Germ Comics

As we've been learning about germs, we've often found ourselves joking around with analogies as we compare bacteria or viruses with things familiar to our lives. We imagined comicsthat joke about the comparisons and give the reader a hilarious look into to world of microbes.

As we started to make the comics, it was very difficult to make them as well as we had imagined. (Have you ever tried to make a comic? I gave it a try and it is HARD!!! Much harder than I thought it would be.) Many of our funny conversations never even turned into comics. I am OK with that. I've decided that the power was in the comparison. The laughing and joking where one person builds off another person until we've created a very detailed scene is the place the real magic exists. If the comic never gets drawn by hand it is OK because it has already been drawn in the mind, the important work has already been done. The magic is in the conversation itself.

Here are some of the scenarios the children have imagined. I'm sure you can conjure up some funny mental images to accompany the humor.

Fact: The body has defense mechanisms to help keep germs out (wet eyes wash germs out, eye lashes catch germs, throat and mouth are wet to make germs slip down to the stomach, stomach acid kills germs, skin prevents germs from entering the body etc.)

Comic Scenario:
"It is kind of like the body has booby traps for germs!"
"I imagine it like Home Alone for germs! They try to get in the eyes and 'wahoooo' they are washed out with a giant title wave."
"Then they try to go in the mouth and they slide down the throat to a pool of acid."
"And they come out all beat up like 'yikes'... but then they decide to try to go in another way."
"The skin is like running into a brick wall and they smash all flat!"
"And then finally the germs get in the body and they are like, "Finally I made it!" Just in time for the white blood cell to come 'You are under arrest, sir!"



Fact: Bacteria help to break down dead plants and animals in nature.

Comic Scenario:
"It is a good things that they explained what they meant by 'break it down' because we might have thought it was 'break it down' like [begins to dance wildly]."
"Ha! That would be a funny comic."
"All these germs are at work having a dance party. 'Break it down.' But then the boss comes in an is like, 'What are you doing!?!?' "
"The bacteria are like, "Uh oh! We are so fired!!' "
"The caption at the bottom could say, 'Bacteria who misunderstood their purpose in life.' "




Fact: Bacteria use enzymes to further break things down into simpler liquids they can absorb for food.

Comic Scenario:
"It is kind of like making a smoothie."
"Yeah. Like an enzyme smoothie."
"No, it would be more like a rotten log smoothie."
"The enzyme is like the blender."
[In a commercial announcer voice] "Come try our new amazing enzyme blender! It turns anything into liquid... PERMINANTLY!"
"You see some bacteria sitting on a fence and they see a deer walk past and in their minds they see a nice tall deer smoothie made with their enzyme blender."



Fact: Germs spread and travel the world. They change as they go and by the time they get back to us, our bodies no longer recognize them.

Comic Scenario:
"There is this little germ with a suitcase and a passport!"
"He travels to Hawaii and gets a flower necklace. Then on to Japan and gets a sun umbrella."
"Then Russia for a fur hat!"
"Then he goes to Hollywood and gets a camera and sunglasses."
"He comes back with a French accent. 'Oui, Oui!' "
"By the time he gets back the cells in your body don't recognize him AT ALL, so he sneaks past the white blood cells."