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Comics and Graphic Narrative English 3340.001 Fall 2019

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Comics and Graphic Narrative English 3340.001 Fall 2019 COMICS AND GRAPHIC NARRATIVE ENGLISH 3340.001 FALL 2019 Dr. Kathleen McClancy MW 3:30-4:50 [email protected] Flowers Hall 224 Office Hours: FH M24, MW 12-2, T 5-6, and by appointment 512-245-3777 COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES: This course is an introduction to the study of the medium of comics, focusing particularly on American comic books. Following the development of comics from their origins as reprinted newspaper strips, through the birth of superheroes, to the heyday of underground comix and the canonization of the graphic novel, we will investigate how this medium is more than simply picture-books—how the combination of word and image inherent to the medium creates something different from both literature and illustration. We will examine how comics work, and compare their functioning to other media, including film, television, and the novel. In the process, we will trace the history of the comic book in the United States, uncovering why this form has had such a different reception from manga or bande dessinée, and what effect that reception has had on content. This course is not simply about reading funny books, and many of the comics we will read over the semester will be far from funny. These texts deal with adult themes and occasional graphic sex and violence as well as moral, philosophical, and political issues, and few of them are intended for children. LEARNING OUTCOMES: The Department of English has adopted student learning outcomes for general education courses in writing and literature and for all degree programs. You will find these outcomes at http://www.english.txstate.edu/ about/learning.html. REQUIRED TEXTS: All books are available at the university bookstore as well as from other vendors. Feel free to use other print or electronic editions of these texts; however, keep in mind that pagination (and sometimes content, in particular coloration) may be different, making it difficult to follow in class. Alison Bechdel. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Reprint ed. Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0618871711. Gilbert Hernandez. Heartbreak Soup: A Love and Rockets Book. Fantagraphics, 2015. ISBN: 978-1560977834. Peter Kuper. The System. 1997. PM Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-1604868111. David Mazzucchelli. Asterios Polyp. Pantheon Books, 2009. ISBN: 978- 0307377326. Scott McCloud. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Reprint ed. William Morrow, 1994. ISBN: 978-0060976255. Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. 1987. Reprint ed. DC Comics, 2014. ISBN: 978-1401245252. Art Spiegelman. The Complete Maus. 1986. Pantheon, 1996. ISBN 978- 0679406419. Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey. The Comic Book History of Comics: Birth of a Medium. IDW Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 978-1631409257 PDFs We will be reading excerpts from individual issues of hard-to-find comics. I have put PDFs of these excerpts on TRACS, and they are indicated on the schedule with (TRACS). SCHEDULE: WEEK 1 8/26: Introduction “Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work” 8/28: McCloud, Understanding Comics, Chapters 1-3 (1-93) Captain America Comics (1941) #1 (TRACS) WEEK 2 9/2: NO CLASS: LABOR DAY 9/4: McCloud, Understanding Comics, Chapters 4-6 (94-161) Avengers #4 (TRACS) WEEK 3 9/9: McCloud, Understanding Comics, Chapters 7-9 (162-215) Captain America (2002) #1 9/11: Van Lente and Dunlavey, The Comic Book History of Comics, p. 1-69 Action Comics #1 (TRACS) WEEK 4 9/16: Van Lente and Dunlavey, The Comic Book History of Comics, p. 70-149 The Haunt of Fear #19 (TRACS) 9/18: Spawn #1-4 (TRACS) WEEK 5 9/23: Detective Comics #854-860 (TRACS) 9/25: EXAM WEEK 6 9/30: Heartbreak Soup p. 1-152 RESPONSE DUE 10/2: Heartbreak Soup p. 153-287 WEEK 7 2 10/7: Maus book 1 RESPONSE DUE 10/9: Maus book 2 WEEK 8 10/14:Maus con’d 10/16:The System RESPONSE DUE WEEK 9 10/21:Watchmen, chapters 1-4 RESPONSE DUE 10/23:Watchmen, chapters 5-8 WEEK 10 10/28:Watchmen, chapters 9-12 10/30:Daredevil #51-55 (TRACS) RESPONSE DUE WEEK 11 11/4: CANCELLED 11/6: CANCELLED 11/8: CLOSE READING ASSIGNMENT DUE WEEK 12 11/11:Fun Home, chapters 1-4 RESPONSE DUE 11/13:Fun Home, chapters 5-7 WEEK 13 11/18:Bayou volume 1 (TRACS) RESPONSE DUE 11/20:Bayou volume 2 (TRACS) WEEK 14 11/25:Asterios Polyp, through the terracotta army RESPONSE DUE 11/27:NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING WEEK 15 12/2: Asterios Polyp, from the Washington Monument through the two tulips 3 12/4: Asterios Polyp, from the blister on the foot to the end 12/6: FINAL PAPER TOPIC AND SOURCE LIST DUE 12/9: FINAL PAPER DUE COURSE REQUIREMENTS: EXAM: In week 5 there will be a multiple-choice exam covering the course texts up until that point, and looking specifically at descriptive terms, formal elements, and the history of comics. If you miss this exam, you may request to make it up. Bring me a doctor’s note or a note from the Dean of Students explaining your absence within one week of the exam. Make-up exams will not be multiple choice. INFORMAL WEEKLY RESPONSES: Starting in week 6 (after the exam), once a week you will be expected to email me with a 150-250 word response to the week’s comic; specific due dates are indicated on the schedule.. These emails are meant to be informal, and should provide an opportunity for you to air your thoughts, experiment with different genres and techniques, and suggest topics for classroom discussion. These responses will not receive individual letter grades but rather will be given a holistic grade at the end of the semester. I will not accept late responses, but you may miss three of these responses before affecting your grade. Each missed response after that will lower your responses grade by one third, and missing more than five responses is grounds for a failing grade in the course. OF THE FORMAL WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: Due dates for writing assignments are indicated on the schedule, and all essays are due at 5 PM. Assignments should be submitted electronically to me via email attachment as Microsoft Word documents—I do not need hard copies. I will not accept PDF files or dropbox links. Students who do not turn in one of these assignments will not pass the course. Late papers will not be accepted unless we’ve worked something out before the paper is due. These papers should not be your first draft, completed 23 seconds before the paper is due; you should take the time to revise your first effort, both for macro-level problems such as organization and argument and for micro-level problems such as spelling and grammar. All papers should have 1” margins, 12 point Times font, double spacing throughout, etc., and use MLA citation guidelines. If you are unsure what these guidelines are, feel free to ask; I have posted an explanation of MLA formatting on TRACS. Whenever you incorporate the ideas of others into your work (including Wikipedia, SparkNotes, a blog, your roommate’s mom, etc.), make sure to properly cite those others. If you’re not certain what to cite, ask me; when in doubt, cite. If you feel it necessary to include images in your paper, please put those images into an appendix at the end of your document rather than inserting them into the body of your paper. One class paper from each graduating English major (not seeking certification) may be collected as part of our department assessment. CLOSE READING ASSIGNMENT: 4 In the 11th week of class, you will turn in a close, formal reading of a passage from one of the course texts we have covered through week 10. This assignment does NOT need to make a formal argument or have a clear thesis. Instead, pick a selection from one of the course readings that we have not gone over in detail in class, and discuss its formal elements: its style, its linework, its paneling, its coloring, its lettering, etc. Make sure to discuss every detail you can—you cannot read too closely for this assignment. Discuss how these formal elements work within the text as a whole to create meaning, either in tandem or in contradiction with each other. This assignment should be 1000-1500 words. FINAL PAPER: At the end of the term you will be required to submit a 1500-2000 word essay with sources. This paper should have a clear thesis and argument. You may discuss the same text you used for your close reading assignment, but if you do so, you must also discuss another text as well. For this paper you should use at least three outside sources from peer-reviewed journals or books—we will discuss what this means in class—and you should discuss no more than three primary sources. This paper will be an excellent opportunity for you to compare, contrast and unify some of the themes of the overall course. I will not provide topics for this paper. Instead, you must provide me with an informal topic for this paper as well as the list of sources you plan to use; the due date for those topics and source lists, as well as for the paper itself, is indicated on the schedule. ATTENDANCE: Attendance is mandatory. More than three unexcused absences will cause your participation grade to drop by one third of a grade for each missed class. More than five unexcused absences are grounds for a failing grade in the course. CLASS PARTICIPATION: Class participation involves more than just showing up.
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