Why Comics?
Kids are Smart!
We believe kids can retain a great depth of knowledge about topics that interest them. Think about how much a six or seven-year old can tell you about topics like planets, dinosaurs or Pokemon. Iggy and The Inhalers aims to give kids very serious and complex information, but packaged in a fun easy-to-follow format.
Multi-Format Storytelling
The comic books, activity pages, asthma action plan, trading cards, videos, stickers, and posters all work together to engage kids and encourage an deeper understanding of asthma.
Anthropomorphized Superheros
By anthropomorphizing medications into characters with personalities and physical traits directly related to their mechanism of action, understanding can be much more intuitive. For example, Broncho The Bronchodilator is a rescue medication that talks and acts fast, using his lasso to loosen up the muscle bands around the airways. Coltron The Controller is a slow talking robot with a water-canon arm that slowly decreases inflammation over several days. The characters and their actions cannot be confused because they speak, look, act, and attack asthma pathophysiology differently.
Broncho the Bronchodilator
Coltron the Controller
Sequential Art
Sequential art (a fancy name for comics) at it's core is a series of related images. But sequential images, there can be a great deal of information conveyed to the viewer. Comics allow readers to compare visual and narrative elements across space and time. Panels communicate non-verbal cues about pacing and action.
Story-driven Patient Education
Kids (and adults!) like stories. Narrative structures help us remember ideas and details. Also, social learning theory shows how modeling behavior through narrative is a useful tool in health education.
Good vs. Evil
From ancient myths to comic books, the battle of good vs. evil is a basic storytelling device. In our stories, the medications are always the good guys, and the triggers are the bad guys.
Health Literacy
Many studies have show that well-designed combinations of images and text help patients understand health information better than text alone. Many newer studies also support the idea that narrative delivery can be better than information presented without a narrative.