Another example of graphic novels providing education can be found in Rick Geary's Treasury of Victorian Murder series. The series includes stories of various famous murder cases from history, and explains the case and provides details in a humorous way that makes the stories appealing to kids, teens, and even adults. Some of the books in the series include The Borden Tragedy, about Lizzie Borden, who supposedly killed members of her family in the late 19th century, and Jack the Ripper, about the very famous London serial killer/killings in late 19th century. These books are fun to read and have just enough information and details to let you draw your own conclusions. They have characters and illustrations and are formatted in the graphic novel/comic format, but also often include maps and re-created letters.
Yet another type of graphic novel that teaches us are biographical and cultural ones. Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis (which was made into a movie, see the trailer and an interview with Satrapi at the bottom of the page) tells of the author's childhood in Iran, where she lived during the Islamic revolution. The story uses illustrations not always in traditional graphic novel format to tell the story and deliver details of the lifestyle and culture. A Contract With God, and Other Tenement Stories by Will Eisner (who is considered one of the fathers of the graphic novel/cartooning/comic book format, and for whom the Eisner award is named) tells of tenement life in the Bronx during the 1930s. These graphic novels tell specific stories, and sometimes they're biographical but most importantly they give the reader a good idea of culture and life.
Have you ever read a graphic novel that taught you something about culture, an event in history (or a lot of events in history, as is the case with the Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick), or anything else? Do you think this is an effective way of teaching or getting a point across? Why or why not?
