Note: This schedule is subject to change.
Week 1-3: What Comics Are and What They Are Not, and Form
Reading: McCloud, All; Duncan&Smith, Chps.1, 4-5
Douglas Wolk, Reading Comics Chapter 1: “What Comics Are and What They Aren’t”
Dylan Horrock’s Critique of Scott McCloud: Inventing Comics
Groensteen, “The Impossible Definition”
Madden, Excerpts from “99 Ways To Tell A Story”
Nick Sousanis, “The Shape of Our Thoughts” (from The Unflattening)
Review: Andrei Molotiu’s essential “List of Terms for Comics Studies“; “Terms for comics studies–some illustrations”
Examples of comics that we can use to continue our discussion of what comics are and what they are not. It is also a good excuse to test out your comic book readers (.cbr and .cbz). Let me know if you encounter any problems reading these files.
Ernie Bushmiller, Nancy, selected Sunday Comics, 1941 (Click through to Save)
Winsor McCay, Little Nemo in Slumberland, 1905-1914 (Click through to Save)
Robert Sergel, “Up Up Down Down” from Eschew 2011
Richard Outcault, The Yellow Kid
George Herriman, Krazy Kat & Ignatz
Frank King, Gasoline Alley
Week 4-5: The History of Comic Books I: Origins and Development
- The Sunday Supplement
- Seduction of the Innocent: Culture Wars, Youth Culture and Moral Panics
- Superheroes: The Classic DC Superhero vs The Marvel Way
Reading: Duncan&Smith Chp. 2, 10; Will Eisner’s The Spirit
From Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comics:
Gabilliet, “Calls For Censorship”
Gabilliet, “Production”
Gabilliet, “The Business of Comic Books”
Wertham: “Seduction of the Innocent“; Self-Regulating Codes of the Comics Book Industry
Honers students only:
From Comics Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America:
Wright, “Confronting Success: Comic Books and Postwar America, 1945-1950”
Wright, “Youth Crisis: Comic Books and Controversy, 1947-1950”
Week 6: The History of Comic Books II: Maturation of the Medium
- Alternative Traditions
- Underground Comix: R.Crumb
- The Autobiographical School: Art Spiegelman
Reading: Duncan&Smith Chp.3; Art Spiegelman’s Maus
From Comic Book History of Comics, “Pop Art & the ’60s Batman TV Show”
From Comic Book History of Comics, “All Lawsuits Issue”
From Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels: A History of Comic Art:
Sabin, “Going Underground”
Sabin, “Alternative Visions”
For Adult Intellectuals Only: A Zap Oral History by Patrick Rosenkranz
*Please note that the images included in this chapter are offensive, crude, anarchic and disturbing as comix are known to be; also, be aware that the files are quite big and might take a little time to load.
Week 7-8: Experiments in Narrative and Narration, defining genre
Midterm: TBA
- The Deconstruction of the Superhero
- The Graphic Novel as Literary Discourse
Reading: Duncan&SmithWatchmen, 6-8; Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth
from Comics Versus Art Bart Beaty: “Searching for Artists in the Entertainment Empire”
Jules Feiffer, The Great Comic Book Heroes (1965): Part1 + Part2
Week 9-10: Production
- The Comics Book Industry
- Genres
- Comic Book Creators
- Reception: Comic Book Readers: Audiences & Fan Cultures
Reading: Duncan&Smith 9
Jeffrey A. Brown – Ethnography: Wearing One’s Fandom
Brian Swafford – Critical Ethnography: The Comics Shop As Cultural Clubhouse
Joli Jenson – Fandom as Pathology
John Fiske – The Cultural Economy of Fandom
Henry Jenkins – “Super-Powered Fans”: The Many Worlds of Sand Diego Comic-Con
You can also access a copy of the Boom: A Journal of California printed version on Slideshare here.
Week 11: Doing Comic Book Analysis
- The Vocabulary of Comics
- Narrative and Form: Time, Space, Text and Image
Reading: Duncan&Smith Chp. 11
Hatfield, “An Art of Tensions”
Beaty, “Autobiography as Authenticity”
Sample analyses of comic art and auteurs:
Hignite, “Jamie Hernandez’s LOCAS”
Kannenberg, “The Comics of Chris Ware”
Newgard and Karasis, “How to Read Nancy”
Weblink: What is comics journalism?
Weblink: The Bechdel Test
Weblink: Joe Sacco on satire and Charlie Hebdo
Week 12: Comparative Media Analysis: Film and Comics
Adaptation: Scott Pilgrim vs The World & Ghost World
Ann Miller, Narrative Theory and Bande Dessinée from Reading Bande Dessinée: Critical Approaches to French-Language Comic Strip (Intellect, 2008)
Hillary Chute, “‘The Shadow of a Past Time’: History and Graphic Representation in Maus”
Amy Kiste Nyberg, “Comics Journalism: Drawing on Words to Picture the Past in Safe Area Goradze” from Duncan& Smith (eds.), Critical Approaches To Comics: Theories and Methods
Pascal Lefèvre, “Incompatible Visual Ontologies?”: The Problematic Adaptation of Drawn Images” from Gordon, Jancovich & McAllister (eds), Film and Comic Books
Week 13: Comic-Books in Global Popular Culture
- Japanese Manga
- Underground Political Cartoons in Italy
- Punk U.S.A., DIY Comics and ‘Zines
Reading: excerpts from Mangas; Frigidaire + Persepolis
Roger Sabin, “International Influences” from Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels (nb. This is a large file because of the hi-res scan and many images it contains)
Week 14: Digital Culture
Reinventing the Comic Book Online
Week 15 (Final):
Presentations (These will be held during the regularly scheduled Final Exam session)