PART I Telling Stories with Pictures
Tuesday, January 25
- Introduction to Graphic Narratives
Thursday, January 27
- Chapters 3 and 4 from Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud (Blackboard)
Tuesday, February 1
- Gods’ Man by Lynd Ward
- Chapter 10 from The Pleasures of Children’s Literature by Perry Nodelman. New York: Longman, 1991. (Blackboard)
- Chapter 5 from Understanding Comics (Blackboard)
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 1); Respondents (Group 2); No Task (Group 3); Searchers (Group 4); Weekly Roundup (Group 5); No Task (Group 6)
Thursday, February 3
- Gods’ Man
PART II Heroes, Superheroes, and Villains
Tuesday, February 8
- The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, parts 1 and 2
- “Batman: Commodity as Myth” by Bill Boichel, from The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media. Ed. Roberta E. Pearson & William Uricchio. New York: Routledge, 1991. 4-17. (Blackboard)
- Chapter 5 from Comics: History, Form, and Culture by Randy Duncan and Matthew J. Smith (Blackboard)
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 2); Respondents (Group 3); No Task (Group 4); Searchers (Group 5); Weekly Roundup (Group 6); No Task (Group 1)
Thursday, February 10
- The Dark Knight Returns, parts 3 and 4
- “Batman and the Twilight of the Idols: An Interview with Frank Miller” conducted by Christopher Sharrett, from The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media. Ed. Roberta E. Pearson & William Uricchio. New York: Routledge, 1991. 33-46. (Blackboard)
Tuesday, February 15
- Nat Turner by Kyle Baker
- The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, by Thomas R. Gray. VA. Baltimore, 1831. Documenting the American South. <http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/turner/menu.html>
- “Text and Context to The Confessions of Nat Turner” by Kenneth S. Greenburg, from The Confessions of Nat Turner and Related Documents. Boston, Bedford, 1996. 1-35. (Blackboard)
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 3); Respondents (Group 4); No Task (Group 5); Searchers (Group 6); Weekly Roundup (Group 1); No Task (Group 2)
Thursday, February 17
- Nat Turner
- A Guide to a Speech and Photographs Relating to Nat Turner’s Insurrection. Special Collections. University of Virginia, 2007. <http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/uva-sc/viu01760.document>
Tuesday, February 22
- We3 by Grant Morrison
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 4); Respondents (Group 5); No Task (Group 6); Searchers (Group 1); Weekly Roundup (Group 2); No Task (Group 3)
Thursday, February 24
- We3
- Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (Blackboard)
PART III Memory and Trauma
Tuesday, March 1
- Maus: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman, pages 1-94
- “The Black Hole of Trauma” by Bessel A. Van der Kolk and Alexander C. McFarlane, from Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. Ed. Lars Weisaeth, Bessel A. van der Kolk, & Alexander C. McFarlane. New York: Guilford Press, 1996. 3-23. (Blackboard)
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 5); Respondents (Group 6); No Task (Group 1); Searchers (Group 2); Weekly Roundup (Group 3); No Task (Group 4)
Thursday, March 3
- Maus: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman, pages 95-159
- “Of Mice and Memory” by Joshua Brown, in Oral History Review 16.1 (1988): 91-109. (e-journal)
Tuesday, March 8
- Maus: Here My Troubles Began by Art Speigelman, pages 1-100
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 6); Respondents (Group 1); No Task (Group 2); Searchers (Group 3); Weekly Roundup (Group 4); No Task (Group 5)
Thursday, March 10
- Maus: Here My Troubles Began by Art Speigelman, pages 101-136
- “’The Shadow of a Past Time’: History and Graphic Representation in Maus” by Hillary Chute, in Twentieth Century Literature 52.2 (2006): 199-230. (e-journal)
Tuesday, March 15 & Thursday, March 17
- Spring Break
Tuesday, March 22
- Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, chapters 1-4
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 1); Respondents (Group 2); No Task (Group 3); Searchers (Group 4); Weekly Roundup (Group 5); No Task (Group 6)
Thursday, March 24
- Fun Home, chapter 5-7
- “Drawing on Modernism in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home” by Ariela Freedman, in Journal of Modern Literature 32.4 (2009): 125-140. (e-journal)
- “An Interview with Alison Bechdel” conducted by Hillary Chute, in MFS Modern Fiction Studies 52.4 (2006): 1004-1013. (e-journal)
PART IV Fractured Lives
Tuesday, March 29
- Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 2); Respondents (Group 3); No Task (Group 4); Searchers (Group 5); Weekly Roundup (Group 6); No Task (Group 1)
Thursday, March 31
- Exit Wounds
- Tracing Project Due
Tuesday, April 5
- Swallow Me Whole by Nate Powell
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 3); Respondents (Group 4); No Task (Group 5); Searchers (Group 6); Weekly Roundup (Group 1); No Task (Group 2)
Thursday, April 7
- Swallow Me Whole
Tuesday, April 12
- Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuccheli
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 4); Respondents (Group 5); No Task (Group 6); Searchers (Group 1); Weekly Roundup (Group 2); No Task (Group 3)
Thursday, April 14
- Asterios Polyp
PART V Ongoing Series
Tuesday, April 19
- The Unwritten by Mike Carey, volume 1
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 5); Respondents (Group 6); No Task (Group 1); Searchers (Group 2); Weekly Roundup (Group 3); No Task (Group 4)
Thursday, April 21
- The Unwritten, volume 2
Tuesday, April 26
- Bayou by Justin Love, issues 1-5
- Weekly Roles: First Readers (Group 6); Respondents (Group 1); No Task (Group 2); Searchers (Group 3); Weekly Roundup (Group 4); No Task (Group 5)
Thursday, April 28
- Bayou, issues 6-10
Tuesday, May 3
- Webcomics and experiments in design and narrative
Thursday, May 5
- Webcomics and experiments in design and narrative
Thursday, May 12
- Final Project Due
Hey, I think this course looks great! I teach 12th graders a graphic novel course in Massachusetts as part of the standard curriculum. If you would like to discuss teaching comics, I’d love to chat! Join my website or send an email. Your course looks great! You have listed some wonderfully helpful links and I am interested in your text selection.