaching artist who has spent the past 12 years creating comics-based educational programs and community-based graphic novels in New England, Central America, and Eastern Europe.
“I am seeing an increasing number of young cartoonists who are as interested in using their skills in a broader, more socially active context as they are in holing up and focusing exclusively on a graphic novel,” says CCS cofounder and director James Sturm.
I’m trying to think what was the first American non-fiction comic book (as opposed to strip).
Lynn Ward, maybe?
Ugh, Ted Rall on Bernie Sanders…
Omaha Beach on D-Day was an amazing read! Short, but fascinating, especially the back matter behind the scenes stories.
Did you forget about TRASHED by Derf? While it is somewhat fictional, there is a heavy biography sense to it, plus real life educational matter. Plus it’s an excellent read!
Red Rosa was an interesting, well illustrated, but dense as hell read. Rewarding in a sense, because Rosa Luxembourg is slowly fading from the western consciousness for the most part, but is a figure who would fit in quite well in our modern world. I liked refreshing my knowledge on what she contributed to the greater world.
Non-fiction comic book?
Good question. Lynn Ward wrote fiction (although I might be mistaken).
Let me dig…
There is a biography of Al Smith, which was a comic strip and then published in a bound volume.
Texas History Movies also started as a comic strip, but gained popularity as a graphic novel.
1941? True Comics. http://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1016
1917? http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=40623
1911? http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM405310&R=405310
As for Trashed, that got overlooked.
Edelweiss has it subject’d as “graphic novel”.
I do recommend his work!