The idea that legal scholarship should include visual elements is not a new one.  Early student work blazed a trail some thirty years ago.  More recent contributions have also been produced, including a comic book developed by the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University addressing copyright law and the fair use doctrine.

Despite these efforts, there does not appear to be any consistent attempt to use graphic art in legal scholarship.  Accordingly, this project challenges the conventional format for legal scholarship that has been used for over 150 years and offers an alternative approach.  Our project is interdisciplinary in nature and incorporates numerous fields of study.  It is influenced by the work of Susan Sontag, Umberto Eco, Marshall McLuhan as well as Derek Bell and Richard Delgado.   Our project is also informed by the work of Art Spiegelman and Osamu Tezuka

From the photographs of abuse at Abu Ghraib to the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed – graphic art can be powerful and descriptive.  It can also provide an extraordinary opportunity for discourse across a wide range of issues.  And yet, this opportunity has yet to be fully explored in legal scholarship. 

Graphic art cannot replace text.  But it can offer scholars a different format for addressing legal issues.  We hope this project encourages others to challenge the orthodoxy of format that infuses all legal scholarship.