Najama Meets the Galaxy Vol. 4 Issue #47
Page One
Panel one: Close up of Najama flipping a card over in her hand. It depicts a lady with a sword surrounded by stars. She’s in a brown hut under low light.
Najama [box]: My father told me to be wary of this card.
Panel two: Close up of Najama’s face. There’s sweat above her brow, and her eyes look troubled.
Panel three: The card from panel one is placed next to four other cards at the end of a row. The row of cards depicts the loss of the sun and a woman gaining a sword.
Najama [box]: He said they mean you will gain strength…
Panel four: Close up of Najama’s hand, touching a sapphire pendant around her neck.
Najama [box]: …but lose something far more precious.
Panel five: Wide shot of Najama on the floor looking startled. A door slams open behind her with a dark figure in the doorway.
Panel six: A close up of Ronan—a scowling, tall black woman with a curly afro—is revealed as the figure in the doorway.
Ronan [bubble]: "Naja, we don’t have time for this."
Panel seven: Show a high shot Najama on the floor, looking over her shoulder. Ronan’s shadow cast over her. Her eyes are fierce, and her cards are a disorganized pile in front of her. A couple of cards are out of the row faced up, the disappearing sun, the sword held by a queen.
Najama [bubble]: "The stars will make time one way or another."
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“Oh, you got the books,” Adeline said excitedly.
“Yes, I was surprised to see the…schedule,” Alex said.
Said schedule had come in the mail a day later, listing the classes Alex would be teaching. She had one freshman class that was general literature, covering topics about Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, and Emily Dickinson. She also had three senior classes, all with the fanciful title Literature 420: Exploration of the Graphic Novel and Epic Tales. Or in laymen’s term, comic books.
“Oh, right! I forgot they added the Dark Knight Returns this year,” Adeline exclaimed before leaning in. “We’d been begging for that one for years. Try teaching Watchmen. It’s a nightmare for both sides.” Adeline laughed as she walked to her office while Alex forced a smile.
“I imagine,” Alex said politely. “I didn’t know the class had a specific concentration on graphic novels.” Alex almost tripped over Adeline when the department head stopped short.
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“What do you mean?” Adeline asked with genuine confusion.
“What do…I mean…” Alex motioned generally, but Adeline was unfazed.
Alex’s words faltered. She didn’t really have to spell it out, did she? It was obvious! These are high school kids reading about comic books for their literature class! Adeline’s mouth made an “o” after a moment.
“I see what’s going on,” Adeline said. Alex’s shoulders relaxed as Adeline waved her over to a bench in the courtyard. Alex sat down next to her, ready to talk it out. “You’re a Marvel fan, aren’t you?”
The silence between them was deafening. Alex could do nothing but blink at Adeline for a solid thirty seconds. Then a smile crept over Adeline’s face before she burst out into laughter.
“I’m sorry,” Adeline giggled. “I could not resist. Your face is priceless.” Alex didn’t know how to respond, so she settled for saying nothing. Adeline took a deep breath, a couple of leftover snickers spilling out before she spoke again.
“I understand why you’re confused,” Adeline admitted. “You thought that you would be giving your knowledge of classic literature and probably find it inappropriate to teach them these types of texts. You think it’s lazy, right?”
“Yes!” Alex said bluntly, having learned over the past few weeks, it was better to be straightforward with Adeline on her feelings than be polite. Adeline would just coax them out of her anyway. Or make her roll on the grass again, and her bruise just started to heal. “I feel like I’m giving them leisure time.”
“But that’s the best part; you’re not,” Adeline assured her. “With older texts, you can get excellent information and incredible lessons. However, the problem we’ve come across in recent years is that the students are too young to appreciate them. Of course, we’ve had traditional literature classes where they learn the material and analyze it with a few that really getting something out of it.
“However, over the years, the enthusiasm…wasn’t there, to put it nicely. And we want our students to enjoy what they’re learning so, we thought 'why not give them a medium they already know and enjoy?' Why not teach them how to analyze what they’re already consuming, really get them to think about what they want from the text they read. The response was a complete 180. I know it’s not something you’re used to, but I think it’ll be good to get out of the ivory tower and put those skills to work in a different setting. Sometimes, it’s best when both sides are learning something new, you know?”
“I…don’t, honestly,” Alex admitted.
“I know. It’s weird at first,” Adeline took Alex’s hands. “but try giving this a chance. I really think you’ll enjoy it.”
Alex tossed the comic book aside, rubbing for her temples to fight her incoming headache. It was the third comic she read that day and, while she could objectively understand the appeal, she could not for the life of her think of a way she could teach them for more than a couple of lessons. She looked at the Alan Moore comic and scoffed before she pulled the laptop in front of her.
She pulled up a lesson plan template she created months ago in anticipation of her first job. She remembered being excited about the first time she would sit and create a lesson for her future students, her first real class. She was so enamored with the thought, agonizing over the format, thinking of what unit she would teach first, how old her kids would be, and how she could change their life with her knowledge.
She glared at the books by her side in resentment. She could’ve dealt with teaching a lot of things she didn’t want to read, like Twilight for pop culture lesson or forcing herself through Joseph Conrad for unreliable narrators but this?
Alex took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She had to remember that this was not about her personal preferences. This was about her students. If they’re engaged, the class is going to be great, no matter the material. Isn’t that the real point of literature? She didn’t like all the stories she studied, but her teachers taught her the value of them or at least to respect the lessons in them when they disagreed on the quality of the story. She can do this.
Alex took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. She grabbed the Alan Moore comic with determination along with the textbook about comics that she didn’t know existed a few days ago. She opened both to the beginning and got out her highlighter.
“Let’s do this,” she murmured to herself and dived right in.