NYC public schools bring their own comic books, including a 'Know Your Rights' issue, to Comic Con

Among the cosplayers, celebrity panels and merch booths at New York Comic Con this weekend is an unexpected exhibitor: the New York City Department of Education, which has quietly become one of the country's bigger comic book publishers.

The convention runs Oct. 8 to 11 at the Javits Center, according to the schedule organizer ReedPop released, as published by Variety. The DOE's Civics for All Comics Group, the in-house imprint of its social studies and civics team, is handing out free copies at the show and running panels, Gothamist reported.

From the Draft Riots to hip-hop

The education department started publishing comics as part of the public schools' social studies curriculum in 2020, and its catalog now runs to 46 titles, according to Gothamist. Topics range from the Draft Riots of 1863 to the history of hip-hop, with profiles of John Lewis, Dolores Huerta and comics legend Jack Kirby, and issue-based books on climate change and voting rights. The comics go to city public schools and can be downloaded free by teachers and readers anywhere.

Officials told Gothamist that the schools have produced 6 million copies of their comics, which would put the DOE among the top 10 comic book publishers in the U.S. The imprint began in early 2020 as a collaboration between the department and comics creators to publish nonfiction graphic texts for classrooms, according to the department's social studies and civics site.

Joe Schmidt, a former teacher who works on the imprint, told Gothamist that comics can push vocabulary above grade level and ask students to combine information from words and pictures. "Students really learn well from comics," he said.

A comic about ICE encounters

One of the newest titles is Know Your Rights, which explains what people can do if they are approached by immigration agents. Its first panels remind readers that they have the right to remain silent, to ask to see a warrant and not to open the door without one, and it ends with emergency numbers and groups to call for help, Gothamist reported. The cover features Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.

The comic was written by Alex Segura, drawn by David Hahn, colored by Ellie Wright and lettered by Taylor Esposito, and made with the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and Project Open Arms, The Beat reported when it came out in June. Its introduction notes that the guidance applies only in New York City.

Still to come this weekend

Comic Con's professional program for educators and librarians is a partnership with the New York Public Library's Center for Educators and Schools and the Civics for All Comics Group, according to ReedPop's schedule, which listed DOE sessions on Thursday and Friday, including one on the Know Your Rights comic. On Saturday afternoon, the department is scheduled to join a panel on its new comic about the Young Lords, the Puerto Rican activist group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and on Sunday a panel on LGBTQ+ comics, Gothamist reported.