For Friday: Spiegelman's Maus II

Remember to read Maus II for Friday's class and post your response to Question #4 on the Comics Template (you can do 1-3 if you wish, though most of them will be covered in  your previous response).  Pay special attention to Speigelman's discussion of the Maus metaphor and his struggles with writing the second volume of the comic in general.  Why does he turn down offers to make Maus a film--or a vest?  Also, consider how Vladek's characterization changes in the second volume, and what use Spiegelman makes of his real-life wife, Francoise, in the comic (why is she a mouse and not a poodle--or a frog?).  :) 

Critical Paper Assignment

In class on Thursday, I handed out the Critical Paper options for our Graphic Novels course.  Remember to do ONE of the three options (not all three!) and follow the basic instructions/prompt carefully.  There's a lot of wiggle room, of course, but make sure you're following the basic assignment and be sure to use at least 2 graphic novels and 2 secondary sources.  We'll discuss finding sources in class tomorrow (Friday).

Click on the link below for the assignment:

For Thursday: Spiegelman's Maus I

 For Thursday, read Maus I, "My Father Bleeds History" and answer the template questions.  Feel free to read the entire work if you like, but we'll break it up into two 'chapters' for convenience's sake.  He wrote and published Maus I years before Maus II came out, so depending on critical perception (which we'll discuss in class) it might have been the only volume. 

For context, here is a PBS slideshow interview taking pieces from numerous Spiegelman interviews over the years and juxtaposing them with images from his life, the comic, and other mediums.  This will give you some ideas to consider as you read and answer the questions for Maus I: http://www.pbs.org/pov/inheritance/photo_gallery_special_maus.php#.UNH2IpFJqW8

For Wednesday: Collins' Road to Perdition

For Wednesday, read Collins' Road to Perdition and answer the template questions (which are posted two posts down, in case you've lost them).  Like many graphic novels, the book was successfully adapted into a feature film starring Tom Hanks and Jude Law, though certain aspects of the story are downplayed while others are grafted on.  In an interview with Comic Book Resources website, Collins discusses the difficulty of writing the book:

"The trickiest aspect was my decision to use a first-person narration, with an adult Michael Jr. writing a memoir about his childhood experiences with his father on the road. That meant I had to use the somewhat outrageous device of having Michael tell us that he's about to report something he didn't witness, and is basing the upcoming scenes on true-crime accounts he's read filtered through his own knowledge of his father. Only the comic book medium would accommodate a narrative ploy of that sort. And I love the way it plays."

To read the entire interview, click here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=1193

For Tuesday: Miller's Batman: Year One

Read Miller/Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One for Thursday's class and complete the "response template" for Thursday's class.  Feel free to post any of your responses as a 'comment' to this blog (you must post at least one response for one of the four books this semester--see syllabus for details). 

"For me, Batman was never funny.  I was eight years old when I picked up an 80-page annual from the shelf of a local supermarket.  The artwork on one story looked good and scary...Glistening wet, black against the blackened sky, a monster, a giant, winged gargoyle hunched forward, pausing at a building's ledge, and cocked its head...Moonlight glanced across its back, across its massive shoulders, down its craned, cabled neck, across its skull, striking a triangle at one pointed bat's ear.  It rose into space, its wings spread wide, then fell, its wings now a fluttering cape wrapped tight about the body of a man...the 80-page giant comic cost 25 cents, but I bought it anyway."  --Frank Miller

The Comics Response Template

THE COMICS RESPONSE TEMPLATE

Click on the link below to view the 4 standard questions: 

Welcome to the Course!

Humanities 4983: Graphic Novels (or, Comic Books as Literature)

Winter Intercession 2012 / Horace Mann 325 / Dec.17-28 (9:00-1:00)

“The comics creator asks us to join in a silent dance of the seen and the unseen.  The visible and the invisible.  The dance is unique to comics.  No other art form gives so much to its audience while asking so much from them as well.  That is why I think it’s a mistake to see comics as a mere hybrid of the graphic arts and prose fiction.  What happens between these panels is a kind of magic that only comics can create.”  --Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics 

Welcome to the course!  I look forward to offering this brief introduction to the comic book form, which I feel is one of the most innovative forms of 20th/21st century literature.  Comics were never kids' stuff, but they became associated with the rise of newspapers comics in the early teens and twenties, followed by the super hero explosion of the 30's and 40's.  Now, in the post WWII era, comics have expanded to truly literary realms, becoming bona fide novels that deal with more than super powers or travels to distant galaxies (though yes, this still happens!).  In this course, I will introduce you to 4 important works which we will discuss, examine, and consider from various perspectives.  Ideally, you will leave this class with an appreciation of the graphic novel as literature, art, and language--one that allows both writer/artist and reader to see a larger world than traditional literature is often capable of achieving.  

Click on the link below for the syllabus: