Hello, everyone!

At the time of writing this post, I’m excited to share that I have completed my design of ENG 225: Graphic Literature, and it is currently under review with my supervisor. While I know this is not a blog centered on teaching practices/materials, I really want to share so… I hope you enjoy! To make it a bit more readable, I did break it into chunks with section heads.

(Editorial Note: What? Section heads? How long is this, Peggy?… Holy!).

I began this project in December and wrote briefly about it in January (“Designing an Accessible, No-Cost Class for Comics: What I’m Learning“). At that point, I was still figuring things out, especially when it came to sourcing materials and so it was long, overly detailed, and vague at the same time. Now, after a couple of months of research, course development, material curation, assessment design, and extensive work in my Brightspace sandbox (essentially a course “playground” for testing ideas that each instructor gets), I can finally say: I built a legal, no-cost comics course with accessible options!

Here Is What I Learned:

1. Accessibility In Comics Is A Challenge

Comics, as a visual medium, present real accessibility challenges, particularly for visually impaired students. While accessibility is not impossible, it was difficult for me to achieve at the scale of a semester long course that could be condensed to 10-weeks and 8-weeks for different semesters and terms. This was especially challenging when balancing academic rigor with the requirement that all materials be free, legal, and available online.

The most significant hurdle was audio accessibility, which I did not think would be as hard as it was.

I mean, audio formats are available for almost every book out there. Even if the audiobook doesn’t have a voice actor, there are ways around it with e-reading extensions, like Read Aloud on Chrome. So, I did not think this would be as much of a challenge as it was because I thought there would be a library of audio-book adaptations hidden behind paywalls.

That was not the case.

While some comics have audiobook versions (far fewer than I thought, by the way), most lack detailed descriptions of visual elements like panels, layout, and transitions—features that are essential to understanding the pacing and sometimes the medium as a whole. For example, many manhwa readers likely know that a black-border gutters usually means flashback but that’s not something that always gets explained (if ever). That’s something you learn about the medium as you read.

I initially considered emerging tools like AI-based comic readers (such as WEBTOON’s announced features), but these are not yet widely available, and current AI-generated visual descriptions are still limited in quality. I did test those out with different AI tools and the process itself was wildly different between platforms, sometimes had costs attached, and never seemed to have consistently good quality descriptions.

As a result, I had to rethink how students might engage with comics beyond their visual components.

For example, I incorporated the audiobook version of Persepolis as an option, which you can find on YouTube. This version also lacks panel-level descriptions. As such, I had to adjusted assignments to allow students to focus on context, narrative, and thematic analysis rather than visual styles in relation to those elements. This ensured that students could still meet learning objectives without being excluded from the course experience if they can not visually see the comic being looked at.

2. The Scripts Are Not The Same As The Comics

Another potential alternative to audio options is the comic scripts, of which the comics are usually built off of. This seemed like the perfect alternative when my initial search for audiobooks was unfruitful. However, this also proved to be more complicated than expected.

Again, I thought there would be a library of these things available. (I’m way too naive and used to regular book options, it seems. Shame on me!)

While scripts can provide insight into structure and dialogue, and sometimes even visual descriptions of panels, they often differ meaningfully from the final published page. Even when they are very similar, the differences in pacing, layout, and visual emphasis can create confusion for students trying to analyze the work because it is a different experience. In a test with a colleague of mine, I had them read the comic issue and I read only the script for three different titles. Then we discussed. Content differences were apparent when referencing specific quotes and sometimes coverage of a theme (though, mostly, in quotes and actions depicted). We tried this again, this time they read 3 comic issues and I read the scripts—same thing. Here is an example from Nightwing: Rebirth #01, page 3—which does have a publically available script and which I own a print copy of for comparison:

Script Excerpt:  PAGE 3 Panel 1: Small. Establishing shot of the Teatro Regino Torino is Turin, Italy. Night. A show night. A large sign says “CIRCO DELLA NOTTE presents HUMANIMALS.” Caption (location): Teatro Regino Torino. Caption(location): Turin, Italy. Caption (Nightwing): | grew up in a circus. Panel 2: On stage, a Cirque Du Soleili type performance beginning called HUMANIMALS. Dancers in skintight, colorful tights swing via trapeze to and fro across the stage. Caption (Nightwing): Not in the “my household was a zoo” kind of way. Like, literally. Caption (Nightwing): Haly’s Circus was small and old fashioned. Out of date before I was even born. Caption (Nightwing): But it was home. Panel 3: Focus on the balcony seats, where we see Romina Manfredi seated with several other dignitaries. Caption (Nightwing): Until CC Haly, refused to pay extortion money to mobster Tony Zucco, and he showed them he meant business… Panel 4: A number of animal-costumed performers begin to wind their way through the crowd, interacting with them. Romina seems delighted. One of the performers near her is a SNAKE MAN. Caption (Nightwing): By clipping the Flying Grayson’s wings. Caption (Nightwing): My mom and dad. Panel 5: The Snake Man dances in front of Romina Manfredi, as he pulls a long blade from the back of his costume, disguised as a part of his suit. Caption (Nightwing): I was left an orphan. Angry. Alone. Falling. Caption (Nightwing): Until the intervention of Bruce Wayne. Batman. Panel 6: The Snake man raises his knife, about to strike, surprising everyone around Romina Manfredi. Caption (Nightwing): I became his partner in crime fighting. The Boy Wonder. Robin. The hype man to Batman’s Dark DJ. Snake Man: Die for Kobra! Die for Kali Yuga!

Comic page written: PAGE 3 Panel 1: Establishing shot of the Teatro Regino Torino is Turin, Italy. Night. A show night in a large theater filled with people. On stage, a Cirque Du Soleili type performance beginning called HUMANIMALS. Dancers in skintight, colorful tights swing via trapeze to and fro across the stage. Caption (location): Teatro Regino Torino. Caption(location): Turin, Italy. Caption (Nightwing): – I grew up in a circus. Before I learned anything, I learned how to put on a show. Caption (Nightwing): As part of the “Flying Graysons,” my parents taught me that the appeal oF trapeze artists was their proximity to death. Caption (Nightwing): The ability to smile in the face of danger. Caption (Nightwing): This was my childhood. Panel 2: On the left, the stages featured still with a Cirque Du Soleili type performance beginning called HUMANIMALS. Dancers in skintight, colorful tights swing via trapeze to and fro across the stage. On the right side of the panel is a close up of a Romina Manfredi seated watching the show intently with another dignitary.  Caption (Nightwing): I guess it makes sense that my adolescence would be spent partnered with Batman… Panel 3: A side shot of the theater. In the top is the balcony seats where Romina Manfredi is seated. One of the costumed performers seems to have landed on the balcony. Below them is another performer being spotlighted, this one dressed as a bird.  Caption (Nightwing): ..solving mysteries and figkting evil kooks in animal costumes as Robin. Panel 4: Focus on the balcony seats, where we see Romina Manfredi seated with several other dignitaries. Romina seems delighted. One of the performers near her is a SNAKE MAN with something behind his back that he appears to be pulling out. Caption (Nightwing): It’s probably no surprise that as a young adult I decided to swing out on my own…   Panel 5: The Snake man raises his knife, about to strike, surprising everyone around Romina Manfredi. Snake Man: Die for Kobra! Die for Kali Yuga! Caption (Nightwing): …making some questionable wardrobe choices on the way to becoming the sleek and sexy blue-black bird of darkness lovingly known as…

These two versions of the text are similar, very similar, but there is enough of a difference that it does create some difficulty. I started pulling the scripts up and reading the texts side by side and the differences, while small, kept adding up to a different experience.

This raises both practical and ethical concerns. One option would be to re-script comics to better match the final page, but doing so consistently would be time-intensive and potentially raises some copyright issues—even if this is for educational purposes.

From this experience, I started to embrace more actively the idea of alternative readings and workarounds.

3. Workarounds and Creative Solutions

Given these limitations with audio-book alternatives and scripts, I explored alternative formats and resources.

Encouragingly, some creators and organizations have begun producing audio adaptations of comics, which helped fill key gaps. These allowed me to offer more equitable options for students while still aligning with course goals.

I mentioned already re-adjusting my assessment to include content/story focus, but I also explored how to implement these ideas widely while still discussing the important visual elements that still require consideration in a course so heavily centered on graphic narratives.

A key part of that was locating a copy of Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics (1993), which I located an accessible e-reader version via Open Library. While it does not include panel descriptions, the course’s content-based quizzes and assignments can still be adapted effectively for this copy of the text, mentioning transition types, for example, and not having to include visual examples because students can pull from the detailed writing.

Where available, I incorporated audio comic options as alternatives and opened a lot of the class to finding your own text (though I did always provide 2 texts for each section).

In Unit 1, for example, they are asked to read McCloud’s Understanding Comics (1993) and a work of graphic novel length that they can find online or in our school’s library. I included sources to find them, provided a list of titles, and procured 2 different “back-up” texts, including the before mentioned audiobook of Persepolis and a PDF of Persepolis. I do something similar in Unit 2, this time with a superhero text.

All of this boils down to: Designed assignments with flexibility. While I provided these text for the students, I also left room to allow students to choose texts beyond the pre-selected options (so long as they can provide access to them by finding them for free, legally online) and to choose approaches that work best for them.

4. Being More Flexible: Assignments Design for Accessibility

Much of the course’s accessibility comes from intentional assignment design that meets the learning outcomes, as with any course. However, unlike other courses where the book list is set, in allowing flexibility to find and explore other readings that work for the students, it doesn’t have to come with limitations. I had to, therefore, backtrack because my initial goal was just “get to teach a comics course and make it as accessible as possible”—which is noble, in a way but also not detail focused or how we typically build courses. A lot of times, literature courses center on specific learning outcomes and then 1 or more major themes. Like, survey courses are on learning a particular time period and selected works, the theme might be specifically on the historical influences of the period on the writing or on female writers/experiences or on war influences/technology developments/etc. So, anyway, context aside. I re-examined the major learning outcome and settled on the over arching goal of developing better media literacy. From there, things were much easier to develop:

Overarching Goal:
Media Literacy: Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, and Act

Unit 1: Media Literacy (Access, Analyze, Evaluate)
Topics include:

• Understanding comics as a medium
• Comics history
• Cultural and historical context
• Major Writing Assignment: Analytical frameworks for interpretation centered on the ideas of accessing, analyzing, and evaluating

Unit 2: Media Literacy (Create, Act)
Topics include:

• Creative process and visual storytelling
• Scriptwriting and comic design
• Adaptation across media (text, image, audio)
• Major Writing Assignment: Creating an original comic (2+ pages)

Having developed the framework, now assessments can be more broadly focused on, for example, content (which makes sense for a literature class) as well as incorporate visual options but not making that the main focus of the course. One of the easier ways to do this was with the Discussion Boards.

For Discussion Boards, I was able to get more creative and had more options since the length requirement of readings is not there. For context, in a literature course of this level, students should be reading 2-3 works of novel length or several smaller readings totalling about that same estimated amount of page length.

For many Discussion Boards, I revised them to center thematically around the media literacy concepts and the learning outcomes rather than basing them on any one assigned reading:

• For DB 1, they focus on deeper reading with their chosen novel (or Persepolis, if they prefer to not search for a text).
• DB 2 has a choose your own reading option and several sources linked including WEBTOON, a prize-winning comics for blind and low-vision readers, Kodansha Sampler, and VIZ manga as options. In the prompt, I clarity that they can pick any comic as long as it is free, legal, and online. 
• DB 3 has them looking at political cartoons in the New Yorker or, as I found while researching, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, which has Audio Description Online of political cartoons—or anywhere else they can find one (as long as they can link it!).
• DB 4 is on Adaptations with the script to page or script to audio option.

Unit 2 got a bit tricker. In Unit 2, we move beyond McCloud to creating your own comic (script or drawn) and reading 2 works of varied length. One is a single issue of a superhero comic and the other is a graphic novel online. These were difficult to obtain especially with a looming deadline of getting the proposal in before Summer session (and really before we get close to finals because people are busy at all levels during the end of the semester—graduation, summer scheduling, final grading, etc.).

However, if the goal is a learning outcome and not a set book list, then there is still room for flexibility. This requires a bit of a work around since not every reading works for every student in this case, but I at least needed to find an equitable alternative text that meets length requirements and my learning outcomes about considering adaptations of text and the strengths/limitations of the medium as a whole. I settled on a broad idea of:

• A single-issue superhero comic with a script base
• A full-length graphic novel with a script or prose base

Finding accessible, equivalent materials for these requirements was difficult. However, I was able to identify strong alternatives. So, now, students have the option of:

• A single-issue superhero comic (visual or auditory) with a script base
• A full-length graphic novel or comic volume (visual or auditory) with a script or prose base

I’ve included 4 different texts (2 single-issues and 2-graphic novels) in the course materials that they can pull from. If you, as a reader of this post (if you’ve stuck with me this far!) are interested in copies, please feel free to email me. I think I’ve almost maxed out on my linking efforts as for today’s post though.

Final Thoughts

In some ways, I was right in thinking that there are more texts with accessible alternatives than there have been before. There are lots of e-readers, and many people are working to develop more and more tools to adapt comics or are making/considering accessibility in the development stages. That said, there are still limitations. We’re not fully “there” yet.

The real challenge, and reward, however was designing a course that I feel is accessible, equitable, and academically rigorous. It really has been a very rewarding experience because I love comics so much and I want everyone to be able to enjoy them. If I can help even one more person become interested, get one more person inspired to help make the medium more accessible or engage one more reader—it feels like a win to me.

Now, the hard part is waiting and seeing if the course can launch. All things considered, it should. Based on Brightspace’s built-in ALLY tool, the course already meets our college’s design standards. If it’s approved, I’m hoping to explore a broader rollout with admin permissions to share through already existing state-sharing initiatives, especially since I know other institutions offering ENG 225 (or courses like it) and are working toward more accessible course designs too.

With all that said, I’m incredibly proud of how this course came together so far. Is it perfect? Not yet… but I’ll keep working and improving! Wish me luck!

Line edits by: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow