Comic Book Pedagogy

“When Supergirl recovered from Luthor’s trap, she was certain that Kal [Superman] was going to somehow send her back into obscurity because of her stupid mistake, but he just smiled: ‘Always do your best. The rest is learning’ (in Crisis on Infinite Earths by GraphicAudio).

COMIC Book Pedagogy Principles

The key principles of COMIC Book Pedagogy are:

  • C is for Cool where we use comic books and other pop culture materials to get students excited about learning.
  • O is for Our Selves and Others where we focus on our Holistic Well-Being.
  • M is for Multimodal Composing where we help students to use technology to compose in a broad range of forms.
  • I is for Inclusion where we help students to learn to value diversity and to empathize with others.
  • C is for Collaborative Learning where we help students to learn and write together.

Origin of the Term “Comic Book Pedagogy”

This website provides resources on Comic Book Pedagogy. The term “Comic Book Pedagogy” was coined by Dr. Gian Pagnucci in 2019 for a collaborative presentation at the 2019 Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).

That presentation was featured in an article in a 2019 issue of the Council Chronicle published by the National Teachers of English (NCTE)

Why Do Comics and Superheroes Matter?

  • Video: “What is it to be a hero?”
    • This video captures perfectly why we need stories of heroes, to encourage us to be heroic ourselves, to choose to do good whenever and however we can
    • “It’s the choices that make us who we are. And we can always choose to do what’s right” (Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man)

Comic Book Pedagogy Overview

Comic Book Pedagogy Lessons

A Course on Comic Books and Superheroes

Comic Book Pedagogy Presentation

The Avengers Save Composition:
A Live Super Teachers Performance
@ CCCC 2019

Superheroes