You sound like a writer. Hopefully I can figure out something. I will attempt to make some economic examples come alive using pictures. The only example I have at the moment is the broken window fallacy, but I am going to start looking over Hazlitt’s book again to help with writing the script.
Hey guys,
Here is a link to the sketch with words for the third page.
http://www.cadeh.com/3sketch.jpg
This is where the real lesson starts. I was hoping someone could look it over and make sure I’m accurate here with the info before I finish the page to make sure none of the wording needs to be corrected. Otherwise I will just go with it. The fourth page will be an illustrated example of the broken window fallacy to give an example of the “unseen”.
That is awesome. Your ability to draw and put this into a story makes this much more exciting. 
Very nice.
I think ‘head’ has to be ‘headache’.
I’d maybe change the words to: "The power that economic super heroes use is the ability to “see the unseen”.
Or “special power that economic super heroes use…” But you could leave “the super power” on the board and elsewhere.
I dunno, I just found reading the first bit a tad odd - but maybe that’s just me.
Also; “horrible hangover” ?
Awesome though. Looking forward to the others!
There is a youtube video called Peter Schiff analogies which might be useful at some point.
Also, I like the parable of filling the pool by taking water from the shallow end and pouring it in the deep end.
Maybe your school could be like the X Men school, with budding superheroes flying around tackling this problem or that.
Or you might use a Dilbert idea, where the unseen is shown by giving some villian a wedgie. Evil govt man breaks a window and stands there looking pompous about how great it is. The hero flies in, gives him a huge wedgie, and out falls all the unseen bad parts.
one last thought. maybe “the unseen” could be some twilight zone kind of world. The hero has to fly in there, maybe like Dr Strange, and there he sees the unseen.
He sees the window not broken and the owner buying a new suit with the saved money
This stuff is great! I can’t wait to see your future work.
Here is page 3 finished
@Conza88 - I liked your wording better. Thanks.
@Smiling Dave - I think your ideas would be great for a comic, but I’m also trying to teach the common person more about economics so I’m trying to make the examples a little more grounded in reality. The first two pages were really just a hook to get the reader going. That was one thing I didn’t like about Irwin Schiff’s comic. All the information was completely grounded in reality, but the setting was in the past. It kind of made me feel like it didn’t apply in todays world even though that was not his intention, but that’s just my opinion. I also don’t want to take sides on whether the government is evil or not. I don’t think economics says “government is bad”. It has a function in protecting life, liberty, and property and enforcing contracts. It’s when government gets into central planning that it shows it’s ugly side. Maybe I’m wrong on this, but it’s what I’ve been told so far and seems to make sense.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I’m making this up as I go so I will probably be posting the sketches with the words from now on to see if everything makes sense to other people.
Page 4 finished.
Next page will start talking about government policies like public works.
wow, this is awesome!
Don’t forget abstraction. It’s difficult to include abstraction like you did in your first two pages with the topic at hand. But if you have the guy teaching go off and fight or defend some of the things that the toxic creature is destroying in your chalkboard examples from time to time, even if it is only one window per page from after these last two pages, then I think you sustain the creativity of the first two pages without sacrificing the theoretical that needs to be also spelled out. I don’t know. I don’t want to downplay what you’ve done so far cause this is some really awesome stuff either way. I still think it looks interesting and fun.
by the way, I have written in the past. You caught that right away. It must be that obvious, I never realized that.
Thanks wilderness. I know what you mean with the abstraction. That will be tough to do with the information I’m using. I’ll try to think of something.
My hope is that the information is accurate enough to give people an intro to economics and enlighten them to how government policies affect them and what is really happening when they are put into place.
I have obviously been struggling with abstraction since the first two pages. Maybe I could portray government as something. Possibly a robot? Not sure. I would like it to be something that starts out small and good, but can grow to be too large. Maybe a blob? I’m not sure.
I wouldn’t do a robot as AI is a likable thing. Don’t want to demonize anything by accident.
You used a blob already so it might become a bit confusing unless you drew the blob in a distinct way.
I’m trying to think of something that might be popularly known to be good small, but not too good when large or a lot of to make it readily familiar but then you custom make it to give it a unique flavor to fit your comic…hmmm, maybe?
Try a different approach. Follow a government planner as he tries to ‘solve’ problems for people. Get rid of the red tape, let him do what he wants. In fact, bring Mr. Hapless Government Stooge into a functioning but imperfect anarcho capitalist society that he inherrited somehow as absolute ruler and trace the results of what happens as he applies each ‘solution’ to each ‘problem’ he encounters. It’s The One Lesson but play it out over a series and have the guy constantly trying to solve problems of his own making that resulted from the previous ‘solutions’ he’s enacted. Say he comes in and the first thing he wants to do is enact a minimum wage, do that, and then let him deal with the people he disemployed personally, and just let him screw up from their ad nauseum until he ends up with the world as it is today. Perfect way to demonstrate everything from price controls to public choice issues as he grants favors to certain industries.
@xahrx - A cool idea. Sounds a lot like the book by Hazlitt called “Time Will Run Back” but the opposite. I haven’t read that book but have been meaning too. I think the idea would be cool to do but probably as a comic separate from this one. My brother read your idea and got completely into it. He said the government guy should have what he does at home with his finances be completely the opposite of how he runs the government for added hypocritical effect.
Great work. Really top notch. Look forward to seeing the completed project.
Regarding the broken window: It’s not just that the baker could have had a new suit instead of repairing the window, and its not just that the suit man lost a sale because of the broken window. The baker could have had BOTH the unbroken window AND a new suit. Now, he has only a fixed window and no suit. The glazier’s gain was the suit man’s loss. No net gain in employment.
I think you may have hinted at this with your chalk board illustration, but, I think the above needs to be driven home a little more. For example, add a frame that shows the “unseen” as the baker standing next to a never broken window, but the baker is wearing a new suit, and in the “seen” he is standing next to his fixed window with no new suit.
That is great work. As a teacher I am always looking for something like that. Sadly the federal reserve spends our money like its nothing and they have comic books they try to send teachers to indoctrinate the kids. Mine are high schoolers and what your doing would be great for them. When the project is complete, I am buying!
Aloha,
will
Echoing this, it might be worth it to think of more exciting ways to explore the subject matter. Though I think these pages taking place in the classroom are great so far, it is still a guy teaching economics in a classroom. As you had established Economics Man as a superhero, I was expecting him to literally go around the city, battling economic ignorance and the like. For instance, you introduce (the potentially cocky) Super Duper man; perhaps, after vanquishing the toxic beast, the two notice that the attack resulted in a broken window. Economics Man mourns the destruction, but that old lunkhead Super Duper man thinks there’s an upside! Having this dynamic duo at your disposal, you can use their interaction to inject bits of character humor, raise and answer questions the audience might have, and use a narrative to keep the audience involved.
Not that the above example is the way to go, but the general reminder that it’s always better to have your character be active. Have him do something. The pages so far are very well laid out and pleasing to the eye, but if this is going to remain in the classroom for 20 pages or how ever many, those who aren’t looking for an economics lesson might get bored or have little interest in coming back for subsequent issues (instead of, “Come back to learn more!” it can be, “Come back to see what happens to our two heroes!”). Take this with a grain of salt, of course; I have no idea what you have in store for this baby, and I’m very much anxious to see more.
As for possible representations of the State, a glutton might be appropriate. He can start looking friendly and normal - he’s agreeable enough - but he can’t stop eating. He consumes and consumes, growing fatter and more disgusting, until it is clear that he was nothing but a monster in disguise.
(This may be swerving too far into a whole other style, but the State character could remain in the background for a while, as Economics Man battles other foes; until we realize that the State, growing in power all this time, is Economics Man’s most challenging adversary yet)
The bee one made me gasp!
http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF246-Bee.gif
And your comic is going really well. I really like the seen/unseen dialogue on page 3, and of course the way you’re personifying these concepts by making them into superheros. Not something I had ever thought of! And the drawings are top notch too.
Good luck with it
I really like that idea. I’ll change page 4 later so that the bum character is superduperman and I’ll change the text to match.
Maybe I should redo page 3 with that idea. It would probably be a better story for sure and would take the classroom out of it. Darn it Michael, your idea is too good. Back to the drawing board.