Dr Mel Comics
Mel Gibson is a UK based comics scholar and consultant. She has run training and promotional events about comics and graphic novels for libraries, schools and other organizations since 1993 when she contributed to Graphic Account on developing graphic novels collections for 16-25 year olds, published by the Youth Libraries Group.
As a consultant, Mel runs training events on manga, working with young adults in libraries and working with picture books.
This site incorporates information about her training and promotional work, but also offers Links that will help you in developing graphic novel, comics and manga collections and events. It also contains a starter document for assessing comics strip materials for stock selection in libraries.
Further, via this site you can access the materials Mel has been involved in creating for various organisations, including Learning and Teaching Scotland on Graphic Novels in the Curriculum and Graphic Novels at Key Stage 3 from BookTrust.
Mel is a researcher and lecturer, as well as a trainer. She is an Associate Professor at Northumbria University specialising in teaching and research relating to children and young people, literature and media and has a huge interest in visual literacies. She is a National Teaching Fellow and writes about Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in the UK. This writing has also encompassed advising on successfully completing a Humanities PhD in Britain. Tome Reader offers support, guidance and humour about this particular academic challenge.
Her doctoral thesis was on British women's memories of their girlhood comics reading, which ties in to her training work, and her MA thesis also focused on comics. She has published a number of articles and chapters related to this research and about other aspects of comics, graphic novels and manga. She has presented papers at many conferences and has been involved in organising strands on comics, pedagogy and visual literacies.
Mel used the opportunities and resources that the National Teaching Fellowship offered to contribute to UK Comics Scholarship, in part through the academic areas of this website, as well as through supporting events, particularly Comics Forum. The resources section offers bibliographies and on-line resources for scholars in the field and for those wishing to begin studying the medium. It also includes details about academic periodicals interested in contributions on comics, manga, graphic novels and BD.
In addition, she created a discussion list for researchers and academics based in the UK whose work engages with comics, manga, BD and graphic novels. This list circulates information regarding scholarly activity around the medium across a number of sectors, disciplines and institutions in the UK. To join, please submit a request via this link. The list manager will contact you to confirm membership.
She has also taught modules in both Children's Literature in Context and Picture Books and Comics for the Developing Reader and has published in this area too.
Mel has worked extensively with television and radio, promoting and enthusing about comics, graphic novels and manga, including the BBC4 series Comics Britannia. The resources section of this site contains a selection of British Comics History Resources for those particularly interested in this area.
Website designed and maintained by Cornwell Internet
Last update: 24th September 2023.
