Philip Nel > Courses > English 830: Comics and Graphic Novels (Fall 2009)

Last updated Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Required Texts:

• Paul Auster, City of Glass (Penguin). 
• Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Mariner).
• Phoebe Gloeckner, The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Frog, Ltd.). 
• Jeet Heer and Kent Worcester, eds., A Comics Studies Reader (University Press of Mississippi). 
• Karasik and Mazzucchelli, City of Glass: The Graphic Novel (Picador). 
• W. J. T. Mitchell, Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology  (University of Chicago Press). 
• Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (Harper). 
• Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen (DC Comics). 
• Art Spiegelman, Maus I: My Father Bleeds History (Pantheon). 
• Art Spiegelman, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began (Pantheon). 
• Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic).
• Osamu Tezuka, Dororo, Vol. 1 (Vertical).  
• Chris Ware, Acme Novelty Library No. 18 (Drawn & Quarterly).
• Bill Watterson, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book (Andrews & McMeel).
• Bill Willingham et al., Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile (Vertigo). 
• Bill Willingham et al., Fables Vol. 2: Animal Farm (Vertigo).
• Class Pack for English 830 (available in EH 011, 31 Aug. 2009).

Objectives:

       This course offers an examination of the history and theory of sequential art -- what Scott McCloud has called "the invisible art." We'll read comics criticism and art criticism, comics, and graphic novels.

• The assignment for the book review is on a separate page: clicking this sentence will lead you there.

       Class Participation and Attendance: Read everything, and come to class prepared to talk about what you have read. On the first day of discussion for each assignment, you must have finished the reading and be ready to discuss it. "The reading" is all the text assigned for that day. We make sense of literature by discussing it. For this reason, class participation will count for 20% of your final grade. Discussion will take place both in class and out of it, via the Message Board (explained below). I reserve the right to assign homework or in-class writing projects that are not listed on the syllabus.

        Class attendance is required. Since the class meets once a week, you are granted one absence, but more than one will lower your final grade by one increment for each absence (e.g., B+ would become B). I appreciate your offering explanations for absences; however, the only way to excuse an absence is to provide me with an official letter from the dean. You cannot earn credit for work missed in class. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to discover what went on that day. As you might guess, "I didn't know because I wasn't in class" is never an acceptable excuse.

        If you have medical reason for doing so, you may (if you provide documentation to me at the start of the term) use a portable computer for taking notes in class -- but that's all you may use it for. If you lack such a reason, then you must put your laptop away during class. Similarly, out of common courtesy, you may not text-message during class. Please turn off your cell phone. (If you're expecting an urgent communication, you may instead set the ringer to "vibrate.")

 

        Message Board: Post comments to the message board once a week (or more frequently, if you wish). An average posting should run one or two paragraphs in length. In other words, your postings do not need to be long, but they must be substantive -- long enough to convey clearly the problem you are taking up and your point of view, connecting your comment to others' comments, as appropriate. I will monitor these discussions and asses a grade (at the end of the semester) based on the thoughtfulness of your comments, their ability to foster discussion among your classmates, and their responsiveness to both our readings and to your classmates in comments on the message board. Though extra postings to the message board will not automatically replace participation in class discussions, regular contributions above and beyond your weekly posting can improve your class participation grade.

       Access the message board via K-State On-Line.

1. Log in to our class on K-State On-Line.
2. At left, choose the "Message Board."

       Email: My email address is philnel@ksu.edu. Please use the subject line. Due to the increased volume of spam, messages without clear subject lines will be deleted unread. You can write with questions, send a thesis statement or outline for an essay, make an appointment to meet me in my office, or do anything else that could be handled with a quick exchange of messages. I check email several times daily, but I am not on-line at all times.