"The Graphic Cannon" Response

          I’ve been reading comic books and graphic novels for many years now and feel as if my reading abilities have benefited greatly from reading them.  I am able to match words spoken with actions used while reading along a great story line.  After reading The Graphic Cannon Vol. 1-3 I can see myself using them as teaching tools in my classroom.  While graphic novels may not always be the best material to use when teaching a class full of seniors, to a class of freshmen or sophomores who are still reluctant readers The Graphic Cannon might be able to pull students into literature while providing literary sustenance to their education. 

            What I enjoyed about the Graphic Cannon was the wide-range of stories, novels, and poems it had to choose from for students to read.  The graphic novels were divided into volumes; each pertaining stories from various eras of cultural literature.  What I also enjoyed was how the book separated and that most of it summarizes what the stories are about (in terms of plot development) without losing too much of their ‘meat’ – that is to say what makes the story worth reading. 

            While the Graphic Cannon is a helpful tool to use in the classroom, it doesn’t come without its shortcomings.  I mentioned earlier how the stories are shorter without losing too much of its sustenance; however, it doesn’t necessarily mean the whole heart of the story with themes and more rounded characters are still found in the Graphic Cannon.  Suppose I wanted to do a character analysis on several characters from a single story from the Cannon such as Moby Dick.  Due to the brief illustrated version of the original text, I might not be able to teach the class about the dimensions of characters such as Ishmael, Captain Ahab, or Starbuck.  The Graphic Cannon sacrifices some of the story’s ‘meat’ for illustrations. 

To recap, while I feel the importance and satisfaction of including graphic novels in the classroom it doesn’t quite make up for what some of the stories lack in terms of their depth and character development.