Educational Comics

I'm inclined to think educational comics should be good teaching tools, but perhaps I'm misled by my own love of comics. I remember reading a comics account of the Burke and Wills expedition in primary school. It extended my knowledge of the events at the time, but the details didn't all stay with me. I read one or two issues of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe in high school, and I don't know I learned much from it: but then, I wasn't interested in history at the time, and it was too irreverent for me. I found the issue of Chester Brown's Louis Riel here fascinating when I read it a few years ago. I don't know my encounters with educational comics extend much past this. (I can think of some religious comics I've encountered.)

Have any of you guys had interesting experiences with educational comics?

Replies

The Baron February 19, 2010 at 10:34am

I haven't read alot of "educational" comics per se. I have read the two volumes of Japan Inc. by the late Ishinomori Shotaro, which were a sort of introduction to the world economy from the point of view of Japan. The first volume is the more memorable of the two - it was originally published in 1986 in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the Japanese equivalent of The Wall Street Journal. It describes and explains the world economy of the time through the device of showing how they affect the lives and careers of various management and office workers at the fictional Toyosan Motors. It's interesting, because it shows you quite a bit about how the Japanese saw themselves and the U.S. It's mostly set int he Reagan Era, with brief digressions back to the 70's and the 30's.

Volume Two focuses on a different set of characters, in particular a young Japanese woman who went to school in the U.S, but has returned to Japan. It discusses problems in banking, software piracy and something called the Kondratieff Cycle and sunspots, which apparently some people take seriously, but which sound sto me like one of these "The nation that controls zinc will control the universe" gimmicks.

This being a Japanese comic, there's a certain amount of the obligatory sex and violence - not too much, and nothing too graphic, but I thought I should mention that it is there.

Ishinomori is perhaps most famous for creating Cyborg 009, which featured the first super-hero team created in Japan. He was mentored by Doctor Tezuka, and you can see the doctor's influence on Ishinomori's art-style.
Dagwan February 19, 2010 at 10:40am

Action Philosophers is terrific, and I have no real interest in philosophy normally.
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PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod February 19, 2010 at 7:46pm

Go Nagai's I Saw It was a very interesting account of the atomic bombing.
Ana Canino-Fluit (Anacoqui- mod) February 20, 2010 at 6:28pm

At the school libraries I have been interning there are a lot of educational graphic novels. They are sold directly to libraries, and the art is just so-so but they are incredibly popular. Some of the titles I have seen have dealt with primarily historical topics and biographies of important figures.
Luke Blanchard February 20, 2010 at 10:11pm

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I have an idea that kids read comics more readily than prose, but little to base it on, so information like yours, Ana, is very interesting to me.
Luke Blanchard February 25, 2010 at 11:46am

If I might be pardoned for bumping the thread: does anyone out there have any further stories?
The Baron February 25, 2010 at 11:48am

I have one I'm thinking of, but I don't have it in front of me, so I'd have to wait until tomorrow to comment on it.
Doc Beechler (mod-MD) February 25, 2010 at 12:06pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Evening_Calm,_Country_of_Cherr...

This manga about Hiroshima and the effects years after the bomb were educational to me as they were presented in a very personal way by the author.
PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod February 25, 2010 at 12:11pm

Correction: I Saw It was done by Keiji Nakazawa.
The Baron February 25, 2010 at 12:17pm

Doc Beechler said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Evening_Calm,_Country_of_Cherr...

This manga about Hiroshima and the effects years after the bomb were educational to me as they were presented in a very personal way by the author.

I've got a copy of that - it's pretty good. I wouldn't've thought of it as "educational" as such, but it is certainly a story that one could learn from.

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