English 5970 Introduction to Comics Studies Course Policies and Syllabus – Spring 2014
Instructor Information Professor: Dr. Gwen Athene Tarbox, Course Blog: Department of English http://bookcandy.typepad.com/engl_5970_intr o_to_comic_/ PREFERRED FORM OF CONTACT: Office Hours: Tuesdays, 11-12, and by [email protected] appointment Tel: 269-387-2588 Office: 911 Sprau Tower Meeting Times: T 4:00-6:20 pm Classroom: 4045 Brown Hall
Catalog Description Ø A study in historical perspective of selected literary works of the English speaking world or international literature in translation. Learning Objectives Ø Explore the historical background of the comics medium Ø Develop an understanding of the “grammar” involved in reading a panel, a page, and an entire comics sequence Ø Learn terminology associated with visual and literary theory Ø Practice interpretative skills with a number of critically significant long form comics Ø Learn to write about comics, with sensitivity to form, content, and literary merit Ø Apply course content to your educational and professional objectives Text List Ø The total cost for the books and copy card for this class comes to approximately $150 (based on purchasing entirely new texts on Amazon.com). Students are welcome to purchase their texts from Follett’s, from an online retailer, or from a local bookstore. Many of the texts are available on e-readers, and if you choose to purchase texts in this way, you will need to be sure to bring your e-reader to class.
Ø On the first afternoon of class, we will meet in our classroom from 4-5:30 and then we will head over to Bookbug, an independent bookstore located in the Oakwood Plaza, about 1 mile from campus. The owners will introduce you to their collection of YA and adult comics and, if you’d like to buy your books with them, they have pledged to give students a discount on course materials. You can contact them at http://www.bookbugkalamazoo.com
Text List/Additional Expenses Author Title ISBN Publisher Appx Cost Bá and Moon Daytripper 9781401229696 Vertigo (DC 15.41 Imprint) Barry One Hundred 9781570614590 Sasquatch 14.91 Demons! Books Bechdel Fun Home 9780618871711 Houghton 11.40 Mifflin McCloud Understanding 9780060976255 Harper Collins 17.49 Comics Moore and Watchmen 9780930289232 DC 15.65 Gibbons Sacco Journalism 9780805097931 Henry Holt 15.33 Spiegelman Maus: A Survivor’s 9780394747231 Pantheon 12.88 Tale: My Father Bleeds History (Vol 1) Tan The Arrival 9780439895293 Scholastic 15.32 Yang Boxers and Saints, 978- First Second 24.62 Boxed Set 1596439245 COPY FEE CARD – REQUIRED AND AVAILABLE IN WMU 5.00 BOOKSTORE APPROXIMATE TOTAL 148.01 New
Attendance Policy Ø Please try to be present at every class meeting. I pack each session with important information, and believe me, there is no substitute for being there. I will take attendance at the beginning of class. If you miss more than THREE (3) classes, then you will fail my course. The rationale for this policy is that after being absent for 3 classes, you have missed too much information to be able to say honestly that you have “taken” the course.
Ø If you miss numerous classes, it is usually because you have encountered a serious family or personal emergency. I recommend that if you are facing an emergency, you should quickly contact the Associate Dean of Students, Dr. Suzie Nagel, who can help in a number of ways, including setting up appointments with a counselor, contacting your professors, and/or providing you with advice regarding whether you should carry on with your classes. You can contact the Dean of Students office at 387-2150.
Ø As I used to live in the Grand Rapids area, I am particularly aware of the dangers of travelling during snow storms. If you live outside of Kalamazoo, you should not travel during dangerous weather. Hopefully, we will not have any snow days. Use your absences wisely so that if you should need to miss class due to a snow emergency (when the university administration doesn’t cancel class), you can do that.
Ø If you are sniffling, coughing uncontrollably, and/or are running a fever, you should not be in class, both because you need rest and because you are undoubtedly contagious. If you have been told by your doctor that you have a contagious condition, such as pink eye or influenza, you should not come to class. Your fever should have been gone for 24 hours before you come to campus! Use your absences wisely so that if you should need to miss class due to illness, it will not hurt your final grade. If you come to class looking visibly ill, I will send you home – so please save the trip.
Reading Policy Ø We will be reading a number of comics this semester, and most of them are relatively short. It is my expectation that you will have read the ENTIRE text prior class period in which we will be covering it.
Ø I will be asking you to read a number of articles online, using the university’s Project Muse database. For each article, you should print out a copy and bring it with you to class.
Ø English 5970 is a 3 credit-hour class. As such, students should expect to spend at least 9 hours outside of class per week on homework. If you are a slow reader, you may need to devote more time than 9 hours. The university calculates that time by multiplying each contact hour by three.
Cellphone and Laptop Policy Ø Please remember to turn your cellphone off prior to the start of class. On regular class days, when we are not having an exam or watching a movie, I will stop what we are doing at 5:10 and we’ll take a 10 minute break, during which you can use your cellphones and laptops, go to the bathroom, or grab a snack. At the end of 10 minutes, you’ll need to power down, and we’ll get back to work. This way, you won’t have to go the entire class period without access to the wired world…but for the rest of the time, phones/laptops should be powered down.
Ø Laptops can be used during in class exercises; otherwise, laptops should be stowed. You should take notes during lectures with paper and pen/pencil.
Assignments/Grading Policy Ø The total possible points to earn in this course is 1000. You can keep a tally of your points as we go along. For students’ final grades, I will use the WMU Grading Scale: A = 930-1000; BA = 880-920; B = 830-870; CB = 780-820; C = 720-770; DC = 670-710; D = 600- 660; E = 590 or lower.
Ø Your assignments will be due on the dates set in the syllabus. For every day that an assignment is late, you will receive a 10% deduction on the assignment grade. I start counting as “one day,” the minute after an assignment is due. Thus, if your assignment is due on March 12th at 4pm, I would give you a 10% deduction on the assignment at 4:01pm. Then, the next day at 4:01pm, you would receive another 10% deduction, and so on. To put this into real numbers, if the assignment were worth 100 points, you would lose 10 points for each day late.
Ø The assignments you turn in will enable you to practice a variety of academic writing skills. Should you require assistance with your writing, you might wish to visit the WMU Writing Center, which is located in Ellsworth Hall. Call 387-4615 to find out their operating hours and sign-up procedures.
Ø Here are the assignments in table form:
Due Date Assignment Points Tuesday, Feb 25 Midterm 300 Tuesday, April 22, 5-7 pm Final Exam 300 Tuesday, March 11 at 4 pm Paper Proposal 100 Tuesday, April 15 5-7 page comic 200 explication/analysis Paper Tuesday, April 15 Paper Presentation 50 Assigned Day during the semester Discussion Leaders 50 TOTAL 1000
Academic Honesty Policy Ø You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the Undergraduate Catalog that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse. [The policies can be found at www.www.wmich.edu/catalog under Academic Policies, Student Rights and Responsibilities.] If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.
Syllabus
Date Primary Secondary Key Questions Text Readings Jan 7 Introduction to Course and Materials Jan The Arrival, Chapters 1-6, McCloud, 1. What vocabulary terms are 14 Tan Understanding Comics associated with the study of comics? 2. How do we read a comic panel and how do we make interpretative associations between panels? 3. How does an author/illustrator convey meaning without the use of text? 4. What statement does Tan make about the immigrant experience? Jan Fun Home, Chute, “An Interview 1. How does Bechdel view issues 21 Bechdel with Alison Bechdel” in of authenticity in her own Modern Fiction Studies work? 52.4 (2006): 1004-1013. 2. In what ways does Bechdel’s text conform or resist [Project Muse] traditional ideas about the coming of age narrative? Video Interview, Chute 3. Is it necessary that Bechdel’s and Bechdel: (Critical story be viewed as “true” Inquiry website – (even if she says that is?)? In Google it, or use the other words, can we identify link on the blog). the fictional properties [This video is 40 inherent in the act of reconceptualizing the past? minutes long] And can we read against Bechdel’s narrative?
Jan Daytripper, Baetens, “From Black & 1. In the peritextual material 28 Moon and White to Color and appended to Daytripper, Bá Back: What Does It Moon and Bá note that color Mean (not) to Use was central to their plans for the novel. How does color Color?” create meaning in the novel? College Literature 2. What sort of work does the 38.3 (2011): 111-128. reader need to do in order to [Project Muse] understand the structure of the text? What value might Chapters 7-9 in there have been in McCloud, constructing a chronological Understanding Comics account of the protagonist’s life? 3. How is the figure of the artist depicted in the text? Feb 4 One Hillary Chute, Chapter 1. How might underground Hundred from Graphic Women comics be considered “an Demons!, on Barry [Handout] outsider’s” text? Does Barry Barry seem to position herself as an outsider? If so, in what ways? De Jesus, “Of Monsters 2. How does the layout of One and Mothers: Hundred Demons deviate Filipina American from what one might have Identity and Maternal come to expect from most Legacies in Lynda J. comics? Why might be Barry’s One Hundred Barry’s motivation for Demons” in Meridians: following a different feminism, race, aesthetic? transnationalism 5.1 [Project Muse] Feb Boxers and Petra Mayer interview 1. Given the polarizing events 11 Saints, Yang with Yang on NPR: that are chronicled in Yang’s “'Boxers & Saints' & texts, how might he manage Compassion: Questions to avoid what critic Wesley Yang (no relation) terms “the For Gene Luen Yang.” mythmaking that can result from combining history and Yang, Wesley. “Views of fable in comic book form”? the Rebellion 2. Yang uses the “clear line” Gene Luen Yang’s style perhaps best exemplified ‘Boxers’ and ‘Saints’.” in Hergé’s Tintin series. What The New York Times are the properties of the style [Handout] and how might it impact the way that violence is depicted in the series?
Feb Mid-term Exam. In-class, open book, 4:00-6:00 18 Feb Journalism, Walker, "Graphic 1. What are some of the issues 25 Sacco Wounds: The Comics surrounding non-fiction Journalism of Joe comics? Sacco." Journeys 11.1 (2010): 69+.
Woo, “Reconsidering Comics Journalism: Information and Experience in Joe Sacco’s Palestine.” [Handout]
Mar 4 SPRING BREAK Mar Paper Proposals Due Electronically by 4:00 pm. Class will not meet; 11 students will attend a Paper Proposal conference, where they will receive feedback on the proposal and on their Mid-term exam. Mar Watchmen, Excerpt from Seduction 1. What conceits and tropes of 18 Moore and of the Innocent the superhero genre do Gibbons [Handout] Moore and Gibbons interrogate in their text? 2. Intertextuality is a major Geoff Klock, “The Bat component of Watchmen, as and the Watchmen: philosophical, artistic, and Introducing the other cultural elements Revisionary Superhero emerge as important topics of Narrative” in How to discussion among the Read Superhero Comics characters and as the impetus and Why [Handout] for their behavior. What intertextual elements can you identify? 3. What cultural conditions in the 1980s spurred the publication of texts such as Watchmen and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight? Mar Watchmen, Tony Venezia, “Archive 1. How do Groensteen’s ideas 25 Moore and of the Future: about the grammar of comics Gibbons Watchmen as apply to a text such Historiographic Novel” Watchmen? [Available as a PDF online; enter Venezia’s name and Watchmen as search terms.]
Thierry Groensteen, Chapter 2, The System of Comics [Handout] Apl 1 Maus I, Joseph Witek, 1. What was the reception Spiegelman “Imagetext, or, Why Art history of Maus and how did Spiegelman Doesn’t its prestige impact Draw Comics” in subsequent North American comics production? ImageText, 1.1 (2004). 2. What is anthropomorphism and how does it influence the Hillary Chute, “History act of looking at the past and and Graphic at human suffering? Representation in Maus” [Handout]
Excerpts from MetaMaus [Handout] Apl 8 I will bring three copies of Ware’s Building Stories to class. Students will work in groups to analyze the text and to share their insights. Apl Paper Presentations; Paper due at the beginning of class. 15 Apl Final Examination, 5:00-7:00 pm. Open book exam 22