Immigration in Comics: Barrier

The immigration narrative told through the lens of science fiction is one of my favorite tropes in storytelling and pop culture. Most of the time, movies and/or stories about immigration are as direct as a slap on the back of the head. Other times, elements of that narrative are just borrowed or touched on because the focus of the movie and/or story is one of outsiders, exclusion, and othering. Finding those kinds of those hybrid stories in comic books is easy, all you have to do is look to characters like Superman and the X men. But every once in a while, something different comes along and Barrier by Brian K. Vaughan is that something. 

I read the first issue of Barrier when it was first published digitally in 2015. I don’t remember what my impressions were from that first reading, but I knew it would something cool because of the writer. I also figured it would be easier to wait for the story to finish rather than reading it as it was released. It took a few years, but the creators eventually completed the story and later announced that it would be available in print for a limited time. So rather than buying all five issues online as a digital copy, I waited to buy the physical comic instead. 

So, before I get into my thoughts on the book itself, there will be spoilers if you haven't read it or plan on reading it. I'd much prefer y'all read the story and then come back to read what I have to say.  

Webinar: Finding Your Story

Watch live streaming video from connectedlearningtv at livestream.com

I had the pleasure of being on a webinar earlier this month talking about digital story telling and digital age civics. It was a great panel with a diverse set of folks participating and sharing their experiences with story telling. While I didn't mean for it to happen, I ended up dominating the conversation at almost every question.

In the back of my mind, I was being mindful to respect the space and let everyone have a go at it when questions are asked, pero since no one was really sharing as much as I'd hope they would, I came in there and just shot my mouth off. Well, you can see in the video, which is an hour long. Yes, it's a looooong video, but a great conversation, so you won't be disappointed.

The webinar I was a part of was one of three in a serious of discussions. You can check out the rest of the webinars at the connected learning site, which was the host for these video panels. Big thank you to Sangita Shresthova whose one of the organizers for this event, and for inviting me to share.