So you really liked our Cindi in Space comic book and you want to know where to go to get more comics about science. Well, here's a short guide:
First there are the wonderful books by Larry Gonick. He is the premiere cartoonist doing educational work and has written over a dozen books covering everything from history to physics to genetics.
You can find his books at your local library, book store, on-line retailer, or read more about them at Larry Gonick's own website.
Next
there is wonderful comic book Space Weather done by Zander Cannon for
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
and the Space Environment Center (SEC)
which explains more about how the space environment affects the Earth and our
technology. I got my copies for free at various science conferences, but they
don't have any listing of it on their website. You can buy a copy from Kevin
Cannon (Zander's brother and artistic collaborator) at this website.
(The Space Weather comic book was the original inspiration for the
Cindi in Space comic book. Thanks, Zander!)
The folks over at the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL) at Nagoya University in Japan have produced some science manga. They have six in English and several more in Japanese, all of them can be downloaded as pdf. Dr.Y. Kamide (the professor there who oversaw the making of these) promises me that more English translations will be coming.
And
there are Jim Ottaviani and G. T.
Labs who have published several graphic novels about science and scientists.
They have done this with several different comics artists and groups, most recently
with Big Time Attic, an art group
up in Minnesota (that includes Zander and Kevin Cannon). Together they just
published a book called Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards which
is about the nineteenth century dinosaur bone hunters and the very bitter feud
between Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh. Check out some of their other cool books
such as Dignifying Science
(stories about women scientists) and Fallout
(about the nuclear scientists and the politics of nuclear power and weapons).
And while you're at it, check out this animated
version of a Richard Feynman story from Two-Fisted
Science.
And last, there were two reports on NPR's Morning Edition, one on February 14, 2005 by Neda Ulaby about Jim Ottaviani and his books, and one on April 8, 2005 by Sarah Hughes about using science comic books in real classrooms. They are good reports and worth listening to (particularly if you're a teacher thinking, "I wonder if I can get away with doing this in my classroom?")
Back to the Cindi in Space comic book website.