Resignifying Comics for Multimodal Literary Learning: Lynda Barry’s Pedagogy as Inspiration

Cristina Aliagas Marín; Maaheen Ahmed

doi:10.5565/rev/jtl3.1584

Resignificant el còmic per a l’aprenentatge literari multimodal: la pedagogia de Lynda Barry com a inspiració

Autors/ores

Cristina Aliagas Marín Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6424-095X
Maaheen Ahmed Ghent University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7356-8906

PDF (EN)

Resum

Aquest article examina el paper del còmic en el camp de l’educació literària. Posa el focus en la capacitat del còmic per desenvolupar la competència literària mitjançant el foment de les habilitats interpretatives i narratives. Tradicionalment marginat a l’educació a causa de la percepció que es tracta d’una forma menor o insuficient de lectura, el còmic cada vegada és més reconegut com un text literari multimodal complex. L’article analitza, primer, les condicions pedagògiques que han facilitat la seva incorporació gradual a la classe de literatura. Tot seguit, explora el potencial pedagògic de la creació de còmics, prenent com a estudi de cas les pràctiques docents de l’artista Lynda Barry per il·lustrar la intersecció entre creativitat, multimodalitat i anàlisi literària. S’argumenta que els còmics no només són instruments eficients per promoure hàbits de lectura, sinó també recursos significatius per a la reconfiguració de la pedagogia literària en un marc multimodal. L’article conclou que els còmics poden potenciar tant l’anàlisi literària com la pedagogia de la literatura, superant àmpliament la seva mera presència simbòlica a les biblioteques escolars.

Paraules clau

Ensenyament del còmic, Lectura de còmics, Lynda Barry, Educació literària, Multimodalitat

Referències

Ahmed, M. (Ed.). (2023). The Cambridge companion to comics. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009255653

Aliagas, C., Correro, C., & Fittipaldi, M. (2024). Digital fiction in literary education: What do secondary-school teachers think about this multimodal artform as a pedagogical resource? L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 24(3), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.21248/l1esll.2024.24.3.594

Baile, E., Miras, S., & Rovira-Collado, J. (2023). Introducción al monográfico «Cómic y educación: viñetas didácticas». E-SEDLL, 5, 5-15. https://cvc.cervantes.es/literatura/esedll/pdf/05/00_prologo.pdf

Barry, L. (2004). Two questions. In C. Ware (Ed.), McSweeney’s quarterly concern no. 13 (pp. 60–65). McSweeney’s.

Barry, L. (2008). What it is. Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2010). Picture this: The near-sighted monkey book. Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2011). Everything: Comics from around 1978-1981. Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2014). Syllabus: Notes from an accidental professor. Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2017). One hundred demons. Drawn & Quarterly.

Barry, L. (2019). Making comics. Drawn & Quarterly.

Beaty, B. (2005). Fredric Wertham and the critique of mass culture. University Press of Mississippi.

Brunetti, I. (2011). Cartooning: philosophy and practice. Yale University Press.

Burgess, M. (2022). Hand-drawn images and playful pedagogy: Experiencing Lynda Barry’s “Writing the Unthinkable.” In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 13–27). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.5

Chute, H. (2008). Comics as literature? Reading graphic narrative. PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, 123(2), 452–465. https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2008.123.2.452

Chute, H. (2010). Graphic women: Life narrative and contemporary comics. Columbia University Press.

Colomer, T. (2005). Andar entre libros: la lectura literaria en la escuela. FCE.

Colomer, T., & Fons, M. (Coords.). (2010). Narratives gràfiques. Articles: Revista de didáctica de la llengua i de la literatura, 52, 5–8.

Dallacqua, A. K. (2012). Exploring literary devices in graphic novels. Language Arts, 89, 365–378. https://doi.org/10.58680/la201220325

Eisner, W. (2001). Comics and sequential art. North Light Books.

Flowers, E. K. (2020). On copying. In S. Kirtley, A. Garcia, & P. E. Carlson (Eds.), With great power comes great pedagogy (pp. 85–91). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781496826046.001.0001

García, S. (2010). La novela gráfica. Astiberri.

Garvin, J. (2021a). The Landon school of illustrating and cartooning. Enchanted Images.

Garvin, J. (2021b). The W. L. Evans school of cartooning and caricaturing. Enchanted Images.

Griffith, P. (2010). Graphic novels in the secondary classroom and school libraries. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(3), 181-189. https://doi.org/10.1598/JAAL.54.3.3

Groensteen, T. (2006). Un objet culturel non identifié. Editions de l’An 2.

Hall, Ch., & Thomson, P. (2017). Creativity in teaching: What teachers learn from artists? Recherche et Formation, 86, 55-77. https://doi.org/10.4000/rechercheformation.2983

Hamm, J. (1983). Drawing the head and figure: A how-to handbook that makes drawing easier. Tarcher Perigee.

Heath, Sh. B., & Bhagat, V. (2005). Reading comics, the invisible art. In J. Flood, Sh. B. Heath, & D. Lapp (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts (pp. 586-591). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410611161

Humphrey, A. S. (2020). The pedagogy and potential of educational comics. International Journal of Comic Art, 22(2), 375-404. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989575.2020.1763569

Ibarra-Rius, N., & Ballester-Roca, J. (2022). El cómic desde la educación lectora: confluencias, interrogantes y desafíos para la investigación. Ocnos: Revista de Estudios sobre Lectura, 21(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.18239/ocnos_2022.21.1.2753

Karasik, P., & Newgarden, M. (2017). How to read Nancy: The elements of comics in three easy panels. Fantagraphics.

Kashtan, A. (2018). Between pen and pixel. Ohio State University Press.

Kirtley, S., Garcia, A., & Carlson, P. E. (Eds.). (2020). With great power comes great pedagogy: Teaching, learning, and comics. University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781496826046.001.0001

Lapp, D., Wolsey, T., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2019). Graphic novels: What elementary teachers think about their instructional value. Journal of Education, 192(1), 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1177/002205741219200105

Lee, S., & Buscema, J. (2000). How to draw comics the Marvel way. Titan.

MacArthur Foundation. (2019, September 25). Lynda Barry. https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2019/lynda-barry

Madden, M. (2005). 99 ways to tell a story: Exercises in style. Chamberlain Bros.

McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. Kitchen Sink Press.

McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing comics: How imagination and technology are revolutionizing the art form. Paradox Press.

McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. HarperCollins.

McFadden, G. (1982). Discovering the comic. Princeton Legacy Library.

McGurk, C. (2013, 1 de febrero). Found in the collection: Early E. C. Segar work. Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Blog. https://library.osu.edu/site/cartoons/2013/02/01/found-in-the-collection-early-e-c-segar-work/

Meskin, A. (2009). Comics as literature? The British Journal of Aesthetics, 49(3), 219-239. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesthj/ayp025

Mikkonen, K. (2017). The narratology of comic art. Routledge.

Miller, R., & Worden, D. (2022). Understanding comics at 30: An introduction. Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, 6(3), 231-237. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ink.2022.0019

Misemer, L. (2020). Teaching the unthinkable image with Lynda Barry. In S. Kirtley, A. Garcia, & P. E. Carlson (Eds.), With great power comes great pedagogy: Teaching, learning and comics (pp. 168-185). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781496826046.001.0001

Nelson, C., Wesseling, E., & Wu, A. (Eds.). (2023). The Routledge companion to children’s literature and culture. Routledge.

O’Connor, M. (2022). Interventionist teaching: (Re)writing trauma in the work of Lynda Barry. In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 28–47). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.6

Pero, A. (2022). In the orbit of the cephalopod: What it is and artistic education. In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 99–111). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.9

Pines, D. (2022). Lynda Barry’s syllabus, neuroscience, and “the thing we call creativity.” In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 48–70). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.7

Pons, A., & Ibarra-Rius, N. (Coords.). (2023). Enseñar con el cómic: dinámicas transversales y específicas del aula. Dykinson.

Prescott-Johnson, T. L. (2022). Syllabus on the syllabus: Teaching Lynda Barry in the college writing classroom. In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 71–96). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.8

Queneau, R. (1946). Exercises de style. Gallimard.

Rosenblatt, L. (1978). The reader, the text, the poem: The transactional theory of the literary work. Illinois University Press.

Sousanis, N. (2015). Unflattening. Harvard University Press.

Szép, E. (2020). Comics and the body: Drawing, reading and vulnerability. Ohio State University Press.

The Landon course of cartooning. (n.d.). Digital Collection of Diana Korzenik, Huntington Digital Library, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p9539coll1/id/7054

Tilley, C. L. (2012). Seducing the innocent: Fredric Wertham and the falsifications that helped condemn comics. Information & Culture, 47(4), 383–413. https://doi.org/10.1353/lac.2012.0024

Tolmie, J. (2022). Big Ideas: Ursula Murray Husted. In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 178–182). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.14

Tomine, A. (2024). Q&A. Drawn & Quarterly.

Vilaboa, C. (2025). El cómic en la formación literaria del lector infantil: perspectivas, función didáctica y aprendizajes en la escuela primaria [Tesis doctoral, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona]. Repositorio Digital de la UAB. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/695953

Vilaboa, C., Aliagas, C., & Parull, E. (2025). La integración del cómic en la biblioteca escolar: desafíos y oportunidades. Bibliotecas, 43(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.15359/rb.43-1.2

Villacorta, E. C. (2022). Me and Lynda Barry: An autoethnographic and artistic response. In J. Tolmie (Ed.), Contagious imagination: The work and art of Lynda Barry (pp. 157–177). University Press of Mississippi. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2tsxkt8.13

Wertham, F. (1956). Seduction of the innocent. Museum Press Limited.

Wittig, C. (2024). Exploring comics in a performative way: How children use language, body, voice, and things in panel readings. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 24, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.21248/l1esll.2024.24.3.625

Biografies de l'autor/a

Cristina Aliagas Marín, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

I am an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. My work focuses on integrating the arts into literature education and exploring young people’s reading practices, including comics. I have recently co-edited Artefacts for Collaborative Research with Youth (2024).

Maaheen Ahmed, Ghent University

I am Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Ghent University. My research focuses on comics, periodicals and children’s culture, which I have examined through the lenses of memory, materiality, affect, aesthetics and intermediality. I recently completed Lynda Barry: A Critical Guide (2026).