CCMS part of coronavirus digital comic: 'Don't Panic'

PhD student in the School of Arts, Damien Tomaselli, together with some of the Centre for Communication, Media and Society (CCMS) staffers, are part of a digital comic called Don't Panic.

An international team to assist increasingly exasperated parents in explaining to their children why they are in lockdown and how to cope produced the comic, which also presents information about the coronavirus. The comic was composed by a German graphic designer Bernd Höllen and was built by Tomaselli, a digital narrative specialist.

The project, which is facilitated by CCMS, is offered in many languages such as English, isiZulu, Afrikaans, German, French, Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, Armenian, Polish and Portuguese. The CCMS have been assisting in distributing the comic, securing voluntary translators from across Africa and the world to populate different language versions, with 15 different languages now uploaded.

The comic is a must for any parent who is trying to work from home, with young children constantly demanding attention, as they will relate to it.

"It is a rough time especially for our little ones. We have created a free Motion Book to explain this situation to our children. People lose their jobs, stay in quarantine, kids can't go to school or even play outside with their friends," explained Tomaselli. "Download the Madefire Motion Book App and read the animated comic on your mobile device for free. The book is currently available in eight languages, with more scheduled. The Motion Book version is a hybrid between reading a digital comic and animation. Motion Books have been described as 'reading a movie'."

The comic may be reproduced on the understanding that credit is attributed to the publisher, The Cauldron, and the individual creators, Höllen, Tomaselli and Oliver Frot.

The book can be downloaded from the below:

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de Apple : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/madefir Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/mad

Free comic

Download it now on www.enterthecauldron.com/dontpanic.

Animated screen capture of Motion Book reading here: https://youtu.be/Tbcc_lmpiXI

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