Secondary English Network

Let’s make artefacts that are not faux-games or movies but something other, something so rare and strange it might as well be a window into another universe because that’s what it is.

- Grant Morrison

Last night, the National Library of Scotland hosted an evening for educators centred on its “Local Heroes” exhibition. Naturally, I was keen to go along to see what the “experts” were saying about using comics in the classroom and hopefully pick up some ideas for when I head back to the chalkface. The event was divided between free time to browse the exhibition, a talk from Dr Mel Gibson (::sigh:: no, not that Mel Gibson) and Glasgow graphic artist Gary Erskine (and, as he’s keen to point out: not this Gary Erskine).

Vote for Gary in the 2008 Eagle Awards!

The Exhibition

The exhibit itself displays many of the pieces from the library’s graphic novel and comic collection, alongside a potted history of the growth of comics over the last 200 years. While it was of interest to me, I felt it was aimed at an audience that was totally unfamiliar with the medium. The history was too potted and lacked any real focus or depth in the various areas it covered (two paragraphs on the Golden Age of comics doesn’t really do it justice, considering the same space was given to Viz and Electric Soup) and seemed preoccupied with asserting an “underground cool” without much focus. It was hard to pin down exactly who the exhibition is aimed at - too “adult” for kids, too esoteric for the uninitiated and too thin for geeks nerds fanboys enthusiasts. The way the volumes was presented was equally confusing, with often just the covers of comics displayed behind glass, with no annotation or explanation of their significance. Seeing Grant Morrison’s out-of-print and very hard to find “Bible John: A Meditation” six inches from my hand, and unable to look through it, was the epitome of frustration.

Speaking of whom, one of the highlights of the exhibit is a video piece by Morrison (from Channel 4 arts programme “Half Way to Paradise”, which I vaguely remember from my yonger days) back when he still had hair. In his typically deadpan style, he mocks the way in which comics were being picked up by “sophisticates” and analysed by intellectuals (I hope the irony wasn’t lost on the NLS), while also taking time to discuss his (in)famous Batman outing “Arkham Asylum”, including mention of the crossing-dressing, Madonna-esque Joker he had planned, sadly censored by DC Comics.

Dr Mel Gibson

Mel is author of LTScotland’s “Graphic Novels Across the Curriculum” resource which did well to argue the case for using sequential art in education and raise its profile, but I felt was decidedly unpractical for any teachers unsure of how to approach their study. Thankfully in person, she is much more direct and brimming with ideas on how to integrate comics into the curriculum, tempered with an almost limitless enthusiasm for the medium.

She began with tackling manga (or “mango” as one colleague had inadvertently dubbed it) - Japanese comics which are seeing explosive popularity among teenagers in Britain. It was posited as one of the easiest ways to accessing ACfE’s cross-curricular themes, as she gave the example of one school who took themselves off timetable for a whole week to explore manga and Japanese culture. This involved: screenings of anime movies, book talks, Japanese language lessons, exploring cultural beliefs, costume making (also known as cosplay, where fans dress up in frighteningly accurate replicas of manga characters’ costumes), manga hair styling, sushi tasting, manga art classes and manga publishing…or, to put it another way: Media Studies, English, RMPS, Home Economics, Hairdressing, Art and Design, and Enterprise.

While manga is an excellent way to engage children, Mel noted that staff can often be reluctant to engage with costumed heroes and wide-eyed coquettish schoolgirls. This is where Raymond Briggs can come in very useful. Briggs is familiar and “safe” to most teachers although, as Mel demonstrated, he is extremely cutting edge in terms of his graphic storytelling and challenging in his themes (the nuclear holocaust of “When The Wind Blows”, dealing with childhood bereavement in “The Snowman” and, er, faecophilia in “Fungus the Bogeyman”).

Staff enthusiasm without background knowledge can be a dangerous thing, though, as Dr Mel related the story of one librarian who bought in several volumes of manga simply based on their cover…which turned out to be mostly shonen-ai and yaoi, that is boy/boy romance narratives.

Mel’s enthusiasm for comics is very contagious. It was great to see the audience present visibly perk up and get wide-eyed with excitement after her talk. It’s a very worthwhile pursuit to track down her website both for her own ideas and as a launchpad to a variety of quality sites on using comics (dare I say it) seriously.

Gary Erskine

Gary has been a professional artist for 20 years now and has risen to prominence as a penciller and inker of comics. He puts a lot of his success down to the encouragement that he received from his art teacher in school and a lot of his talk centred on what we, as educators, can do to stimulate and encourage creativity of all kinds in our pupils, whether that be in art, writing or enterprise. When Alan Grant visited in February, he mentioned how he regretted not paying more attention to the business side of the comics industry as, often, this is where most of the success can be had. The prime example is Todd Macfarlane who, after completing a business course, went on to become one of the comics industry’s leading entrepreneurs.

To make a career out of comics, Gary said, is still a very real and achieveable goal, especially with the use of the internet as a tool for self-publishing, networking and publicity. He related the story of how a young Grant Morrison came into the now-defunct AKA Comics in the now-demolished Virginia Galleries in Glasgow saying to him, “I have an idea…” - that idea was “Arkham Asylum”, which he then proposed to DC - they accepted - and the comic went on to make Morrison over £1 million. A story which went in direct contrast to Erskine’s school careers advisor’s options for him of the bank, the army or a call centre (a trend which seems to still linger today).

Even if they do not lead to a career in the field, Gary maintains that they are a great stimulus for creativity - which he has witnessed first hand working with children. He observed that comics are often kept in a clandestine position, which we need to bring out and nurture the drawing or writing that a lot of children do in secret. This is often due to us teachers attaching a stigma to comics which, as Gary and Mel have proven, simply should not exist.

One of Gary’s most recent projects (aside from “Dan Dare” with Garth Ennis) is on the “Classical Comics” line of literary adaptations. While many have criticised these as “dumbing down” Shakespeare (although, this trend appears to be changing) he remains passionate about the potential of bringing Shakespeare to life with comics. This comes down to the nature of drama texts, that they are meant to be seen and it’s not always possible for pupils to see Shakespeare plays (and if they do, chances are that the director will have made some dubious modern changes to the text). So, the comics bring the theatre to the pupils, as well as allowing them the ability to flick through the text in a non-linear manner and absorb the richness of the play much more easily.

He also spoke quite passionately about the potential of comics as a tool for social integration within school. He posited a 2/3 term project whereby pupils produce a comic that will be sold to raise funds for the school (in enterprise terms, working for themselves and with the school). By drawing on a diverse range of experiences and getting pupils to draw and write about what they know, what they like, what they care about, Gary seems certain that it can promote understanding between “the emos and the hi-energy dance kids”.

In all, it was a very worthwhile and inspiring evening. I managed to speak to Gary after the talk (getting my copy of “The Filth” signed in the process) who continued to impress me with a real passion for his craft and a belief in the inspiring nature of education (very refreshing in light of comments made by certain other comic creators who tend to talk very negatively about their school experiences). I also managed to bump into Dr Mel in Waverley Station on my way home who revealed a little bit too much about her passion for Grant Morrison…but it’s nice to know that I wasn’t the biggest geek in the room for once.