Graphic journeys

Comics creation as assemblage and active aesthetic practice

Bibliographic Data

ID21547889
AuthorsJeffrey Mather (0000-0002-8153-5730, City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume59
Issue3
Pages254-267
Publication date2025-07-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnglish in Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0425-0494 • E-ISSN: 1754-8845
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/04250494.2025.2549682
OpenAlexW4413806936
LanguageEN
References cited19

While existing research has highlighted the benefits of reading and analysing comics in fostering critical thinking and multimodal literacy, fewer have examined the pedagogical value of involving students in actively creating their own comics. Beyond developing technical and artistic skills, comics creation engages students in the affective dimensions of learning – those aspects of education that foster collaboration, emotional reflection, and positive social interactions. This study positions comics creation as a process of multimodal assemblage. Through this process, students work collaboratively, bring together diverse forms and textual elements, and reflexively engage with social and cultural issues such as mental health and gender inequality. By working with the unique grammar of comics – where text, image, and design interact – students gain a deeper understanding of how meaning is constructed within multimodal systems and cultivate the creative and critical capacities needed to engage with aesthetic and social practices. While recognising the challenges and technical limitations associated with creating graphic narratives, this study argues that comics creation offers significant pedagogic value as a socially situated, collaborative, and dialogic process of meaning-making

Archaeology · Art · Comics · Literature · Sociology · Visual arts · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Digital Storytelling and Education · History · Literacy, Media, and Education

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