ENGL 281 - The Comics Course

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as MEDS 281) This course examines the medium of comics by focusing on major forms of comic art from 1900 to the present, including comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, and independent mini-comics. It is organized both historically and thematically, with classes exploring such topics as: the formal properties of medium, from the page to the platform; the roles played by gender, sexuality, race, and class in the creation and marketing of comic art; the debates over the morality of comics, and the effects of the “Comics Code”; the relation of comics to various subcultures, such as the “underground” movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s; the positioning of “graphic novels” in the academy and the literary world more generally. Among the artists/works we might consider: McCay (Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend and Little Nemo in Slumberland), Herriman (Krazy Kat), Siegel and Shuster (Superman), Schulz (Peanuts), Spiegelman (Maus), Barry (The Greatest of Marlys), McGruder (Boondocks), Ware (Jimmy Corrigan), Satrapi (Persepolis), and Bechdel (Fun Home). We will also be looking at criticism and theory in the areas of media and cultural studies. Mr. Antelyes.

Two 75-minute periods.