The Rise of the ‘Comic Strip Myth’ in the Classroom (plus Giveaway!) – Stephen Davies

Guest Blog: Stephen Davies

Author of Myths, Mummies and Magic in Ancient Egypt

Magic Myths

During a recent school visit, I was shown around the library by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable librarian.

“And this is our graphic novel section,” she said, gesturing to an almost entirely empty bookcase.

There was no need to ask where all the books had gone. They had been checked out, and were being voraciously devoured by readers of all ages.

The increasing popularity of comic books and graphic novels is well documented, as is their increasing respectability. Thanks to the National Literacy Trust (and to dedicated practitioners like Lucy Starbuck Braidley and Lucas Maxwell) we can assert with confidence that comics are good for the brain. Bring them into school libraries by the bushel, and into the classroom, too.

Comic Strip History

My specific interest is the use of comics in the history classroom. As a children’s author, I love finding ancient myths and imagining how to retell them in comic strip form.

Sometimes, adaptation is easy. Take Horus and Set from Ancient Egypt, for example, who vied for the throne of Egypt in a series of Taskmaster-like challenges.

The first challenge was this: Horus and Set would transform themselves into hippos, jump into the Nile and hold a breath-holding contest. Whoever could hold his breath for longer would become the undisputed ruler of Egypt.

Firstly, what a great scene – surreal, imitable (at least the breath-holding bit) and inherently funny, especially when Horus’s mum tries to sabotage the contest by throwing a magic spear at Set’s hippopotamus-bum.

Secondly, why would you tell that story as anything other than a comic strip? It’s as absurd as Dog Man. It’s as anarchic as Bunny vs Monkey. Even in Plutarch’s retelling, it has plenty of fast-cut, dynamic story beats. It’s simply begging to be a comic strip.

Laugh or Learn?

If we use comic strip myths in the history classroom, one pressing question arises. Do we want children to laugh or do we want them to learn?

My approach in the Comic Strip Myths series is to tell each story fairly plainly in the narration boxes at the top of each panel, and to confine the jokes to the pictures and speech bubbles.

That way, the twenty-first century lols will complement the historical content, rather than undermining it.

Sourcing the Stories

Take a motorised felucca upstream from Aswan and you will see the rocky island of Sehel rising out of the river. Moor your boat, pick your way between colossal granite boulders, and you’ll find a rock face carved with a pharaoh worshipping three Egyptian gods. Beneath the image run thirty-two neat columns of hieroglyphs, telling the story of King Djoser and his brilliant advisor Imhotep.

I say advisor, but Imhotep was also a priest and a magician. The story (carved 2,300 years ago and retold in Myths, Mummies and Magic) features a secret library, a dangerous river journey and a magical showdown between Imhotep and an Assyrian sorceress.

I think this is what excites me most about comic book mythology – sourcing some of the oldest, wackiest stories in the world and bringing them into twenty-first century classrooms.

Stephen Davies is the author of three books in the Comic Book Myths series:

Myths, Mummies and Magic in Ancient Egypt (illustrated by Núria Tamarit)

Norse Myths, Monsters and Viking Voyages (illustrated by Seaerra Miller)

Myths, Gods and Gladiators in Ancient Rome (illustrated by Laurie Avon)