Interest in comics has steadily expanded as the medium has moved from a niche culture to mass media, and it is now well attested that comics can serve as effective tools in the classroom for conveying information as well as expressing new interpretations of old stories and tropes. Consequently, we believe that many disciplines can benefit by using comics and related texts for teaching purposes. Our students are readily familiar with the conventions of the medium, and the interplay of text and image offers innovative ways to engage with course material.

Our focus in this session is on Medieval Studies and what comics can contribute to furthering the field. Comics based on medieval themes include adaptations of medieval stories as well as works that appropriate aspects of the medieval and transform this content into new characters or adventures.

In this session, we seek to build upon the work of medieval-comics scholars and share strategies for incorporating comics into the teaching of the various subfields of Medieval Studies, including art, history, languages, literature, and philosophy. We hope these ideas can help invigorate the discipline and bring more students into our classrooms.