Chester Comix - Comic books and graphic novels that bring history to life!

Welcome to Chester Comix! Inside this site you'll find fun samples of the way Bentley Boyd uses comix to spark interest in history for reluctant readers! Check what he's drawing now, go with him to weird historical sites across the country, or download a coloring page and put your own words into his drawings! This home page features my most recent news/blog entries. Learn more about my blog. Have fun! --Bentley Boyd

FREE comix! (Two of my favorite words in the English language)

August 23rd, 2010

Here’s a new feature on the Chester Comix website to start your school year with a bright burst of fun: a FREE episode about NORTH AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY!

And when I say “episode,” I mean the whole shebang. All five pages, start to finish, the way it was meant to be read when I drew it for the Daily Press almost a decade ago. I’ve included sample pages on this site for seven years so you can get a good feel for the way I build social studies material into my adventure stories (maps, timelines, key words in bold). But I’ve never provided a whole episode.

The North American geography story seems a good choice for the freebie — many teachers cover that material at the start of their school year, and it’s a topic really too broad to fit any of my printed books. I slice off the part of the map that I need to for different stories, but ALL of North American geography applies to many of my books “Exploring the Americas,” “First Americans,” “Revolutionary Rumblings,” “Moving and Grooving,” — heck, almost all of them! How could I pin the North American geograpy lesson to any one of them?

Now I don’t have to. The episode will live here, 365/24/7. And when you have your students check it out, I hope they will find many other interesting things to read and think about . . . 😉

Posted in Author's Purpose | No Comments »

Slow as Manassas

August 11th, 2010

I’ve lived in Virginia for 18 years without making it up to the site of the first major battle of the Civil War — and then there was a last-minute mission to get my boys to the Green Day concert just down Lee Highway from the Manassas Battlefield . . .

(Don’t worry, I got my Cool Dad badge LAST summer when I actually went into the Green Day concert in downtown DC with my boys. But this time the concert was at an outdoor theater, and it hit 101 degrees today, and, well . . . )

Manassas was the site of the first major battle of the Civil War. And the feel of today’s battlefield park is just right. Thank goodness these rolling hills are not covered with condos. Though the Manassas Battlefield is only a mile or so north of Interstate 66, you can stand here and feel the struggle of men and guns up and down these hills (and why holding the high ground was so important). There WAS a modern road cutting through the park, but seeing the modern rush hour traffic jammed on its two lanes did not feel overwhelming — it just reminded me of the traffic jam that came at the end of the First Battle of Manassas, as Union soldiers and spectators rushed over each other down that very same roadway to get back to the safety of DC!!

I love visiting Civil War battlefields in the late afternoon. Battles usually ended at sunsdown anyway, so it’s a good time to feel the peacefulness and consider the bravery and the terrible pain that happened on this ground — and the ideas that brought people here in conflict.

I feel restored and inspired from having walked through the quiet grass of Manassas. Now back to Paneras to wait for the concert to end!

Tags: battlefield, Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, Chester the Crab, Civil War, educational comics, First Battle of Manassas, history, Virginia
Posted in Author's Purpose, Historical Travel | No Comments »

George Washington’s Dung House

August 1st, 2010

I love the smell of History in the morning!

When I visited last week, I discovered that less than 100 yards from George Washington’s mansion — one of the most famous and beautiful homes in America — is his OPEN-AIR DUNG SHED!!!! Archaeologists found the brick foundation, so we KNOW it was there, a safe place to keep old crap for later use as fertilizer on one of Washington’s five farms. This is the best proof I know that Washington considered himself a serious and innovative farmer.

This is the kind of lively detail I’ll put in a new biography of the nation’s first president. The folks at Mount Vernon called me up for meetings this past week to discuss how I can help them update their materials for teachers and students, and I’m excited — but not because I will start from scratch.

I’ve certainly drawn a lot about Washington already, and parts of his story are among the most well-known pieces of American history covered in the nation’s classrooms. What excites me specifically is the chance to build on what Mount Vernon already did in 2006 when it opened a state-of-the-art education center. At the time I covered the opening as a reporter, and the center got a lot of attention for three lifelike statues of GW created by CSI techniques. But every time I go back I see more details and bolder storytelling than I noticed before. It’s an amazing achievement for a historical figure that everyone thinks they know.

I hope to live up to those high standards as I embark on The Definitive George Washington Biography Comic Book!!

Tags: Bentley Boyd, Chester Comix, educational comic, George Washington, history, Mount Vernon, Virginia
Posted in Historical Travel | No Comments »

Comic books that bring history to life!