The Comic Book Project Profile

Name:

The Comic Book Project

Started by:

Dr. Michael Bitz, Ed.D, Columbia University

What Do They Do?:

The Comic Book Project provides materials and curriculum for school and after-school programs that allows children to reinforce their literacy and artistic skills by creating comic books about global topics like bullying and environmental conservation. They also have a partnership with Dark Horse Comics to publish the comics so the children see their work in print.

Location:

Mail
Columbia University
New York, NY
Phone
(212) 330-7444
Email
meb53@columbia.edu

Website:

www.comicbookproject.org

How You Can Help:

The Comic Book Project accepts donations to help support their program. They can be contacted at their email address at meb53@columbia.edu or at (212) 330-7444. You can also volunteer at a program to help teach children and guide them through the comic creation process.

Support Materials:

The material used in the program can be purchased from Dark Horse Comics directly via:

Sarah Robertson
Account Executive Dark Horse Comics
10956 SE Main St
Milwaukie, OR 97222
sarahr@darkhorse.com
(503) 905-2402

History:

The Comic Book Project was started in 2001 by Dr. Michael Bitz, a teacher at Columbia University in a school in Queens, New York. The concept was to, “…try to take that knowledge [gained from research] and turn it into something that schools could really use as a way of bringing creativity back into children's lives and into the learning process."

Since that time, the program has seen continued success with more and more school adopting the program. Now, the project has reached thousands of children across America win cities like New York, Tucson, San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Chicago, and others. The project has recently become its own independent organization with the help of the Center for Educational Pathways.

The thrust of the program is to take something that kids enjoy, comics and manga, and use it as a vehicle to help them build upon their literacy skills. They learn basic drawing techniques, storytelling, and engage in community building through creating their comics in groups. The project also strengthens grammar skills and builds self-confidence through helping them to finish a project. The accomplishment of seeing their final pieces brings a lot of joy to young creators and helps them to realize that they can read, write, and draw. This translates to further success in the classroom for these young students.

The Comic Book Project allows you students to accomplish something that many of them would think impossible and may even put them onto the path of becoming the next Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, or just a better reader and storyteller. Either way it’s a win for these young students.