The Comics Classroom articles

The Comics Classroom: Practitioners of the Bizarre — Part 1

The Comics Classroom: Practitioners of the Bizarre — Part 1

Mage. Witch. Heretic. Sorcerer. Mystic. Wizard. These are but a few of the terms applied to countless comic characters across numerous pantheons of characters — some good and some evil. The characters that wield the art of “magic” are about as varied in comic history as the sources their mystic powers come from. These characters

The Comics Classroom: Our Love of Hero Teams

The Avengers. The Justice League. These two franchise hero teams have long been among the most iconic and memorable of superhero team line-ups. Even before these comic groups were linked to potential (or realized) billion dollar film/merchandise tie-in options, they were famous for introducing countless children and teens to comic books. What is their appeal?

The Comics Classroom: Beyond Good and Evil

One of the most fascinating aspects of comic books is the variety of characterizations each writer can pick and choose for his or her story. A character might have started off genuinely rather horrifying (like The Red Skull) or he/she might have been a character whose complexity was revealed over time by newer writers (like

The Comics Classroom: Green Lantern Color Theory

One of the most defining aspects of any artistic medium is the vibrant use of color (or in some cases, a lack of color) and space. While this particular article could perhaps focus on many, many comics (and I might very well create a Color Theory sub-series?), one comic in particular almost demands your full

The Comics Classroom: Comics as History

One of the goals when I set out to write for and design The Comics Classroom was to accomplish two things. First, I wanted to explore comics from a non-traditional viewpoint as an aspiring academic who has only started to investigate the medium. Second, I believe that comics as an artistic medium contain the power

The Comics Classroom: American Mythology in EAST OF WEST

Many times when the word “mythology” crops up in conversation, the trend is to think of ancient, distant lands with foundational gods and religions — the Norse, the Egyptian, the Chinese, etc. We tend to conceive of the mythic entities like Odin and Ra as being those who were once worshipped. How do we then

The Comics Classroom: Loki the Deceiver

Few characters in the Marvel pantheon of deities are as dangerous or as cunning as Loki, the Asgardian deity of chaos and mischief. Loki has been portrayed, like many other Marvel villains, frequently in comics and video games. Currently, however, he has two incarnations that resonate the most in the average person’s mind. One is

The Comics Classroom: Heart of Steel

At Comic-Con this year, which wrapped up its last geek-laden booth of treasures two weeks ago, it was announced by Joss Whedon what villain would be appearing in the Avengers 2 film. The villain will be so vital, in fact, that its name will be a part of the new film’s title. This villain is

The Comics Classroom: A Narrative Lesson

One might be hard pressed to find a genuine, teachable lesson from a story about giant machines that punch giant monsters in the face. Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero, published by Legendary Comics, is a prequel comic to the new film of the same name by director Guillermo del Toro — and as such,

The Comics Classroom: The Power of Continuity

As a comic reading community, we are now approximately two years into the launch of the ‘New 52’ initiative. For those who might now know, the New 52 design idea was a series of steps taken by DC Comics in August/September of 2011. The re-launch of 52 comics in the DC line was aimed to

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