You could argue that delving into the importance of comic books is inane. Open a comic book, and you can see … View Essay - ImportanceofComicBooksinEducation from ENGLISH 1101 at Frazee Secondary. Comics cartoons, also referred to as superhero cartoons, are one of the most under-appreciated forms of comic book media. The importance of comic book shops goes far beyond simply being a place where you can pick up the latest issues of your favorite Marvel, DC, or Independent titles. But these are stop-gap mechanisms, little binary plugs in the dam. This book, a primer for readers, creators, and students of comics, has become the default handbook for those interested in studying or analyzing comics. This is the medium-specific quality that make comics something more than simple storyboards, and this is the element of comics that brings us back to the internet and our endangered "deep reading" brains. Artists like Ware, Spiegelman, and Richard McGuire have extended the unique logic of comics to the book-length graphic novel. The reader is limited in time so he or she must be enthralled immediately to gain full attention. Comic books hold an undeniable significance in modern history. Both modes have their strengths: digital media may favor executive multitasking and multimodal information processing, whereas print promotes "deep reading," contemplation and the synthesis of new ideas -- foundational skills for our civilization. ); the wind would ruffle convincingly through Nemo's hair as his face registered every gradation of delight and terror (the recent cgi Peanuts trailer suggests some possibilities). So what are we supposed to do with this information? The particular syntax of comics has been most fully developed within the context of the single page format, so let's look at a really famous comics page. Here are 33 Interesting Comic Book facts. They were cheap, portable and had inspirational, patriotic stories of good triumphing over evil. Color is one of these important facets. They simply look up all the prices in the guide, usually blanket-grading their books as near mint minus (9.2), and multiply the number of comics … This typographical regime has affected the way we think, and even the ways in which we organize our culture. Spiegelman even discussed it in comics form for a 1987 piece in USA Today, and many examinations proceed from his analysis. As Marshall McLuhan explained, our culture and our brains have grown accustomed to linear, typographical sequence ever since Johannes Gutenberg developed the modern printing press half a millenium ago. Images support the text and give students significant contextual clues to word meaning. One of the best and most obvious benefits of comic books is that they can be more fun and easier to read than regular books. By the late 1980s, important comic books, such as the first appearance of a classic character or first issue of a long-running series, were sold for thousands of dollars. “Just sit … It channels our thoughts to construct a better picture of how we need heroes to behave, and what limits we set upon them to handle crisis that inevitably happens. It might help with a problem that had eluded you and the answer to your dilemma was spelled out. Robert Frost famously described poetry as the thing that gets lost in translation. The confrontation ensues and against seemingly impossible odds, the hero finds an answer in an unlikely place or person. The Pink Panther - Number 36 - July 1976, Legion Of Super-Heroes - No 17 - Dec 1985. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you. The "Superman Theme" is composed by John WIlliams. Part of HuffPost Entertainment. There is a built-in feedback loop at the end of this comic that takes us back to the beginning--to consider where we are and where we have been. Get Help With Your Essay In the United States these comic strips were first published as separate entities when the modern-format comic book was born, in the 1930s. 1-5 Comic Book Facts 1. Stan Lee planned on quitting the comic book industry until his wife Joan told him to write the type of characters he wanted to for his last project. Comic books established themselves as an independent media in which story abides its own rules; progression of story follows by specific use of frames sequences and their composition. The quandaries faced enable a person to see a situation and how it is dealt with. Similarly, we can extend that analysis to articulate something fundamental about comics that also relates to our current cognitive confusion. This can be extremely appealing to young children who would otherwise have little interest in reading traditional forms of books. The Golden Age was truly an idyllic time. It's important to emphasize this, because too many collectors (especially when it's time to sell their comic books) quote the "value" of the books in their collection.. "That's going to take some wisdom on our part." It would be less time consuming and allow the reader to engage in other activities. But anyone whose attention span has been radically rewired by the internet intuitively knows what scientific voices like Professor Maryanne Wolf are beginning to suggest: our brains process print media and digital media very differently when we read. In the visual society we live in today, students are more attracted to visual media than traditional textbooks. Seven years after the Kindle debuted and more than twenty since the web went public, the publishing field still contemplates a transition from print to digital, a change that seems inevitable every time a baby swipes an iPad on Youtube. But a thrilling model for "bi-literacy" already exists. But what would be lost in this translation from one form to another would be the poetics of comics: the aesthetic experience of simultaneously experiencing a comic's form and content so harmoniously that the contours of the comic's theme can be read in its architectural blueprint. And that’s exactly why the comics of this age caught like wildfire. Comics have come a long way in recent years, but the comics form is still often misunderstood. While closely aligned with literary culture, comics are also a kind of visual art. – Source… Comic books have the same elements as other narratives—characters, plot with conflict and resolution, setting, symbolism, theme, point of view, and others. People seem to have little time to read. Speaking to PRI International recently, Wolf offers a third way. In comic books they can be the hero, the nemesis, or a third party that may or may not become pivotal in the end. Comics provide narrative experiences for students just beginning to read and for students acquiring a new language. Comic books are important because people need them for an outlet. DC comic books, for example, have interconnected storylines and parallel worlds that if you try to read about them all, your head will explode. Use Your Imagination to Think Differently. In fact, the comic book still embodies the same virtues today. But looking at the bigger picture and what comic books represent, I would argue the reciprocal. This comics page by Winsor McCay was published in American newspapers in 1908, years before most American homes even had radios. Comic books offer a solution to the active person. Nemo's bed keeps on growing as it journeys through the city, ultimately growing so tall that it skips over skyscrapers, and, finally, tumbles over a steeple, sending Nemo plummeting downward - back into his bed, and back into his waking life. Now that much of the world is online, we struggle to process infinite fragments of simultaneous information offered by non-linear media. I made this video for a project in my AP English class. The Library’s vast trove of comic books exposes a unique and revealing history of American popular culture. And while we do also read comics, comics induce ways of reading that are very different from prose. You might have to apply it differently than the comic book did, but the answer could have been contained within the story. Mister Miracle And Big Barda. Back in 1977 author Michael Uslan stated the following about the nature of comic books. The sales of comic books increased markedly during World War II. Today is National Voter Registration Day! By Brent Staples. It channels our thoughts to construct a better picture of how we need heroes to behave, and what limits we set upon them to handle crisis that inevitably happens. Do we accept the loss of deep reading in exchange for skills that can keep pace with our accelerating technology? They don't feel like a solution that can take us into the future. They can be almost magical places that, for folks young and old, can create a lifelong love of the genre and a sense of community in an actual real-world location. | Subscribe: RSS The reader now has time to dwell on what transpired, what could have been done, what should have been done and a myriad of other possible outcomes. Comic books are important because the venue in which they are supplied is an alternative to regular book reading. Presented in comic form, Understanding Comics offers a wealth of examples and analyses of different aspects of comics, The legs of his bed begin to grow and the bed comes to life, trotting like a horse out the door of his family's home. Like any art form, comics has its own medium-specific properties that allow us to express ideas that can’t be expressed in any other way. The comic books embodied the virtues of what it was to fight evil during World War II. Today, many are experimenting with ways to extend key aspects of comics' form into the digital realm (even Ware is currently running comics on The Guardian's website). If anything, the internet has shown us the value of sequence and structure. Since day one as Director of Character and Content Development at Marvel Comics, Sana Amanat has pushed to create and promote superheroes who aren't just straight white men. They are shorter in length so a person who is more visual will get additional enjoyment out of a forty-eight page comic book versus a short story or a novel. However, a comic book at a lower reading level might give kids the reading confidence they need while boosting reading and language skills. Comic books are probably the most popular form of reading material for young people in Hong Kong. Time management and comic books are synonymous in the vein of everyday life. Digital texture artists would show us what kind of wood Nemo's bed is made from (oak? 9. Editorial Observer; Why Comics Are as Important as Shakespeare. A person may identify with a certain character because the personality the superhero or villain embodies what the person visualizes, or identifies with. While closely aligned with literary culture, comics are also a kind of visual art. This iconic page has been frequently celebrated and analyzed precisely because of its many exemplary formal qualities. As we struggle within the cognitive tug of war of our new media landscape, comics offer a useful model for a new type of reading: one that might help resolve the tensions of the current media age to move us toward new productive modes of expression and understanding. More like collage, comics represent a conceptual strategy that can embrace all kinds of artwork into its method. scientific voices like Professor Maryanne Wolf are beginning to suggest, This comics page by Winsor McCay was published, Robert Frost famously described poetry as the thing that gets lost in translation. But looking at the bigger picture and what comic books represent, I would argue the reciprocal. Once the comic book is finished being read, very little time had elapsed. If you grew up reading Archie or Spider-Man comics, you … The busy lifestyle, the children’s needs, all those requirements play a role in time constraints. In the Little Nemo page above, the reader returns to a non-linear point of view after reading the initial narrative sequence in order to activate the reflection and synthesis we associate with deep reading -- the thing that we fear we will lose in an online world. The internet has vastly extended our capabilities and offers revolutionary possibilities that we have barely begun to understand. But constant hyperlinking and mode-switching is exhausting, and disruptive to concentration. When you watch a movie, you’re pretty passive. Comics act as a scaffold to student understanding. | Back to Top ↑. Students follow story beginnings and endings, plot, characters, time and setting, sequencing without needing sophisticated word decoding skills. Yet the reading of the comic book doesn’t end there. A graphic novel section probably appeared in your local bookstore some time after the year 2000, featuring a growing number of great, book-length comics including Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and Art Spiegelman's earlier breakthrough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus. Comic books are important because they represent a segment of the population that like to fantasize that they can escape the hardship of everyday life. It may permit a person to see situations in life differently and hence; think outside the box when warranted. "What we're after is a discerning 'bi-literate' brain," she argues. TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: Since day one as Director of Character and Content Development at Marvel Comics, Sana Amanat has pushed to create and promote superheroes who aren't just straight white men. He or she is thrust into an unknown situation that demands total attention. Series Editor for The Best American Comics, Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter. In comic books they can be the hero, the nemesis, or a third party that may or may not become pivotal in the end.