Over the past several decades, graphic novels have won numerous readers with their bold topics, innovative forms, and vivid artwork. These book-length, comic-art narratives and compilations employ a complex and iconic visual language. Combining and expanding on elements associated with literature, 2-D visual art, and cinema, the comics medium offers unique opportunities for reader immersion, emotional involvement, and even imaginative co-creation. Far from being kid stuff, the best comics can be serious works of both literary and visual art.
In The Graphic Novel we will explore the origins, development, and unique workings of these sequential narratives, including evocative wordless narratives (e.g., Shaun Tan's immigration story The Arrival), personal accounts by Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) and Guy Delisle (Pyongyang), and experimental works like Frederik Peeters' Pachyderme. We will carefully examine each text at multiple levels of composition, from single frames to the story as a whole, and interpret their workings with the help of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. While this is not a studio art class, we will pursue drawing exercises that help us to develop an artist's-eye view of comics. Our overall goal is to develop an informed and critical perspective on this powerful medium.
Students who register for eight credits will read and research additional graphic works and artists or, with faculty approval, make comics of their own. Whether you are new to comics, already a fan, or a committed cartoonist, come and join the fun!
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Academic Details
Humanities, literature, visual arts, education