Why do certain teachers 'have it in for' comics and graphic novels? A ReadItTorial

This is a subject I've covered many, many times on the blog and one that once again reared its ugly head in a tweet from a parent, quite rightly annoyed at their child being told that "Comics and Graphic Novels aren't taxing / complicated enough to offer a challenge to a competent reader".

I'm paraphrasing a lot, but the gist was that this particular teacher seemed to still be stuck somewhere back in the dark ages, when comic strips were something you read over breakfast in your morning newspaper (do you still know anyone who does this, by the way?), or comics were something kids 'wasted' their pocket money on, much to their parents' horror.

This is, undoubtedly, an old-fashioned view - the view that comics and graphic novels cannot possibly compete with a lengthy wordy novel full of flowery language, forcing the reader to create the world and the characters in their head rather than being 'fed' them by a competent artist.

There's room for taxing reading. There's room for reading that doesn't tax you too, there's room for reading for enjoyment (in fact this is nigh-on essential in early years, yet still seems to be something that a lot of education policy-setters also 'just don't get').

But my first encounter with 'proper' comics and graphic novels was anything but simplistic and uncomplicated, and some might say that some of the strips in 2000AD (and its associated long-form story arcs) were a fantastic introduction to just how comics could be wry, observational, deliciously subversive and thoroughly complex.

imagine being a 10 year old kid, reading stuff like "The Cursed Earth" for the first time, or "The Day the Law Died" - a Judge Dredd story where a tousle-haired chief judge basically made up the law as he went along, to push a fascist agenda that made Mega City One's usual judiciary system look like a holiday trip to Clacton (sound strangely familiar at all?)

Throughout my teens I consumed comics and graphic novels by the truckload, spending my first wages on them, and spending far too much time in (the now sadly long disappeared) "Comic Showcase" shop in St Clements, Oxford, never daring to ask the surly bearded guy who ran the place what sort of comics I should be reading, but often picking up new and unknown titles completely on blind faith or cover art, and often discovering a real diamond amongst the dreck.

Brit titles such as Crisis, Deadline and Judge Dredd: The Megazine were staples of my teens, before I started to look across the pond at what DC and Marvel were doing, particularly the whole reinvention of comics as something precocious teens could be seen with and be seen as cool with, such as the original "Dark Knight Returns", "Batman: The Killing Joke", the mighty "Watchmen" or "V for Vendetta".

Some teachers are happy to recommend comics and graphic novels to their young charges, bucking against the sometimes horribly stale recommendations from a standard secondary school curriculum. Others know that for a lot of disillusioned readers that this is a good way of bringing them back around to regular reading - for pleasure or for academic achievement.

Today of course we're completely spoiled for choice, and the modern comics industry is a behemoth, a vibrant gender / race / sexuality-inclusive industry where sure, you still get the old dinosaurs kicking around crap and fascistic ideas, but largely these are increasingly being beaten down into the dirt by the rise and rise of inclusive and female-dominated titles, characters, with female comic professionals from across the world making their presence heavily felt within the industry (and thank god for that).

Of course I let my daughter read (age appropriate) comics, quietly and patiently waiting for the day when she's old enough to dig deeper into my collection and dig out some of the aforementioned classics - but letting her find her own way through comics, through the truly mesmerising selection of brilliant quality comics for kids and middle grade before she starts to flex her YA comic muscles later on.

I challenge any teacher that still thinks comics are uncomplicated, unchallenging, too 'light' a touch for their classes to get in touch for a list of recommendations to try out with their pupils. This old fashioned idea that comics and graphic novels are frivolous and throwaway needs to disappear, the world will truly be a better place for it - and who knows, you might finally discover one of the best ways to re-engage reluctant readers too.