The Image Becomes the Weapon: New Literacies and Canonical Legacies

This article explores how texts not traditionally considered academic (such as comics) and texts often read in schools (such as canonical novels) have porous boundaries and are often informed by the same literary legacies. Drawing on a qualitative practitioner research study, we illustrate how African American naturalism, á la Richard Wright, finds its way into contemporary graphic novels as well as into the multimodal works produced by youth. Through the work of a fifth-grade student in a comics club, we highlight how graphic narratives may be seen as extensions of preexisting literary traditions, which students both inherit and invent.