Matthew J. Smith's Syllabus - Comic Books as Culture
Fall Semester 2009
Matthew J. Smith, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication
Course Description
This course asks you to assess what qualities (if any!) raise the disposable artifacts of popular culture to the level of an aesthetic experience, deserving of admiration and study. As the instructor is offering it as a course fulfilling the university’s Fine, Performing, and Literary Arts “A” general education requirement, he is arguing that comic books, despite their notorious reputation as a juvenile medium, can rise to this standard.
Accordingly, we will examine comic books from two approaches. The first is to consider the historical, theoretical, and critical arguments that claim the medium can enrich and express the human experience through a distinct but legitimate use of both imagery and text called “comics.” The second is to read some of the best (and a few of the worst) examples of comics from the past to consider their individual merits and techniques in storytelling.
Though this course takes comic books seriously, their four-color fantasies can be imaginative and stimulating forms of human expression and should prove to be engaging reading for you. My hope is that the critical interpretive skills that you will develop within this medium will not only enhance your appreciation for comics but will translate into improving your understanding of other literary and visual media as well.
Course Objectives
COMM 220A makes available to you the following opportunities:
- to learn the aesthetic principles and standards that guide comics criticism
- to identify and articulate major historical developments and influential figures in the art form’s evolution
- to develop an appreciation for the creativity and expression exhibited in comics
- to sharpen your ability to create written and oral critical responses
Resources
Textbook
Duncan, R., & Smith, M. J. (2009). The power of comics: History, form, & culture. New York: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-2936-X
Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks
Bechdel, A. (2007). Fun home: A family tragicomic. Boston: Mariner. (Original work published in 2006). ISBN 0-6188-7171-3
Eisner, W. (2006). A contract with God. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. (Original work published 1978). ISBN 0-3933-2804-X
Miller, F. (2005). Sin city: The hard goodbye (2nd ed.). Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics. (Original works published1991-1992). ISBN 1-5930-7293-7
Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1995). Watchmen. New York: DC Comics. (Original works published 1986-1987). ISBN 0-9302-8923-4
Sacco, J. (2001). Safe area Goražde: The war in eastern Bosnia 1992-1995. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics. ISBN 1-5609-7470-2
Simon, J., & Kirby, J. (2009). The best of Simon and Kirby. London: Titan Books. (Original works published 1940-1959). ISBN 1-8457-6931-7
Smith, J. (2004). Bone: One volume edition. Columbus, OH: Cartoon Books. (Original works published 1991-2004). ISBN 1-8889-6314-X
Spiegelman, A. (2003). The complete maus. New York: Pantheon Books. (Original works published 1972-1991). ISBN 0-1410-1408-3
You can access these graphic novels and trade paperbacks at the following locations:
1) The campus bookstore offers them for retail price;
2) Super-Fly Comics & Games, 132 Dayton Street in Yellow Springs, stocks them and students get a 10% discount with college I.D.;
3) A copy of each work is available on closed reserve in Thomas Library.
In addition those listed above, a number of required readings will be available on Moodle.
Writing Center
The Writing Center provides free advice to assist you in developing your assignments. You may drop in its office in 112 Hollenbeck Hall or call 327-6154 for more information.
Oral Communication Center
The OCC provides guidance for your speaking assignments. After September 13 you may make an appointment to work with any of its student consultants in Thomas Library Room 210 by visiting them or Sunday-Thursday, 7-11 p.m., or by calling 327-7870.
Instructor
Because I am keenly interested in communication and have studied it for a significant number of years, I can serve as a good resource for you should you have questions about the topics we cover. Do come and see me with your questions during my office hours or set up an appointment to meet with me at a mutually agreeable time.
Peer Mentor
Your peer mentor and you will partner to research and present over a comics author (or authors). Given the collaborative nature of this assignment, you may find that this partner could serve as a good mentor, helping you out as a contact should you miss class or even as a study partner or paper reviewer outside of class. Ideally, peer mentors could even act as coaches for one another, looking out for and encouraging one another to do their very best in the course.
I will provide you with some opportunities to work together in class so that you can get to know one another early on in the term. However, if at any time you feel uncomfortable with your peer mentor or if you find your peer mentor unreliable, please see me.
Peer mentor contact information:
Name:_____________________________ Phone:_______________ E-mail:________________
Assignments
You can anticipate completing assignments in two general areas: comprehension of concepts and application of concepts.
1. Comprehension of Concepts
Pop Quizzes
In order to encourage and reward you for keeping up with the assigned readings, a series of unannounced quizzes will be administered throughout the course. These quizzes will deal primarily with reading comprehension so you can prepare yourself for them by reading each assignment carefully prior to coming to class that day. Preparing for these quizzes should help you begin to learn the material and consequently promote informed class discussion.
These quizzes are also an incentive to be present in class, as there will be no make-ups (should you be absent or leave class early) or time extensions (should you arrive to class tardy) with them. However, students who attend and complete write-ups on any of the co-curricular activities (see below) may substitute scores on those essays for missing or low quiz scores.
Midterm and Comprehensive Final Examinations
The midterm and final are instruments to assess your comprehension of the course material, both that introduced in the readings and that introduced in the class. These examinations will consist of multiple testing methods, including some combination of multiple choice, true-false, short answer, and essay prompts.
2. Application of Concepts
Auteur Presentation: A Critical Introduction
You and a peer will work together to research and present your findings on a noted creative figure in comics. You should begin your research early, as information about these figures can be challenging to locate. You will need to consult a minimum of six (6) sources in researching your figure. Of these, only a third may come from the internet (e.g., two of six); however, you can consult primary works of the figures among your sources. I will ask you two to submit a working bibliography by the end of the second week of classes to be sure that you are working diligently on this research.
In order to make this presentation as effective as possible, I will ask you and your peer to work with the consultants from the Oral Communication Center (OCC) no later than two class sessions before your scheduled presentation (i.e., the earlier you go, the better). You can reserve a time to meet with a consultant by calling the center at 7870 and setting up an appointment. The consultants at the OCC can help you refine the plan you have developed to make the presentation an effective one and affirm the lessons we have discussed in class about successful presentations. Please take along a draft of your outline for them to review. If you fail to meet with the OCC consultants, your grade on this assignment will be lowered by one letter.
Please prepare either a handout or PowerPoint presentation to share with the class (you need not do both). In either format, please include an image of your figure along with any other pertinent information that will help your peers learn about this person. On the day of the presentation, please be sure to provide me with a copy of your handout or a print-out of your PowerPoint. I will also ask you to provide me with a copy of your completed presentation outline before you begin speaking.
Your presentation should state clearly the figure’s major contributions to the field of comics, elements of that person’s biography, and description and analysis of that figure’s major works. You may also wish to share a sample of this person’s creative products with us. You should time your presentation to last no less than 8 minutes and no longer than 12 minutes. Time permitting, we may have time for some questions and answers to follow. Please be prepared to go even if your partner is incapacitated on your presentation date. Students missing their presentation date may forfeit the opportunity to earn credit on this course requirement.
Material from your presentations will appear on the midterm and final exams, so your classmates are counting on you to make an informed and effective presentation.
Reaction Papers
On two designated occasions you will write a reaction paper over a reading assignment. You will be placed into a cluster for this assignment and not everyone in the class will be writing a reaction to the same works. For your ease of recall, you may wish to record which cluster you are in and what deadlines you will face here:
I am in Cluster ___________________ and have deadlines on ________ and ________.
These are shorter critical exercises intended to prepare you for writing the lengthier final project, the Critical Review of a Graphic Novel (see below). Each reaction paper should be structured around a clearly identifiable thesis statement. A thesis puts forth an argument. It states some non-obvious point that the rest of the essay then attempts to prove. An example would be, “Alison Bechdel’s use of wash color in Fun Home suggests that growing up with a sexual identity outside mainstream heterosexuality is a melancholy experience.”
Your argument should include some application of the storytelling concepts introduced in the textbook, the additional readings, or in class. Be sure to define concepts (ideally in your own words) before applying them, and make use of use of evidence from the assigned reading to support your thesis. Be specific and descriptive here. For example, “On page 150, Bechdel’s description of the ‘salmon to canary to midnight blue’ sunset is ironically juxtaposed by the use of the green wash.” In all, your aim should be to illuminate the text by saying something significant about what meanings are found therein or how they are constructed.
There is no need to explain at length the overall plot of the graphic novel, introduce its prominent characters, or provide any background on the author or the publication of the text unless one or more of those elements is key to your argument.
I would expect each reaction paper to run about two full pages of text (not including any cover sheet or the bibliography for any sources you consult). Please submit this paper in accord with either MLA or APA guidelines, including having it typed in a standard 10 or 12 point font, double-spaced, on one side of 20# white paper, spell-checked, proofread, and stapled together in the upper left-hand corner. (If you haven’t already invested in a stapler, please do so, as two pet peeves of mine are receiving unstapled papers and having a barrage of requests for a stapler go up when papers are collected.)
Although your deadline for each reaction paper is slated for the first day that we will be discussing each work, I recommend that you read the whole work prior to drafting your response. If you are absent for the class period in which your reaction paper is due, you will only receive partial credit for your paper, as an aim of completing this assignment is for you to share your criticism and insight with the rest of the class. You will also receive only partial credit if your ideas are not submitted in hard copy form. Allow yourself sufficient prep time to compensate for computer glitches (back up your files) and paper shortages in the computer lab (bring your own) so that they do not hamper your ability to meet the deadline.
Critical Review of a Graphic Novel
The final project allows you to explore a graphic novel of your own choosing while synthesizing the research, reading, analytical, and presentation skills developed throughout the course.
If you are uncertain about where to begin, I recommend that you consult Paul Gravett’s (2005) Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know (on reserve at the library) to discover additional graphic novels appealing to your interests. You should, of course, feel free to consult with me about your potential selection. I would recommend arriving at a decision about the nature of your project no later than Fall Break, if not sooner, so that you will have plenty of time to construct this paper in advance of its deadline. In order to encourage you to focus on this project early on, I will request a two-page proposal from you on Friday, October 30 and award participation credit for its submission.
This critique should not only be lengthier but a more sophisticated response than the shorter Reaction Papers. Again, it should be built around a thesis that examines themes within the work and applies aesthetic concepts to it. Again the thesis should be supported with evidence pulled from primary works (i.e., the graphic novels) as well as some commentary from secondary sources. As before, your aim is to provide insight into the meanings within texts or how they are made.
Unlike the Reaction Papers, you should include some introduction to the graphic novel that briefly identifies background details on the author, publication, plot, and prominent characters. You should also provide a clear conclusion that evaluates the overall work and places it within the context of the issues discussed in this course.
If you elect to include images from your text in this report, please do so, but be aware that this does not substitute for fulfilling the length of text that I would expect a well-written critique to need to cover. I would expect this critique should run an absolute minimum of five full pages of text (not including any cover sheet or the bibliography for any sources you consult). More pages are welcomed! Once again, please submit this paper in accord with either MLA or APA guidelines.
In order to help you develop this paper, I will sponsor a Writing Workshops in class prior to the critique’s deadline. Please bring a draft of your essay to class that day in order to participate.
Participation
Communication courses require communication, both that which is written and that which is spoken. In addition to your Auteur Presentation, I expect to hear consistent and meaningful contributions from you throughout the term. Your active involvement in the daily discussions and activities is linked to your success in this course. I would even go so far as to recommend that you come to class each day with a plan to participate: a question, an observation, a connection, or other comment that you might offer at an appropriate moment in the class discussion. You will be evaluated on not merely the frequency of your contributions but more so on their quality. A well thought out question is more impressive than a mere statement of fact.
Some words of caution, though: My directive for you to be a frequent and substantive contributor is not an invitation to speak at every opportunity. Seeking to comment on everything does not acknowledge the context of your participation within a thirty-person class. Likewise, speaking only when prompted by the instructor is tantamount to ignoring this course requirement and will accordingly earn you a poor grade for this requirement.
Within and beyond our discussions, I fully expect all students to treat their classmates and the instructor with respect. To that end, please restrain yourself from such poor communication behaviors as talking while others have the floor or rustling your book bags as the end of class approaches.
Occasionally, I may also ask you to complete short exercises out of class for participation credit and for discussion-generating purposes. Such exercises are an incentive to be present in class, so misplaced exercises cannot earn credit when submitted after class, although I will allow you to submit them before class if you let me know in advance of an excused absence.
Evaluation Considerations
Because I believe that a college education is, in part, preparation for the larger social world, an important component of this classroom experience is for you to exercise professional conduct. This expectation implies a whole host of responsibilities, including, but not limited to, attending class in a consistent and timely manner, maintaining academic integrity, meeting deadlines, contributing in a meaningful way to discussion, and treating your instructor and classmates with respect. The penalties for neglecting these expectations range from a lowered evaluation in this course to doubtful chances for advancement in your career.
I encourage you to ask me for help on any of your assignments or related issues. I am willing to meet with you to work through the development of your ideas. Moreover, if you are having trouble with course material, or if external factors are interfering with your performance, please contact me before a serious problem occurs. I expect you, as an adult, to approach me about these matters. Please do not have a parent or significant other speak to me on your behalf (unless you are incapacitated). You are responsible for your own performance.
Learning Disabilities
If you have a documented learning disability, it is your responsibility to meet with me as soon as possible in the term to discuss what accommodations we can arrange. Please contact the Office of the Assistant Provost for Academic Services (ext. 7924), for more information on learning disabilities.
Attendance
As stated in the Student Handbook, “All Wittenberg students are expected to attend class unless there are reasons of ill health, travel mishaps, illness or death in the family, or observance of religious holidays that prevent class attendance. . . . Students are expected to meet their academic responsibilities in each course, even though they may be excused from class.”
Academic Integrity
As the Honors Council reminds us, maintaining a high standard of academic integrity is in the best interest of everyone at Wittenberg and is everyone’s responsibility. Plagiarism is a kind of academic dishonesty that occurs when someone intentionally or unintentionally misrepresent the work of others as one’s own. This happens when someone fails to credit a source or when someone submits portions of an assignment authored by another person, but is not limited to just these examples. If you have questions or doubts about whether or not you are plagiarizing, please ask me about it. In this class, the minimum penalty for plagiarizing or outright cheating is to receive a zero on that assignment. However, it is possible and not at all unusual to fail the course for academic dishonesty. I will report any instances of academic dishonest to the Honor Council. I will ask you to sign each submission in this class as your way of acknowledging that you are upholding the standard of academic integrity. The Student Handbook has even more details on academic integrity.
|
Assignment |
Percent |
Score |
|
Auteur Presentation: A Critical Introduction |
10 % |
|
|
Reaction Papers |
10 % |
|
|
Critical Review of a Graphic Novel |
15 % |
|
|
Pop Quizzes |
20 % |
|
|
Midterm Examination |
17.5% |
|
|
Participation |
5 % |
|
|
Comprehensive Final Examination |
22.5 % |
|
|
Total |
100 % |
Scale |
The instructor reserves the right to raise a borderline final grade based on meritorious effort.
97-100 % -- A+
93-96% -- A
90-92% -- A-
87-89 % -- B+
83-86 % -- B
80-82 % -- B-
77-79 % -- C+
73-76 % -- C
70-72 % -- C-
67-69 % -- D+
63-66 % -- D
60-62 % -- D-
Course Calendar
It may be necessary to adjust the dates below as the semester progresses. Please note that readings are to be completed prior to the meeting for which they are assigned.
Week Date Topic
Reading
1 8/24 Course Introduction Groensteen
8/26 Defining Comic Books as a Medium PoC Ch. 1
8/28 Researching Authors
Presentation #0: Alison Bechdel
Week Date Topic Reading
2 8/31 Discuss Fun Home Fun Home Chs. 1-4
Bring Practice Reaction Paper to class.
9/2 Discuss Fun Home Fun Home Chs. 5-7 &Wolk on Moodle
9/4 Creating the Story PoC Ch. 6
Working Bibliography is due.
3 9/7 Labor Day
9/9 Comic Book Genres: The Superhero as Genre PoC Ch. 10
9/11 Superman Superman & O’Neill on Moodle
Presentation #1: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
9/12 Champion City Comic Con at Shouvlin Center
4 9/14 Discuss The Amazing Spider-Man Amazing Spider-Man and
Presentation #2: Stan Lee Fingeroth on Moodle
Cluster Alpha Reaction Papers are due.
9/16 Comic Book Genres: Classifying Comics PoC Ch. 9
9/18 Discuss The Best of Simon and Kirby Simon and Kirbypp. 6-129
Presentation #3: Jack Kirby
5 9/21 Discuss The Best of Simon and Kirby Simon and Kirby pp. 130-237
Cluster Beta Reaction Papers are due.
9/23 History of Comic Books, Part I PoC Ch. 2
Presentation #4: William Gaines
9/25 Discuss Two-Fisted Tales & MAD Two-Fisted Tales, MAD,
Presentation #5: Harvey Kurtzman and Abel & Maddenon Moodle
6 9/28 The Comics Code Nyberg & Code on Moodle
9/30 Comic Book Readers PoC Ch. 8
10/2 Fanboys
10/3-4 Mid-Ohio Con at the Columbus Convention Center
7 10/5 Discuss Watchmen Watchmen Chs. 1-4
Presentation #6: Alan Moore
Cluster Gamma Reaction Papers are due.
10/7 Discuss Watchmen Watchmen Chs. 5-8
10/9 Discuss Watchmen Watchmen Chs. 9-12
& Wolf-Meyer
10/11 Sunday Night at the Movies: Watchmen
8 10/12 Authors in Review PoC Ch. 5
10/14 Review for the Midterm / Preview Proposal
10/16 Midterm Examination
9 10/19 Classes are canceled in observance of the Fall Holiday.
10/21 History of Comic Books, Part II PoC Ch. 3
Presentation #7: Robert Crumb
10/23 Experiencing the Story PoC Ch. 7
10 10/26 Discuss A Contract with God A Contract with God
Presentation #8: Will Eisner
Cluster Alpha Reaction Papers are due.
10/28 Discuss A Contract with God Eisner on Moodle
10/30 Discuss “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Sandman on Moodle
Presentation #9: Neil Gaiman
Proposal due
11 11/2 Discuss Bone Bone Books One-Three
Presentation #10: Jeff Smith
Cluster Beta Reaction Papers are due.
11/4 Discuss Bone Bone Books Four-Six
and McCloud on Moodle
11/6 Discuss Bone Bone Books Seven-Nine and
& The Hero’s Journey Van Lente & Dunlavey on Moodle
12 11/9 Discuss Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale Maus I
Presentation #11: Art Spiegelman
Cluster Gamma Reaction Papers are due.
11/11 Discuss Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began Maus II
11/13 The EC Legacy
13 11/16 Comic Book Industry PoC Ch. 4
11/18 Discuss Sin City: The Hard Goodbye Sin City &
Presentation #12: Frank Miller Arnott on Moodle
11/20 Discuss Sin City Lefèvre on Moodle
14 11/23 Researching Comic Books PoC Ch. 12
Presentation #13: Trina Robbins
11/25-27 Classes are canceled in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
15 11/30 Comic Books and Ideology PoC Ch. 11
12/2 DiscussSafe Area Goražde Safe Area Goražde
Presentation #14: Joe Sacco
12/4 Writing Workshop
16 12/7 Comics Culture around the World PoC Ch. 13
Presentation #15: Osamu Tezuka
Critical Review of Graphic Novel is due.
12/9 Manga and Comics Culture around the World Reading TBD
12/11 Review for the Final Examination
Finals 12/17 Comprehensive Final Examination at 3:30 p.m.
