With Great Power Comes Great Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning, and Comics

Contributions by Bart Beaty, Jenny Blenk, Ben Bolling, Peter E. Carlson, Johnathan Flowers, Antero Garcia, Dale Jacobs, Ebony Flowers Kalir, James Kelley, Susan E. Kirtley, Frederik Byrn K hlert, John A. Lent, Leah Misemer, Johnny Parker II, Nick Sousanis, Aimee Valentine, and Benjamin J. Villarreal

More and more educators are using comics in the classroom. As such, this edited volume sets out the stakes, definitions, and exemplars of recent comics pedagogy, from K-12 contexts to higher education instruction to ongoing communities of scholars working outside of the academy.

Building upon interdisciplinary approaches to teaching comics and teaching with comics, this book brings together diverse voices to share key theories and research on comics pedagogy. By gathering scholars, creators, and educators across various fields and in K-12 as well as university settings, editors Susan E. Kirtley, Antero Garcia, and Peter E. Carlson significantly expand scholarship.

This valuable resource offers both critical pieces and engaging interviews with key comics professionals who reflect on their own teaching experience and on considerations of the benefits of creating comics in education. Included are interviews with acclaimed comics writers Lynda Barry, Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and David Walker, as well as essays spanning from studying the use of superhero comics in the classroom to the ways comics can enrich and empower young readers.

The inclusion of creators, scholars, and teachers leads to perspectives that make this volume unlike any other currently available. These voices echo the diverse needs of the many stakeholders invested in using comics in education today.


About the Author
Susan E. Kirtley is professor of English, director of composition, and director of comics studies at Portland State University. She is winner of the 2013 Eisner Award for Best Educational/Academic Work for her book Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass, published by University Press of Mississippi. Antero Garcia is assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. He is author of Good Reception: Teens, Teachers, and Mobile Media in a Los Angeles High School. Peter E. Carlson is literacy curriculum specialist and English instructor at Green Dot Public Schools in Los Angeles, California. Carlson's research has appeared in journals, and in the book Literacy Enrichment and Technology Integration in Pre-Service Teacher Education.