Illustrated publications using the formats of the comic, cartoon or picture book can be used with good effect for particular audiences. When used for people with limited literacy, care has to be taken to use very simple formats for the text.
Comics
People who can read and who have some contact with film (through television or cinema) enjoy comic-illustrated stories which combine narrative, dialogue and illustrations.
The format for comics determines that the stories are short, populated with easily recognizable characters with whom the reader can associate, and with concepts that are familiar but can be placed in strange contexts.
There is a growth in popularity of the graphic novel, which is longer and may have an extended cast of characters and a more complex story line. Such a production may be an illustration of a standard story, but in most cases it is likely to be a combination of words and illustrations entirely of its own genre.
Pictorials
Pictorials, unlike comics, use photographs and words rather than cartoons or illustrations. These are considered very much the second cousin of the comic, but they remain very popular and have something of the feel of the romance and the soap opera to them.
It is possible to use the format of comic, graphic novel or pictorial to convey messages about civic and voter education.
Production
These forms are often chosen because they appear to have limited text and can have diagrams and pictures of voting procedures and ballot papers. Local artists can draw simple cartoons or illustrations and these can then be used to create short books that can be simply and cheaply produced.
Some have used the format to tell stories that have educational consequences and that convey information while the story is being told.
Still others have used the form in the interesting graphic novel genre to raise social questions and to invoke civic activism.
In all these cases, the form has the advantage of also conveying basic public information, as many comics do, through advertizing on the outside and inner covers. The publication acts as a keepsake and memento; and as a pass-along for those who decide to take education into their own hands.
Limitations
There are, however, some serious limitations to the use of such publications and these relate primarily to cost and target audience.
Cost
While reproduction of a comic is much the same as that of a book, there are additional reproduction costs linked to the number of illustrations, especially if these are in colour. But the major cost factor is the creation of the work.
Illustrators need not be cheap, and those who are able to work in this medium must either combine with or be writers. In addition, there are considerable costs in developing story lines, which often resemble, and may be used for, scripts for video or film productions. The techniques of the modern comic mimic in many ways (flashback, extreme close up, cutaways, and so on) those of film.
Available Options
Illustrated material can be prepared in a number of different ways. In addition to the graphic novel or comic, it is possible to use the example of the illustrated and narrated postcard used often in children's publications.
Photographic novels, or a mix of comic and text are also possible.
Target Audience
It is assumed that comics are relevant to the illiterate because they use few words. But, in fact, the combination of words and images in quite complex patterns make considerable demands on the illiterate or the neoliterate. It may be useful for those contemplating the use of comics in such situations to reflect on the age at which comics become popular amongst those who have the privilege of going to school, and hence becoming literate while still young. They are certainly not their first choice of reading matter: this is determined by the need to have pattern and simplicity.
In this regard, the picture book (or photo novella), a short story illustrated by a sequence of photographs, seems to be far more useful and accessible.
On the other hand, those who have used comics and graphic novels with their natural audiences, young, urban, schooled or semi-schooled people in a modern working environment, have had success.
Evaluation suggests that comics have less impact overall in a national educational programme than one would imagine, and their impact can be outweighed by their cost. The proviso is that comics are useful when the audience is particularly well understood and focussed.
Mixed Media
There are publications with a mix of text, pictorial, illustration and comic. These probably suffer from attempting too much, but they can work in a context where the comic itself is the dominant communication mode.
