New Structures in Scriptwriting with Linda Aronson

Scriptwriting guru Linda Aronson will be presenting a seminar on "New Structures in Scriptwriting for Film and TV" at the Australian Film and Television Radio School (AFTRS), which will be particularly apt for advanced comic book writers. The two-day masterclass on advanced theories and techniques for creating original story design routinely provokes standing ovations from acclaimed and experienced film writers all over the world. Linda explodes the conventional screenwriting theory which assumes that structures means only one hero on a linear chronological journey. Instead she takes on and provides practical writing guidelines for writing flashback scripts, Pulp Fiction structures, multiple storyline films and fractured forms. Linda demonstrates how 18 of these modern forms work to predictable patterns, and provides practical templates for writing them.

Don't leave it till too late. Last time Linda gave a class in Australia the event was booked out and lots of people couldn't get in.

Sydney 
Date: Saturday 22 to Sunday 23 February 2014
Time: 9.30am to 5.30pm (16 hours total)
Venue: Australian Film and Television Radio School (AFTRS)
Cost: $495 / $445.50 GST exempt

Melbourne
Date: Saturday 1 to 2 March 2014
Time: 9.30am to 5.30pm (16 hours total)
Venue: Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)
Cost: $495 / $445.50 GST exempt

CLICK HERE for further information and bookings.

The Ledger Awards Announced for 2014

The Ledger Awards, established to acknowledge and promote excellence in comic arts and publishing in Australia, are being re-launched in Melbourne in April 2014. Inaugurated in 2005, they return after a five-year hiatus with a new structure and a new major sponsor: Supanova Pop Culture Expo Fully independent and run as a not-for-profit annual event, they are named after the pioneering Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger (1945 – 1994).

Gold, Silver and Bronze Ledgers will be presented for outstanding comics work published in the calendar year 1 January to 31 December 2013. Two Platinum Ledgers will also be awarded to acknowledge individuals whose contributions to comic art, publishing and community in Australia have helped shape the art form in a meaningful way.

For more information visit: http://ledgerawards.org
The call for entries information is here: http://ledgerawards.org/long-list-2013/ 

Inkers and Thinkers Symposium

The University of Adelaide will be holding the Inkers and Thinkers – The Evolution of Comics Symposium on Friday 14 April 2014. It is being organised by the Discipline of Media with the assistance of the J M Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. 

This is an inter-disciplinary symposium, so researchers from all disciplines, artists and writers will be presenting 20 minute talks about some aspect of the comics medium they feel needs to be discussed as we push on well into the 21st century. Comics as become well entrenched in the Australian cultural landscape in the past decade and it’s here to stay and only get better. Comics veteran (and Comics Masterclass team member and coach!) is giving the keynote speech, where he will talk about the state of comics publishing in Australia and where he think it needs to go 

For more information go to: http://www.inkersandthinkers.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Inkers-and-Thinkers/627408450630622

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InkersNThinkers

Remember, it is on the Friday before Ozcomicon Adelaide next year, so you may want to go attend that as well.

Comics Masterclass Commercial

If you haven't caught it yet on our YouTube channel, then check our the Comics Masterclass Script Assessment Service commercial. Thanks to Paul Caggegi for his great fast-paced and funny production.

MEDIA RELEASE: Black Mermaid Productions™ Launches Comics Masterclass™

MEDIA RELEASE
8 September 2013

Australian comics team and publisher Black Mermaid Productions™ has just launched its new professional development arm—Comics Masterclass™. Originally conceived in 2011 as a one-off weekend event that was run in conjunction with the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) and which attracted participants from around the country, Comics Masterclass™ has now evolved into a brand in its own right and a niche service that offers creative, business and self mastery opportunities to Australian (and overseas!) comics creators.

Comics Masterclass™ has three big picture goals:

1. To help emerging and developing comics practitioners realise their creative potential
2. To contribute towards creating an Australian comics economy where comics creators’ published works, expertise and experience are valued both critically and commercially, and
3. To facilitate the shift from an Australian comics community to a thriving internationally recognised and commercially viable industry.

The first offering is the Comics Masterclass™ script assessment service for emerging and developing comikers who are working on comic books, graphic novels, webcomics and comic / cartoon strips. This is the first dedicated comics script assessment service in Australia.

Says co-Black Mermaid Productions™ Director Julie Ditrich, “We have been talking to Australian comics creators about their professional needs for many years now. We become increasingly aware that there was a demand for critical feedback on comics projects in development but that no professional services were available to take on that task, which is why we came up with the idea of a comic script assessment service that critiques both writing and sequential art. It took us over a year to organise and assemble a high calibre team of qualified comics professionals with vast publishing credits, as well as editing and teaching experience, who would work as assessors and provide value and direction in this creative medium.”

Comics Masterclass™ is also pioneering in the Australian comics landscape by providing a variety of other services including creativity coaching, premium coaching, professional consultations, proofreading, editing and a counseling referral service. Furthermore, from 2014 it will also offer short courses and weekend intensives.

“We predict that Australia is about five years away from exploding onto the international stage and producing world class comics talent and publications in a big way,” says Black Mermaid Productions™ co-Director Jozef Szekeres, “We believe that Comics Masterclass will be at the forefront of facilitating this growth in the Australian cultural landscape.”

Ultimately, Comics Masterclass™ is about encouraging and nurturing new comics talent, and offering a safe place for creators to develop their creative and entrepreneurial skills.

For further information contact Julie Ditrich or Jozef Szekeres on
Phone: +61 2 9606 4728
Email: media@comicsmasterclass.com
Website: www.comicsmasterclass.com 

Comics Articles of Note [UPDATED: 03/08/13]

We've come across some interesting overseas comics trends, as well as coverage on the Australian comics scene by major arts blogs. 

Amazon has just jumped into digital comics publishing via its imprint – Jet City Comics, which is exclusively available on the Kindle. Read all about it at Bleeding Cool "Amazon Publishes Its Own Comics, From George R.R. Martin, Mike S Miller And Jimmy Palmiotti". 

ArtsHub has covered Aussie comics in two recent articles – one chronicling a publisher's journey and the second one chronicling a creator's journey. "Australian Comic Industry Still Finding Its Feet", focuses on Gestalt Publishing and "Breaking into Comics" focuses on Nicola Scott (Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman). 

Salon has also run an article on "Great graphic novels from 2012", which features Pat Grant's wonderful Blue, the tale of the coastal town of Bolton, a gang of truants who skip school because they want to check out the dead body on the railway track, and the noodle-eating blue-skins who come in as boat-people (nay, "boat-creatures") and attempt to assimilate but end up imposing their own cultural values and traditions on the town and its inhabitants with nary a thought or any respect. The Top 10 list also includes Sailor Twain, Or: The Mermaid in the Hudson by US graphic novelist Mark Siegel, which we covered in a previous blog post.

It's great that Australian comics are finding their way into mainstream arts media. Congratulations to Nicola, Pat and Gestalt for their respective coups!

Storyology

The Walkley Foundation, which is an initiative of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) in Australia, is running a four day conference called Storyology in August. 

Storyology is a summit of media and creativity for journalists, screenwriters, authors. satirists, entrepreneurs, multimedia specialists, documentary makers, photographers, producers and bloggers. It's about sharing the secrets of making stories sing and inspiring and creating the unexpected. Storyology is for those who write the words to create compelling narrative; whose imagery and sound conveys a world beyond language; whose technological brilliance allows well-told stories to cross the globe and traverse borders. This year's theme "Ideas write now!" is all about rethinking the story paradigm and exploring the rapidly expanding platforms on which great stories are being told. 

And why are we telling you this? Well... amongst the outstanding lineup of speakers is BMP friend and comics compatriot W Chew "Chewie" Chan who will be doing a session on graphic novels on Day 2 of the program. This means that the comics medium is getting traction in the greater Australian media and cultural scene. Great stuff!




The entire program looks AMAZING! Day 1 focuses on the "Asian Century". Days 2 and 3 is the main program, and Day 4 gives a "Freelance Focus". There are also masterclasses and social events.

Dates: Tuesday 6 to Friday 9 August 2013
Times: Various from day to day with multiple sessions on some days. 
Venue: NSW Teachers' Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills NSW 2010.
Cost: There are separate rates for Alliance and non-Alliance members, and there are half day, full day and full program plus workshop rates so please refer to the Ticket information page on the website.
For more information: http://www.storyology.org.au/

Elf~Fin Poll Results

We recently asked our readers to vote on a poll to determine whether they were interested in purchasing Elf~Fin: Hyfus & Tilaweed comics: (1)  solely in a US comics format which will be available through comics stores, (2) in a larger Treasury Edition which will be available directly through BMP, or (3) in both print formats.

52% of the respondents favoured the third option, 33% wanted the Treasury edition only, and 15% wanted the US standard size. What this means is that we're going ahead with the Treasury edition and the US standard size (pending approval from Diamond Distributors on the latter) so it's good news all round – a win / win / win situation!

Thank you to everyone for voting.

Mermaids in Comics 6 – The Mermaid

This mermaid comic is a similar take to the comics story which we covered in Mermaids in Comics 2 – The Little Sea Maid, except that it is coloured and only one page instead of six. This piece comes from the Princess Comic (26/08/67) and is cited as being a being a story from a ballet. The comic comes courtesy of one our readers – Terence – who we thank for bringing it to our attention.

Orphan Works Revisited

In 2008 we covered the proposed Orphan Works Bill in two blog posts: "Orphan Works Bill" which covered what it is and how it will affect writers and artists, and "Orphan Works Bill Update", which presents a speculative case study on how it could affect a visual artist. The Bill was temporarily abandoned by Congress in 2008 to the relief of many authors and artists but has just reared its ugly head again. The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) has also been on the case and has just reported a summary of its findings to Australian literary creators. Here's some of what the ASA has had to say:

Wednesday evening, US District Court Judge Harold Baer ruled that the mass book digitisation program conducted by five major US universities in conjunction with Google is a fair use under US copyright law. Under that program, Google has converted millions of copyright-protected library books into machine-readable files, duplicating and distributing the digitised books to university libraries. The universities pooled the digitised books into an online database organised by the University of Michigan known as HathiTrust. We disagree with nearly every aspect of the court's ruling...

To read more about it – especially the section about books that were classified as "orphan works" when the author is still very much alive in Australia, check out The ASA Bulletin – October 2012. Seems like the entire idea is rather flawed and extremely suspect.

Mermaids in Comics 3 – Sailor Twain, or, The Mermaid in the Hudson

We LOVE First Second books! First Second is a US publisher of graphic novels. Julie has a huge collection of American and translated European works from its catalogue. So we were delighted to discover that Sailor Twain Or The Mermaid in the Hudson has just been released and as the title tells you—it features a mermaid.

We haven't read it because it was released just last week, but it was reviewed on the ICv2 website. Here's part of the review:

In Sailor Twain, Siegel introduces readers to late-nineteenth century New York, specifically the culture and life of the Hudson River. Siegel deserves commendation as Sailor Twain is more than a modern and affectionate experiment in or homage to genre fiction--instead, Sailor Twain finds common ground in the serialized nature of nineteenth-century literature, the horror and atmosphere of Edgar Allan Poe combined with the intrigue of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the comedic sensibilities of travelling stage performances that later formed the basis for vaudeville as well as early silent cinema and newspaper comics. Told in retrospection through a conversation between Captain Twain and a mysterious, unknown woman named Miss Camomille, the story traverses the Gilded Age and Civil War eras aboard the Lorelei, along the shore, and below the Hudson River itself. With a cast resembling a ship of lost souls, Siegel has crafted an original and innovative supernatural and romantic tale involving the disappearance of passengers coinciding with the arrival of a wounded mermaid named South.

You can spot the mermaid in the video from the 0.39sec mark. Looks like this is one for our Christmas list... to give to each other, of course.

GRAPHIC 2012 Launch – Festival of Firsts

We're going on record to say that we're great fans of the annual GRAPHIC event—a weekend of graphic storytelling, animation and music that is held at the Sydney Opera House. We've attended multiple sessions over the last two years and had a fabulous time, so we were pretty pleased to receive an invitation to attend the launch last night where we got an insider's view of what's coming up in November.

GRAPHIC celebrates and often fuses the three different art forms. One example in this year's lineup is "Dr Seuss Meets Elefant Traks" (Sun 11 Nov)—a collective of 25 performers that will musically support the whimsical imagery from Dr Seuss's surreal universe. Another is "Radio with Pictures" (Sun 11 Nov) which is part radio, part comic strip and a whole lot of live performance. Oz illustrators Matt Taylor, Biddy Maroney, Matt Huynh, Leigh Rigozzi and more are featured in this session. Several of these artists appeared in last year's Oz comics panel and did sensational presentations so this is one session that's on our radar.

The major animation headliner is Pixar Animation Studios. which will feature in a "Behind the Screens" session (Sat 10 Nov) that will be held in the concert hall. Another favourite of ours and a must see on our schedule is "Animal Logic's History of Computer Animation" (Sun 11 Nov).

In the comics department, we've got "Peter Bagge's Hate! & Other Neat Stuff" (Sun 11 Nov). This year, GRAPHIC will give gaming its place in the sun.  This will come in the form of "The Good Game: Roffle Cup Live" (Sun 11 Nov), which is a quiz show similar to ABC's "Spicks and Specks" except that it focuses on computer games. In addition, the comics making workshop held during the previous two years will be replaced by a "Gaming Workshop: Gaming Level Design" (Sat 10 Nov).

We also have it on good authority that there will be some additional panel sessions, which have not been scheduled yet.

Once again, curators Jordan Verzar and Ben Marshall have done a great job planning this years lineup, which is not only original but bound to be inspirational.

CLICK HERE if you want to check out the program. Tickets go on sale on Monday 17 September 2012.  Make sure you get in early because they sell out fast.

The Not So Secret Kinky Life of Wonder Woman Article [UPDATED 10/09/12]

Trouble Magazine recently asked me to write a short article about Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston who wrote comic books under the pen name of Charles Moulton until his death from cancer in 1947 at the age of 54. Turns out that the exceptionally gifted Moulton (he was a psychologist, lawyer and educational consultant amongst other occupations!) channeled some of his secret sexual predilections into his Wonder Woman stories—the main one being S&M and  B&D. For those of you who don't know what these acronyms stand for, read the upcoming quote from a letter to his publisher for a clue...

This, my dear friend, is the one truly great contribution of my Wonder Woman strip to moral education of the young. The only hope for peace is to teach people who are full of pep and unbound force to enjoy being bound… Only when the control of self by others is more pleasant than the unbound assertion of self in human relationships can we hope for a stable, peaceful human society… Giving to others, being controlled by the submitting to other people cannot possibly be enjoyable without a strong erotic element.

... and then trot over to the online version of Trouble Magazine (September 2012 edition) and read the entire article for yourself.

UPDATE: Great news! This article has been covered on the US-based Comics Beat Blog, as well as on WebComicsGuide. Thank you kindly for the coverage.

[PLEASE NOTE that from October this link will change and you'll have to find it in the articles listing. We'll update the link on this blog post at that time.]

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Rekas (creative director), Gerard O'Connor (photographer) and Mark Wasiak (stylist). See the Trouble Magazine article for more pics.

Graphic Novel Session at Sydney Fringe Writers Festival [UPDATED: 12/0912]

UPDATE 12/09/12: The event organiser has just informed us that due to unforeseen circumstances this event has been cancelled, and she will look at running it again next year.

Black Mermaid Productions (BMP) Director Julie Ditrich will be presenting a session called "Comics and Graphic Novels for Beginners" at the Sydney Fringe Writers' Festival on 23 September 2012. Julie will be discussing the following at the session:

Australia is entering a new dawn of comics and graphic novel publishing. The quality of storytelling and production values of late has been superb. However, the “comics” medium is still misunderstood in the literary world where it is relegated to the fringes rather than the mainstream and recognised more as pop culture than high culture. This seminar will initiate you into the world of comics, and will examine definitions, formats, building blocks and conventions, as well as current Oz comics trends and opportunities. If you want to be part of the new wave of comics talent, then there is no better place to begin than here! 

Julie will also be announcing a new comics initiative aimed at emerging and developing Australian comics creators.

The incomparable Irina Dunn, champion of all things literary in Australia, is the organiser of the event. Irina was the foundation director of the NSW Writers' Centre, and now heads up Australian Writers' Network. The event line-up as a whole looks fabulous with talks topics such as traditional media vs print media, journalism in the modern age, novels vs scripts, and publishing and promoting your books. You can check out the Sydney Fringe Writers' Festival schedule here.

Date: Sunday 23 September 2012
Time: 9am to 5pm
Venue: Harold Park Hotel, cnr Wigram and Ross St, Glebe NSW 2037
Ticket Price: Adults – $125.50; Concessions $110.50
Website: http://2012.sydneyfringe.com/event/special-events/fringe-writers-festival

CLICK HERE to book.

Hope to see you there. Come up and say hello.

Mermaids in Comics 2 – The Little Sea Maid

 This was one of my favourite books when I was little. It came to me dog-eared and second-hand. There is an inscription on the inside page opposite the title page with the names of four sisters who used to be my baby-sitters so I am assuming it belonged to them and they gave it to me as a gift.

The book is called Children's Favourite Stories in Pictures. There are no authors' or illustrators' names attached to it. There is no year of publication. There is no copyright information. The publisher is Consolidated Press in Sydney. It looks like it was published in the 1950s. It has an orange cover with illustrations of daisy chain around the title but with berries instead of daisies. In the four corners are four spot illustrations including a horse and rider, as well as a dwarf plus two others that are difficult to see. The inside contains 28 stories, ranging from Greek mythology to Aesop's fables to tales from the Arabian Nights. Some are rendered in colour; others in black and white.

Why is this significant?

Most of the stories are told through sequential art. The panels are wordless, and the text is underneath but they fall under the definition of comics simply because of the sequential art. And most significantly, one of the stories is "The Little Mermaid", although it is called "The Little Sea-Maid".

This, of course, was my favourite story in this book of favourites. The images are gorgeous. They're inked.

Here's what I found online about this book:

1950? Children's Favourite Stories in Pictures. No author or illustrator acknowledged. Sydney: Consolidated Press Ltd. $2.70 somewhere in Colorado, March, '94.
This large-format book is unusual in a number of respects. First, it is one of the very few books I have from Australia. Second, it includes an unusually broad range of material, from Greek myths to Australian aboriginal folklore. Aesop is given two three-page sections: 23-25 and 87-89. Three fables are presented on each page with text and illustration equal in size and alternating columns with each other. On 89, the fables switch finally to color. The illustrations of the second set (87-89) seem to me superior in their artistry; they remind one of Boris Artzybasheff.

Source: http://www.creighton.edu/aesop/books/individualbooksbydate/1950to1954/index.php


The National Library of Australia also has it catalogued.

I think mermaid collectors would be hard-pressed to find this book on the antiquarian book market but you can try.

I've scanned in three of the six pages in the story—the ones that feature the sea maid in mermaid form and where the tail is prominent. The pages are not in sequential order.

I'll lend the book to Jozef so he can scan the entire story for his mermaid art archive. I'm sure he'll be thrilled.

ASA / Supanova Professional Development Seminar 2012 [UPDATED 27/05/12]

Professional Friends with Benefits

Want to know what other professional associations and friends of the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) can offer in the way of resources, legal advice, professional development and awards for comics creators?

One of the ASA Comics / Graphic Novels Portfolio objectives is to liaise and cross-pollinate ideas with like-minded Australian and overseas organisations whose focus is on the promotion of the comics art form. Consequently, we’ve formed professional friendships with two associations that can help comics creators achieve their goals.

The first is the Arts Law Centre of Australia, which is the national community legal centre for the arts. Established in 1983, it provides specialised legal and business advice, professional development resources, and advocacy for artists and arts organisations on a wide range of matters including contracts, copyright, defamation, business, and employment. Solicitor Jo Teng will speak about the how Arts Law can and has helped comics and graphic artists, the resources it provides, as well as a run-down of the most frequently asked questions, issues, and problems encountered by artists both in their practice and in fandom.

The second is the Australian Cartoonists’ Association (ACA), formerly known as the Australian Black and White Artists’ Club (ABWAC). It was formed in 1924 and is the world’s oldest professional cartoonist organisation. The ACA focuses on syndicated cartoons, copyright issues, public education and promotion to newspaper and magazine editors and publishers. Long time member and previous office holder Lindsay Foyle will talk about the comics format of comic / cartoon strips, and how the ACA offers professional development opportunities at its annual conference and the Stanley Awards—in particular the Award for Best Comic Book Artist. The ASA and the ACA will also highlight the new reciprocal membership benefits scheme that has been organised for members of each organisation.

About the Australian Society of Authors (ASA)

The ASA, which includes the Society of Book Illustrators (SOBI), is the peak professional association for Australian literary creators and has over 3000 members. The Comics/Graphic Novels Portfolio was formed in mid 2007, to provide industry support to Australian artists and writers currently working in the comics medium and, in particular, the graphic novel format. The portfolio now has over 100 members.

About the Speakers

Jo Teng (Arts Law Centre)

Jo Teng is an intellectual property lawyer with the Arts Law Centre of Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Law and Arts from the University of Western Australia, and a Masters of Law at the University of New South Wales specialising in media, communications and technology law. She provides specialist legal advice on a range of issues from copyright to YouTube and has a particular interest for the Internet and its impact on the arts.

Lindsay Foyle (ACA)

Lindsay Foyle started as a copyboy on the Daily Telegraph in 1959 and has worked in journalism ever since. He has also worked at The Bulletin (as art director and deputy editor), The Australian, and many other magazines and newspapers. He joined the ACA (ABWAC) in 1970, is a past president, and has written on cartooning for over 25 years. He helped establish the ACA Stanley Awards in 1985 and, since 2008, has been working as a freelance cartoonist and author on the history of Australian cartooning.

SYDNEY ONLY

Date: Saturday 16 June 2012

Time: 6.00pm to 7.00pm

Venue*: Madman Anime Area, The Dome, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney.

Entry fee: There is no charge to attend the seminar. However, attendees must be exhibitors or hold a One Day Pass ($27.50 through FOXTIX or $30.00 at the door) or a Supafan Three Day Weekend Pass ($47. 50 through FOXTIX or $55.00 at the door).
Bookings: FOXTIX BOOKINGS – 1300 111 369 or ticketsupport@foxtix.com.au or https://www.foxtix.com.au

The first 30 people through the door at the session will receive a FREE gift—donated to the ASA Comics / Graphic Novels Portfolio by our other professional friend Semi-Permanent. The gift is a beautiful and inspirational book that showcases creative design talent from around the world. Thanks to Semi-Permanent for its kindness.

* Please check the venue details in the printed Supanova event program (inserted in your show bag) in case of last minute venue changes.

Sponsored by Supanova and the Australian Society of Authors

Free Comic Book Day

Jozef will be sketching at Books Kinokuniya Sydney this weekend, as part of the Free Comic Book Day activities. Julie will also be there but not in a Black Mermaid Productions capacity. She'll be helping out one of our publisher friends Black House Comics who will be giving away copies of The Dark Detective / Eeek! flip book. Here's what you need to know:


Date: Saturday 5 May 2012
Time: 10am to 4pm (the shop will be open till 7pm)
Location: Books Kinokuniya, Level 2, The Galleries, 500 George St, Sydney NSW 2000
Phone: (02) 9262 7966
Further Information: Check out the website or the FaceBook page.


Hopefully we'll see you there!

Comics Sound Effects Chairs

Came across these comics inspired kids chairs the other day in Domayne Furniture Store in Liverpool, Sydney. They're not in the catalogue thought so may be a special order. Thought you might get a kick out of them.

Colleen Doran and the Black Mermaids at Comics Masterclass

Received the full Comics Masterclass pic disk from the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) a couple of days ago and we've been troweling through all the photos to find new ones to put online on the Comics Masterclass FaceBook page and onto the Comics Masterclass Spotlight ezine (you can SUBSCRIBE HERE if you want to start receiving it). We did a Comics Masterclass wrap up post last month but LOVED this pic of Colleen Doran and us (Jozef Szekeres and Julie Ditrich) at a morning tea break on the first day on the balcony which served as the green room. Outside of our official Black Mermaid™ logo character, we are also known as the Black Mermaids in the trade, hence the title of this post. BTW, the morning tea was scrumptious! [Photo credit: Ali Hand]

The Impact of Graphic Novels in the US Education System

We were recently sent a great online article from the USA – "15 Awesome Examples of Graphic Novels in Education". The writers have "compiled a list of some of the best, coolest and most successful ways graphic novels are playing a role in education". We certainly understand the value of using comics as teaching tools – Julie's mother emigrated at the age of 12 from post war Europe in the late 1940s. In Australia, she taught herself English by reading comic books.

The only thing we have to pull the writers up on – and this is a very common mistake – is that "comics" is a medium and not a genre. Check with Scott McCloud who is mentioned in the article. He drums that into his readers in his Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art book. He also recently talked on the subject at GRAPHIC at the Sydney Opera House. Colleen Doran also spoke about it at the Comics Masterclass, which was held in Sydney a few weeks ago.

Just so you know – there are many "comics" works published in all kinds of genres including superhero, fantasy, sci-fi, romance, crime and many many more.