Graphic Math: A Collection of Interviews With Creators of Mathematically Themed Graphic Novels

Abstract

This article presents interviews with five noteworthy creators of mathematically themed graphic novels in an effort to provide insight into how they developed their storylines and visuals to incorporate mathematical concepts. The creators interviewed include Larry Gonick of the educational graphic series The Cartoon Guide to (Gonick and Smith, 1993; Gonick and Huffman, 2008; Gonick, 2012; Gonick, 2015), Robert Lewis and Jennifer Granville of Prime Suspects: The Anatomy of Integers and Permutations (Granville and Granville, 2019), Apostolos Doxiadis of Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth (Doxiadis et al., 2009), and Gene Luen Yang of Secret Coders (Yang and Holmes, 2015). Two of the interviewees created graphic novels for scholastic purposes and were therefore guided by pedagogy, while the others let the story be their guide. Despite these differences, the combination of interviews offers advice and suggestions for writers, illustrators, and educators interested in creating or using mathematical graphic content. The interviews took place between the 5th of June and the 31st of December, 2020.

Keywords

• Educational Comics
• Math Education
• Mathematics
• Pedagogy