Comics and social-emotional laughter

This chapter wishes to embrace one of the thorny elements of using comics in classrooms; that some of them are comic. The flippancy which pervades them, and which has served to be part of the charm and irreverence of the form, is problematic precisely because it is comedy. Funny moments draw attention to distinctions between us. Embracing this risky aspect of comics though can offer rich and fruitful spaces to open and to explore difficult issues. Drawing together humour research, comics studies and education, this chapter will argue that actively noticing, teaching and talking about humour in comics is a way of encouraging, even young readers, to think about themselves and their own boundaries, and about those of others