Thoughts & life experiences of a Chicago area graphic artist

13 November 2018

Fun Convo During Minecraft Comic Demo

Minecraft Joker and Batman face-off for 6 and 7 year-old Cartooning Class


My 6 and 7 year-old students love to do mashup comics combining super heroes and Minecraft. The classroom comic demo concept above was driven entirely by the students who told me who to feature in each panel and what they would say.  All the while each student would make their own version of the comic from pencils to inks to color. As we were busy drawing the class comic, I loved listening to my youngest students discuss the motivations of the characters.

One student (who admittedly was more 'Team Superman') pondered, "I think Batman is kind of evil like the Joker. He’s not concerned with other people who might get hurt when they fight”. Such musing by a first-grader is somewhat remarkable.

Another said, “Batman likes to have all these crazy bad guys to fight so he can be the hero.” In spite of these comments that question Batman’s status as a hero, he maintains a favored spot in my students’ esteem.

I let them talk as they draw without interjecting my own views.

In a previous class of older attendees, one of my Middle-School-age students said he liked the comics from the 60s and 70s because they are not so violent.

My small classes are hardly the basis for a bell-weather of opinions or trends. But who knows… this younger generation might have an impact on the tone of comics of the future.

My demo is made on an easel in front of the class as we all draw together. I snapped a photo of my demo and later colored it in Photoshop.


Minecraft-themed comics thumbnail

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