Two Former Editors at The Nib Have Made the Only Primer On Ethical Comics Reporting

Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide for Graphic Narrative draws from both Mirk and Harris’ extensive experience in this still-emerging field. It’s worth noting that Mirk was once a news editor for the Portland Mercury, before their career led them into other journalism jobs. In recent years, they edited the 2020 anthology Guantanamo Voices, and they’re currently the publisher at nonfiction comics press Crucial Comix.

Don’t let my use of the word “textbook” put you off; Making Nonfiction Comics is highly readable. It’s the sort of book that you can dip in and out of, as needed. Anyone serious about understanding the form will benefit from a complete read through, but it also seems well suited to be taught across a semester.

There have been other works used to instruct for this medium, like Lynda Barry’s Making Comics which is arguably more about the rigor of artistic practice or Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which unpacks visual storytelling methods. However, Making Nonfiction Comics is considering and imparting different lessons.

“This is not a book about drawing technique,” Mirk writes in the introduction. Instead, the authors devote chapters to Graphic Reportage and Drawing Nonfiction; they won’t teach you how to draw a dog, but they will teach you to consider which dog to choose and how to present the dog’s actions.

Making Nonfiction Comics also contains short interviews with some of the greats of the form. Fans of Joe Sacco, Brian “Box” Brown, Nicole J. Georges, et al., will want to pick this up to read above-average insight from their favs. Each of these breakouts spotlights a digestible lesson—a smart device that imitates how creatives in this field learn from one another over time.

While not exactly surprising, it’s laudable that this book is useful to all emerging journalists, not just those who want to make comics. It provides an impressive primer on journalism itself, starting with core ethics and trauma-informed reporting. Skill share and pro tip sections touch on a variety of topics, like interviewing and introductions. As if in answer to my complaint that nonfiction comics can’t be objective, Mirk and Harris state early on that they view objectivity as a myth. The book casts aside the pretense that reporting can be told without bias and instead encourages authors to be upfront about their backgrounds, values, and identities, which shape the stories they tell.

Journalism isn’t easy, and neither is making comics. What’s deeply obvious in this work is that Mirk and Harris love what they do and love the work of others. Making Nonfiction Comics is the best “how to” I’ve ever read about the form, and in my mind the only primer that exists for ethical graphic reporting.