Begin with narrative attention.
A Marcus Alexander Education Project™ initiative
Read where attention already lives.
COMLITERICKS™ is a Barbadian conceptual and instructional literacy framework designed by Samuel L. Gittens Jr. It uses comics, visual narrative and story-world thinking to move learners from noticing and enjoyment into interpretation, vocabulary, literary analysis and writing.
A visual world for noticing language, following plot and finding a way into reading.
Issue 01 · The framework
The educational challenge
Reading difficulty is not one thing.
Some learners avoid a passage because it is too difficult to decode. Others can read accurately but do not yet find reading inviting, relevant or manageable. COMLITERICKS™ begins with that distinction.
Its design focus is especially useful for learners who struggle to sustain reading engagement, but its invitation is broader: change the point of entry while keeping the literacy objective explicit.
Move from “I noticed” to evidence-based interpretation.
Return to independent reading and writing.
Visual narrative is not a shortcut around literacy.
It is a structured route toward evidence, language and independent thought.
Issue 02 · Comics as literatureExplore the in-depth page
One visual text. A whole language-and-literature classroom.
Comics are not a shortcut around literacy.
A comic panel, cartoon sequence or animated scene can carry culture, character, language, conflict, symbolism, structure and visual grammar at the same time. COMLITERICKS™ treats that density as a serious literacy space.
Story architecture
Character & dramatic voice
Language, sound & style
Symbol, culture & imagination
Visual grammar of the medium
Issue 03 · The approach
The four-phase method
From the panel to the paragraph.
The goal is never simply to make the lesson more entertaining. Each phase moves learners toward sharper interpretation, richer language and more independent expression.
Visual narrative engagement
Observe, predict and identify the detail that prompted the thinking.
Guided literary analysis
Turn observation into evidence-based interpretation.
Language & vocabulary development
Select precise words and connect visual clues with written text.
Creative production & synthesis
Write, explain, revise and synthesize.
Issue 04 · The Marcus Model
Narrative theory in practice
Two lenses for understanding story movement.
The homepage keeps both diagrams visible so students can immediately see the difference between a classic closed arc and an extended narrative arc. The dedicated page explains the theory, stages, classroom questions and teaching uses in greater depth.
Freytag’s Pyramid
A self-contained dramatic line that builds, peaks and resolves.
Briefly: the main conflict rises toward a decisive climax, then moves toward resolution and closure.
Marcus Model Narrative™
A structure for stories whose dramatic energy continues beyond a major high point.
Briefly: a major high event can lead to sustained conflict, a threshold ending and continuation into another instalment.
Compare the models in depth, learn the five stages of the Marcus Model Narrative™, and explore how to teach cliffhangers, sequels, episodic storytelling and complete dramatic arcs.
Explore the Marcus ModelIssue 05 · Literacy Month
Why now
Literacy Month is the right time to widen the invitation to read.
Too often, struggling readers encounter literacy as a record of prior failure: another passage they could not finish, another question they could not enter, another task that tells them someone else is the reader.
COMLITERICKS™ offers teachers a different starting point. It makes attention a resource for learning, then asks learners to explain, analyse, choose words, create and return to unfamiliar text with growing independence.
Literacy Month Literacy grows when every learner is offered a credible way into demanding ideas—not a reduced version of them.
In development
Future student experience
The COMLITERICKS App will turn literary learning into an active story space.
The planned student-facing app will help learners create stories while learning literary principles through comics, books, manga, animation and related narrative forms. The aim is not to replace reading, but to use story-making to deepen it.
Explore the app conceptCreateBuild characters, dialogue, plots and story worlds.
LearnMeet literary concepts inside meaningful narrative situations.
CompareSee how storytelling works across comics, prose, manga and animation.
ReflectExplain creative choices, identify evidence and revise with purpose.
AboutParent HubLevere’s Legacy Education InitiativeMarcus Alexander Education Project™ Current OutputCOMLITERICKS™ Flagship ProductCOMLITERICKS App
Project Architecture
COMLITERICKS™ is a current education output of the Marcus Alexander Education Project™, within Levere’s Legacy.
Levere’s Legacy is the parent innovation hub. Within it, the Marcus Alexander Education Project™ develops education ideas, resources, technologies and learning experiences designed to strengthen literacy, creativity and independent thinking.
COMLITERICKS™ is one of the project’s current education outputs. The COMLITERICKS App is being developed as the flagship student-facing product for creating stories and learning literary principles through comics, books, manga, animation and other narrative forms.
Created by Samuel L. Gittens Jr. View the creator’s LinkedIn profile ↗
Levere’s Legacy → Marcus Alexander Education Project™ → COMLITERICKS™ → COMLITERICKS App
The wider innovation hub supporting education, culture, technology, design and creative enterprise.
The initiative developing practical learning ideas, resources and technologies.
A literacy and literature framework built around visual narrative and story-led learning.
The student-facing app for story creation and literary learning.
Barbados-built. Classroom-ready. Part of a wider innovation ecosystem.