The Audience of New Kid

 The graphic novel style of New Kid creates a superhero-like atmosphere from Jordan’s perspective. Jordan compares himself to Batman which is interesting considering his divulgence of experiences of code switching. Preliminary to the text, plot, and characters, Craft’s artwork and stylistic choices stick out and add humor. One thing I traced throughout the first half of the book were uses of emoji-like graphics and also hyperbole of emotions, like the zombie students. Craft’s decision to heighten reality in this way makes the book fun and youthful while still addressing topics of microaggressions, race, and peer relations. 

A specific example of this style intercepting with content are the angels on Jordan’s shoulders. These angels first appear on page 24 when Jordan sees Maury, the first student of color he has seen at his new school. The angels are holding a banner that reads “Hallelujah” Then later on page 30 they appear again, a bit more timidly, when Drew is introduced to the class. At one point on page 91, there is only one angel and he appears to have passed out from exhaustion while Jordan does homework. These angels work as a way to visually represent Jordan’s inner thoughts, emotions, and experiences of being the new student who is black at his predominantly white school. Similar to Jordan’s comic sketches, they add another layer to Jordan’s psyche while also contributing to the humorous elements of the text.  

This take away from the first half of New Kid, relates to many take aways I’ve had from this course. The authors we have read tend to bring marginalized, silenced, ignored, and oppressed voices to the forefront. As readers, humor assists us in entering these worlds and permitting us to laugh before or while we learn and unlearn previously held perspectives. What’s even more refreshing and unique about New Kid, is that Craft targets a wide range of audiences, which is crucial for education and becoming anti-racist. Compared to other texts we have read that may be a bit more explicit, New Kid can be read by many ages, which in terms of humor, means that each age range can interpret jokes and stylistic choices differently. Just as our individuals in our class tend to react to the same text in contrasting ways. Overall, just diving into this text, I noticed that I now approach reading humor in a more fine-tuned manner. Since taking this class, I have been able to identify instances of humor in books and in my every day life that I previously would have overlooked.