Geek Appeal: Why there is more to using comic books in the RE classroom than you might first think – Rae Hancock

Comic books that include religious characters and themes have moved on since stories of St. Paul were published in the back of Eagle in the 1950’s and 60’s. Across comics, authors are using religious characters and themes and artists are finding ways to represent religious figures, experiences and behaviours. It is material rich for use in the RE classroom!

Although we feel we would know an example if we saw it, and could easily distinguish it from a novel, animation or a film, comics are not easily defined. Eisner (2008:xi) called them “sequential art”, McCloud (1993:9) went further emphasising the use of “deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or produce and aesthetic response in the viewer” and Labio (2011:124) mediates this with a “hybrid genre that is both visual and literary but that does not privilege text over image”. ‘Comics’ means different things to different people; what is important to note is that comics are a medium, not a genre. The medium now spans multiple genres and forms; they can come as the brightly coloured single issues more associated with superheroes, the weighty single volume graphic novels that win literary awards and many different forms in between.

There are many interesting scholarly texts on the relationship between superheroes and deity but these, in my opinion, tell us much about how we understand and create superheroes but nothing about deity. Examining superheroes is too easy; the challenge for learners is to engage with deeper, subtler religious dimensions of comic books (though Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel and first Muslim character to have her own Marvel comic series, is worth checking out. No Normal (Vol. 1), written by G. Willow Wilson, herself a Muslim, is a conscious effort to introduce positive female Muslim role models to the world of superheroes). But what is so special about comic books, why can’t these ends be accomplished through other mediums, say film or television?

Comics as a medium have suffered from the perception that they are for children (or more specifically, young boys and misogynistic men living in their parent’s basements), those who struggle with or are reluctant to read and those looking for a quick, shallow read. Yes, there are examples of each of these across comic history, but this is also a massive underestimation. Reading comics is not easy. It is a different kind of literacy that combines images and text and requires active participation. Static images are arranged in sequential panels (usually drawn boxes) but separated by the blank space of the ‘gutter’; the bit in between. In these spaces the reader is required to imagine in order to move the action on.  They must also fill in space, time and sensory information using cues drawn by the artist such as diagonal lines to represent rain falling. Crucially for our purposes, the artist must use recognisable symbols and imagery. For example, in order for God to be a recognisable part of the narrative, the artist must depict them in a manner that can be recognised by the readership.

It is an immersive experience that demands involvement from the reader. Unlike film or animation where the viewer is passive to the moving images, reading comics requires the reader to turn the page and to move themselves between panels. Sometimes pauses are needed to assimilate a change in the presentation; a single wordless panel, taking up the whole page as a contrast to the usual pace of narrative can cause the reader to stop, to consider the image differently, perhaps more deeply. However, the eye can also be allowed to wander as all the information it will soak up across the page contributes to the story-telling. It is this participatory element, I believe, that distinguishes comics as useful to RE. In employing a combination of imaginative and experiential knowledge with opportunities for re-examination and deeper reflection the reader is involved in an immersive experience.

There are two key ways in which I believe comics can be used in the RE classroom; reading them and making them. Each way is able to bring the student into contact with complex religious themes and give cause for reflection and will be discussed in the article from the view of an enthusiast. I will offer an overview of each of these aspects with the goal of introducing the possibility of using comics in the KS3, 4 and 5 RE classroom to educators who may previously have not known such a range exists or have shied away from what is [incorrectly] considered to be an insular, male-dominated, nerdy area of literature.

Firstly there are plenty of comics containing religious content and characters, a reason why they are now included in, but shouldn’t, I believe be limited to, the OCR GCSE specification. They are useful through out KS3, 4 and 5 either in their entirety or as selected pages and panels for analysis. Careful selection of material is vital though, for example whilst Garth Ennis’ series Preacher covers many of the themes discussed below and may in name appear useful to us, it contains a level of graphic violence that most adults would find challenging.

There are comics that can tell us about specific religious beliefs and practices, frequently they are written by members of the particular faith communities. For example Gene Luen Yang’s The Rosary Comic Book was written as a Lent activity that allowed the author to weave his faith into his work as a comic writer. It includes instructions on how to pray the rosary, the reasons behind prayer and the Luminous Mysteries, all in comic book form. Yang even gives instructions on how to pray along with the narrative with different shape panels representing different beads of the rosary. In Simone Lia’s Please God, find me a husband! the author depicts not only her personal quest for a husband but her inner faith journey and relationship with God. Throughout the narrative the main character comes into contact with a community of Roman Catholic nuns, spends time engaged in worship and imagines herself into Bible stories. The story ends with Lia reconnecting with God and bicycling with him into the sunset.

A visual medium such as comics does raise issues of how authors and artists choose to represent deity or if not, why not and the discussion can go much wider than controversial Danish cartoons. Osamu Tenzuka (coming from a Zen Buddhist background but moving to agnosticism later in life) chose to depict Brahma as a small, bearded old man in his classic story of Siddhartha Gautama; Buddha. However, in keeping with Jewish tradition, Will Eisner does not show God in his groundbreaking work A Contract With God. Rather his main character Hersh’s relationship with his creator is made all the more powerful by God’s absence.

Through examining comics we can analyse how members of faith communities choose to represent their faith, such as in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese or Steve Ross’ Marked (a re-telling of the Gospel of Mark). Or how non-religious people wish to represent religion from the outside for example in Ron Marz’ The Magdalena which has a dynasty of female warriors fighting for a Dan Brown-esque Vatican or Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem illustrating the challenges of life in contemporary Israel.

There are also possibilities for the textual analysis of sacred texts as there are a plethora of comic versions of the Bible; some better than others. Samples of these comics can open up discussions around the authority of sacred texts when retold or reinterpreted.  Does a comic Bible that chooses to present the story of Jesus as a single narrative with footnotes referring to the relevant passages have more or less authority as one without footnotes or a modern translation such as the NRSV? Comics also provide materials for the critical examination of literature created to promote religion and religious ideas.  For example, the controversial fundamentalist Jack Chick publications are written as proselytising guides instructing a particular evangelical brand of ‘appropriate’ Christian behaviour. His works could be considered in contrast to the work of comic creator Suleiman Bakhit who produces comics using Arab characters and themes to combat the extremist ideology young Arabs find themselves subjected to.

Secondly, and more briefly,  ‘storyboarding’ is a technique often used in KS2 and 3 classrooms, laying out a religious story panel by panel.  When done well, this offers opportunities to develop the literacy skills of selection, summarising and sequencing and it is often however, in RE terms, a superficial exercise with no opportunities for challenge. Following some of the techniques used by comic authors and artists can stretch learners to consider the inner and outer lives of their characters as two interrelated but separated experiences and open up opportunities for reflection and ‘learning from’. For example, guiding learners to use the words and pictures as interdependent (the combination communicates a deeper meaning than each part could separately) to create panels that show a character’s inner thoughts and outer actions require learners to consider the difference between the two.

Just like art, film, animation, literature and so on, there is a huge variety in genre and quality when it comes to comics. However, there are many skilled examples that can offer immersive, participatory experiences of religious themes and practices and glimpses into lives of faith. These comics, depicting many different religions, are worthy of our time as readers and inclusion into our classrooms.

References

Eisner, W. (2008) Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist. Rev. ed. of Comics and Sequential Art. New York. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc.

Labio, C. (2011) ‘What’s in a name? The academic study of comics and the graphic novel’ in Cinema Journal. 50:3 pp123-128

McCloud, S. (1993) Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York. Harper Collins.