Teaching History Through Comics, Games, and Creativity

What if history class felt less like memorizing dates and more like stepping into an adventure? In this episode, Ryan speaks with Paul Hebert, founder and creator of Time Enforcers, an educational entertainment project that combines comics, video games, puzzles, tabletop role-playing, and historical research. Paul shares how the idea began during the shift to virtual learning, when he saw students and educators struggling with tools that were not designed to make learning engaging. Drawing on his background in art, graphic design, marketing, gaming, and a lifelong love of comics, he began building a new way for students to interact with history. The conversation explores Paul’s journey from comic-book fan to independent creator, including how he taught himself programming, built the original Time Enforcers game, developed a graphic novel, and expanded the project into tabletop gaming. Ryan and Paul also discuss Universal Design for Learning, student choice, creative persistence, historical accuracy, marketing an independent project, and the challenge of building something ambitious while working full time and raising a family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices