Department of English

This graduate seminar introduces students to the marvelously complex and versatile language of comics. In this course, students will be exposed to some of the most innovative and wide-ranging contemporary graphic novels from around the globe. In today's attention economy, comics have risen as one of the biggest success stories of the digital age—and the graphic novel's increasing popularity has further come hand-in-hand with its growing legitimacy in academia as cutting-edge literature. As we explore the secret resources of comics via an array of genres—speculative fiction, journalism, memoir, horror, Shönen manga, self-help, realism, experimental fiction, etc—we will also read comics theory and test the limits of our visual literacy. We will take advantage of Penn Libraries' special collections of comics, and you will be asked to select one of our hidden comics treasures to share with the group. Other possible assignments may include incorporating comics language into your criticism and writing a research paper on a comic of your choosing. Come for the visual literacy, stay for the funny pictures.

PLEASE NOTE: This course is not suitable for advanced undergraduates.