Comic Book League

     Some of you may know already, and for those who are just joining in, that I will be hosting a newly established "Comic Book League" this Fall on Campus. With only one year left at Wright State University, I began to ask myself what kind of legacy I would be leaving behind. My love of comics and interest in basing my profession on them lead to this decision. I understand first hand how hard it is to be a writer without an artist. If you look at any comic book you will notice that there are usually 2 or 3 names on the book; a writer and at least 1 artists. Sadly my school doesn't offer any sort of comic book based classes; and over the past couple of years it became very clear to me that we have such a huge cult following of teachers and staff who actually read comics on a regular basis.

     Luckily, this past month I was invited to speak before an English class and share about the comic book narrative and structure. This event, for me, was a thrill and even a milestone. Other than standing before a class to share in a presentation, I had never before taught of my own free will. So, with this new responsibility of teaching a comic book based organization, I am really challenged to come up with weekly lesson plans, and I still have to find a way to make the class fun. The structure I have chosen is to host a weekly class for one hour each. The first 15 min of each session can be to talk about a certain element that is prevalent in comics and then for the last 45 min it would be to allow students to talk with one another and talk about comic books. Mainly, I want this time to be for writers and artists to talk about their own creations. This organization will serve as not only a place for people to meet and collaborate, but also to just shoot the breeze and talk about what they love the most.

     I really am looking forward to coming up with a lesson plan, but I wanted to share it here with you guys because I open it up to your input. If you have any suggestions or have access to information that may help, I would greatly appreciate it. I am working closely with a friend who holds the Gem City Comic Con in Dayton Ohio each year. We are hoping we might be able to invite some local artists and writers to come and talk at our meetings. Most notable are Mark Waid and Kyle Hotz. Wish us luck guys.