Comics for History

Social history is about the lived collective experience of the past, and providing this information quickly and effectively to the public can seem daunting. Comics and graphic novels are an excellent way for historians to convey complexities in history to the public.

People connect Image A to Image C with thought B

Using imagery over text portrays how things are connected without deliberately stating it, which engages readers to make their own connections. This effect is called the principle of closure in comic art theory. People generally fill in the gaps between events A and C by imagining what B was. This engagement with the comic makes it enjoyable for readers.

In the case of SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions by Rob Kristofferson, and Simon Orpana. was created largely from the oral histories of individuals who took part in the labour strikes of 1946 in Hamilton. The amount of first-hand accounts and the different opinions of what happened during this pivotal moment that led to the creation of unions gave a full story compared to having only one consistent narrative. The weight of these individuals remembering what happened differently and having this portrayed is fantastic for understanding their lived experiences. Since history is just the interpretation of the past, it does happen on a personal level for most. The difference in what they remember makes a richer environment that informs readers what happened. There's also the emotional connection created with the image of the different people interviewed. As you're reading, you get to know the person ‘talking’ based on the visual imagery of them and the association with the text of their spoken words.

Comics allow text and images to exist on the same page and not break up a reader’s concentration or flow of thought. This is incredibly important, considering that all the articles and books historians create are largely from primary sources. SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions. has a Primary source "density score of 0.85". This means there was a primary source on practically every page; in some, there was more than one primary source. This vastly outstrips academic papers and books. For example, People’s History of American Empire, by Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki, and Paul Buhle, had a density score of 2.0, which means one primary source every two pages.

Some of the weaknesses of a comic book or graphic novel as a public history tool are that they're not taken as seriously as a book, journal, article, or museum exhibit, whether or not they are peer-reviewed and have years of research behind them. Comics are seen as pop culture-related and childlike by the general public (and some academics). There also comes a situation of how to cite when many images and different fonts interact together ( a quick workaround might be to use the image of the page that is of interest). There is also the situation when historical images are stripped down to the simple drawings of what authors and illustrators felt were most important in a comic and how this relates to information bias (yet, as any researcher knows, you can not not have a bias in your own research, we are all human and you need to be aware of your own).

Yet, in regards to comic books being used to assist with public interactions with history online you don't have to stretch this information that far because understanding how comics provide primary source information effectively can assist when creating digital resources for public interactions.

Are there any comic books based on history that stick in your mind?

Sources

Howard Zinn, Mike Konopacki & Paul Buhle, A People’s History of American Empire

(New York: Metropolitan Books, 2008); Boerman-Cornell, “Using Graphic Historical Novels,”

216– 225

Buhle, Paul. “History and Comics.” Reviews in American History 35, no. 2 (2007): 315–23. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30031655.

Kristofferson, Rob, and Simon Orpana. “Shaping Graphic History: Primary Sources and Closure in Showdown! Making Modern Unions.” Labour 82, no. 82 (2018): 189–226.

Kristofferson, Rob, and Simon Orpana. SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2016), Selections.

Wright, Amie with Lindsay Gibb. “Reframing the Narrative: Comic Books and a Still-Lingering Pedagogical Bias.” Booklist’s Guide to Graphic Novels in Libraries 2023. Booklist. July 1, 2023: 8-10.

Wright, Amie with Matthew Noe and Moni Barrette. “Answering the Call: ALA GNCRT Responds to Surging Challenges to Comics.” In Shannon M. Oltmann (ed.) The Fight Against Book Bans: Perspectives from the Field. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing (2023).