Introducing Comics

Start by explaining to students that different ways of communicating or telling stories — like movies, video games, books, comics, and so on — are called media. Each different one is called a medium.

Now ask students : Have you ever seen the same story told in two different forms of media?

• A movie based on a comic, for example, or a cartoon based on a myth or a fairy tale? How were the stories different when they were told in different media forms?

Explain that different media have different tools and techniques that media makers can use to send a message or tell a story. They use these to get your attention, to tell you what to pay attention to, and to get ideas across.

Have students access the student chapter Same Technique, Different Media or display it on a screen or digital whiteboard.

Tell students that some techniques are used in many different media. Here, for instance, the same technique — called a low angle—is used in photography and film, in video games, and in comics.

Ask students: When we look up at a character like this, what does it tell us about them?

• It usually means that they are strong or powerful. It’s like we’re a child looking up at an adult.

Have students access the Image Slider in the student chapter Comics Techniques or project it on a screen or a digital whiteboard.

Explain to students that the first image, before you move the slider,  is the scene told as “neutrally” as possible — without using any tools or techniques to help tell the story, show you what’s important or make you feel a certain way about the story or characters.

Now have students move the slider and try to spot all of the techniques used in the second image that are not in the first one.

Next, have students access the student chapter Making Comics: Angle and Distance and see if they can correctly identify a close-up panel, a low angle panel, and a low angle medium shot panel.