As educational tools, the
textbook has stood as one of the standards of modern education. Tomes dedicated
to singular subjects, they are developed to assist both as raw material
resources but also as guide-alongs to in-school/in-classroom activities related
to those particular subjects in helping increase the knowledge base of
students. However, outside of the learning-oriented classroom environment,
textbooks on their own are insufficient at being effective teaching tools.
Furthermore, textbooks within classrooms often cannot function effectively due
to the way the information within is framed.
As a literary medium, graphic
sequential storytelling (comics) are a far more effective format for breaking
down large chunks of information into easily-digestible groupings that can be
used as a learning too. In the comic book series “Action Philosophers!” by
writer Fred Van Lente and artist Ryan Dunlavey, the non-fictionalized story is
in fact comic book breakdowns of the various backgrounds and defining theories
of history’s greatest philosophers. The comic, collected into 2009’s “The More
Than Complete Action Philosophers!” (Evil Twin Comics), is an example of the
effectiveness of the comic-as-textbook.
