Graphic Novels in the Classroom -- Blog 2

Despite the immense degree of my nerdiness and the fairly substantial comic book collection in my library—mostly old Spiderman and X-Men—my first interaction with a proper graphic novel was at the college education level. In my Intro to Fiction class (I think), we read The Dark Knight Returns as one of our assigned texts. Honestly, I have never been more excited to read an assigned book before in my life, and that includes reading parts of The Fellowship of the Ring my freshman year here at Eastern. I think graphic novel are important to include in English classes for a number of reasons. Graphic novels are more interesting to read than traditional novels, comics, in general, are a huge part of modern American Literature, and they will give the class an opportunity to discuss the effects that the medium has on the story itself.

Graphic novels utilize images, traditional the medium of children’s books, to tell adult-themed stories. In the same way that a children’s book tells a story with only a few words, a graphic novel does the same, but the graphic novel tells a story with deeper themes, with questionable morals, and with more thought-out characters, settings, and plots. Thus giving an English teacher more to discuss without having their students read thousands upon thousands over words.

Comics and graphic novels are a huge part of American literature and culture. Some of the biggest movies every year are based off of comic books and produced by comic companies. Marvel, for instance, is a household name. Everyone has heard of Marvel by now. Because if this, most students will, at the very least, have an opinion about graphic novels and comics. That opinion easily leads to a discussion with their peers about the graphic novel in question and about graphic novels in general. That discussion can lead them into traditional novels and voila, a new literature fan is born.


The obvious differences between a traditional novel and a graphic novel can change the way that the story is interpreted, as can a film adaption. Thusly, the class can now discuss how this medium affects the story, how would the story be different if it were traditionally written, and what does this change mean for the reader. 

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