Tag, You’re It: Enhancing Access to Graphic Novels

Imagination and Representation in Graphic Novels

Author’s note: Converting my AEPL presentation to an article required a few changes in structure. In addition, I incorporated material from the handouts and answers to questions that audience members raised. During the presentation, participants examined excerpts from graphic narratives, which are not included here. However, the activities are described for those who would like to find the imag...

To the instruction cave, librarian!: Graphic novels and information literacy

Die a Graphic Death: Revisiting the Death of Genre with Graphic Novels, or “Why won’t you just die already?” Graphic Novels and the Slow Death of Genre

In “The Death of Genre: Why the Best YA fiction Often Defies Classification” (The ALAN Review, 35.1: 43-50), Scot Smith speaks of having to constantly reclassify and reshuffle texts as he and his students consider the books on the genre lists used in his classes. Knowing that “Young adult literature has a long tradition of authors whose works defy genre classification” (43), he mulls over the i...

Digital Graphic Novels: Technology Enhanced Narrative for Learning

The effectiveness of digital graphic novels (DGN) has never been measured from the perspective of interaction design (IxD) although previous studies regarded DGN as having materiality and multisensoriality characteristics which were crucial for most purposes and territories, especially for students’ learning. Teaching a dry graduate course with most of the traditional methods has been too dull ...

Comprehending comics and Graphic Novels: Watchmen as a Case for Cognition

Reading Watchmen: A cognitive perspective In the opening sequence of Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-1987), a disheveled man wanders the streets of New York, carrying a sign warning of the end of the world. He steps through puddles on the sidewalk, while a bloodstained smiley face pin lies in the street. Through panel narration we are introduced to Rorschach's journal, and althou...