21L.715 (U) / CMS.871 (G)

Media in Cultural Context:

Comics, Cartoons, and Graphic Storytelling

Professor Henry Jenkins

Mon, Wed 3:30 – 5pm, Lab Mon 7-10pm

"Comics are just words and pictures. You can do anything with words and pictures."

-- Harvey Pekar

This is a course about words, pictures, and stories. We hope over the term to map as broad a range of different things you can do with words and pictures as possible. Our central focus will be on two important strands of graphic storytelling -- comix (understood as both comic strips and comic books) and cartoons (understood as moving images). We will also be looking along the way at other forms of graphic storytelling, ranging from tapestries to children's book illustrations. We will be examining some of the groundbreaking work which helped define comics as a medium in the early part of the 20th century as well as cutting edge work in classical and contemporary comic books (both independent and mainstream). We will be talking about superheros and funny animals, since they have been at the heart of the American comics tradition, but we will be ready a broad range of work which has nothing to do with either genres. We will be looking at issues of visual style, narrative and narration, of warning: comics are expensive and we are going to be reading lots and lots of them, so the course readings are going to be astronomically expensive compared with any other CMS subject you have taken before. I will be working with the class to make this material as accessible as possible, but be ready to explain to your parents why you just spent several hundred dollars on funnybooks.

Required Books: (available through Million Year Picnic):

Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules #5 (Will be provided free on the first day of class)

Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics 22.95

Will Eisner, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative 22.99

Brian Michael Bendis, Jinx 24.95

Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan Herge: The Adventures of Tintin, Vol. 6 ( "The Calculus Affair,"

"The Red Sea Sharks," and "Tintin in Tibet.")

Neil Adams (Ed.) The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told 15.95

Alan Moore, Watchman 19.95

Kurt Busieck and Alex Ross, Marvels 19.95

Stan Lee, Fantastic Firsts 29.95

Art Spigelman, Jack Cole and the Plastic Man 19.95

Howard Cruise, Stuck Rubber Baby 14.95

Daniel Clowes, Eightball #22

Joe Sacco, Palestine 17.47

Brian Michael Bendis, Fire

Elizabeth Watasin, Charm School 1, 2

Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living

Naoki Yamamoto, Dance Till Tomorrow

Dylan Horrocks, Hicksville

Additional comics and secondary readings are available in the reserved book room.

Requirements:

1) Weekly Response Papers. Select one page from one of the comics we have read each week which you think deserves closer attention. Write a one page analytic discussion of that page. You may deal with it from the point of view of form, character, narrative, genre, authorship, ideology, myth, or any of the other approaches we are developing through the class. You may make reference to other moments in the book or in other books by way of comparison but the central goal should be to illuminate something that emerges from a close examination of a single page. (40 percent)

2) Early Comics Digital Project: Using the early comics digital archive, develop a short essay discussing one aspect of early comics making use of at least five panels from the collection and at least one of the critical essays placed on reserve for this unit. You will be given five minutes to present the main ideas from this paper to the class. (10 percent)

3) Author Report: There are simply more great animators and sequential storytellers than we can include in even a course as far reaching as this one. Select someone you value but who was not included in the course. Write a 5-page essay for distribution to your fellow students summarizing what you see as their primary importance to the evolution of graphic storytelling. These materials will be made available to the class as a whole. (20 percent)

4) A final essay for undergraduates, 5-7 pages; for graduate students, 10-15 pages. You should choose a personally meaningful topic in consultation with the instructor. Topics may range beyond the specific works, genres, or authors represented in the class, but the paper should demonstrate a mastery over the analytic frameworks we have been exploring and thus should make use of the assigned secondary materials. (20 percent)

5) Class attendance and participation. (10 percent)

UNIT ONE: The Aesthetics of Graphic Storytelling

SEPTEMBER 4, 2002

Day One: Introduction

Read and discuss in class: Jimmy Gownley, Amelia Rules!

SEPTEMBER 9, 2002

Day Two: The Image

Read: Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, chapters 2, 5, and 8; Excerpt from Will Eisner, Comics & Sequential Art, “Expressive Anatomy”; Greg M. Smith, “Shaping the Maxx: Adapting the Comic Book Frame to Television” (Animation Journal, Fall 1999.)

Lab: Screening- The Maxx; Comic Book Confidential

SEPTEMBER 11, 2002

Day Three: The Frame

Read: Scott McCloud, chapters 3, 4; Eisner, "Timing," "The Frame"; Gene Kannenberg, Jr., "The Comics of Chris Ware: Test, Image, and Visual Narrative Strategies" (rec.); Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan (part one); Catherine Khordoc, The Comic Book’s Soundtrack, “Visual Sound Effects in Asterix”

SEPTEMBER 16, 2002

Day Four: Words and Images

Read: McCloud, chapter 6; Eisner, "Comics as a Form of Reading" and "Imagery"; Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan (part two)

Lab: From Winsor McCay to Max Fleischer Brothers

Read: Donald Crafton, "Graphic Humor and Early Cinema" in Emile Cohl, Caricature, and Film (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990)

Screening: selected works of early animation

SEPTEMBER 18, 2002 (sub: Susannah Mandel)

Day 5: Eurocomics

Read: Herge, The Adventures of Tintin, vol. 6

UNIT TWO: The Historic Evolution of the Comic Strip

SEPTEMBER 23, 2002

STUDENT HOLIDAY – NO CLASS

SEPTEMBER 25, 2002

Day 6: Early Masters

For this unit, we are going to be working with a digital archive of early comic strip material and relevant annotations and critical commentary.

Read: David Kunzle, "Movement Before Movies: The Language of the Comic Strip" in The History of the Comic Strip (Berkeley, Univerisity of California Press); N.C. Cristopher Couch, "The Yellow Kid and the Comic Page”; R.C. Harvey, “Peddlers to Poets” in The Art of the Funnies: An Aestethic History

SEPTEMBER 30, 2002

Day 7: The Aesthetics of Early Comics

Continue to explore and work with the early comics digital archive and be ready to present your projects in class.

Read: M. Thomas Inge, "Fantasy and Reality in Winsor McCay's Little Nemo" in Comics as Culuture; Gilbert Seldes, "The Krazy Kat That Walks By Himself"; Hugh Kenner, "Who's in Charge Here?" in Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994).

Lab: Warner Brothers

Screening - Selected Warner Brothers Cartoons; Documentary on Chuck Jones

UNIT THREE: Superheroes, Now and Forever

OCTOBER 2, 2002 (sub: William Uricchio)

Day 8: The Classic DC Superhero

Read: William Uricchio and Roberta E. Pearson, "I'm Not Fooled By That Cheap Disguise,"

The Many Lives of the Batman (New York: Routledge, 1991).

Selections from Neil Adams, Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told

OCTOBER 7, 2002

Day 9: The Superhero Across Media

Read: Thomas Andrae, "From Menace to Messiah: The History and Historicity of Superman," in Donald Lazere (Ed.) American Media and Mass Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987); Gary Engle, "Why Superman is So Damned American" in Signs of Life in the U.S.A (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press)

Lab: (Part One) Superhero Across Media (concluded)

(Part Two) The Marvel Way: Genre and Authorship

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, "The Origins of the Fantastic Four," "The Coming of the Sub-Mariner," "Battle of the Baxter Building," "Death of a Hero" from the Essential Fantastic Four Vol. I and II.

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, "Introducing Spiderman," "Return of Doctor Octopus," and "Unmasked by Dr. Octopus" from the Essential Amazing Spiderman Vol. I; R. C. Harvey, "What Jack Kirby Did" and Earl Wells, "Once and For All, Who Was the Author of Marvel?" in The Comics Journal Library Volume 1: Jack Kirby, Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs, “The Comic Book Heroes”

OCTOBER 9, 2002

Day 10: Revising the Superhero 1

Read: Kurt Bussic and Alex Ross, Marvels

Scott Bukatman, "Boys in the Hoods" (Forthcoming)

OCTOBER 14, 2002

COLUMBUS DAY – NO CLASS

OCTOBER 16, 2002

Day 11: Revising the Superhero 2

Read: Paul Chadwick, “A Stone Among Stones” and “A New Life”, “The Complete Concrete”

Scott Bukatman, "X-Bodies (The Torment of the Mutant Superhero)"

OCTOBER 21, 2002 (sub: TBA)

Day 12: Revising the Superhero 3

Read: Allen Moore, Watchman

UNIT FOUR: An Alternative Tradition

Lab: Disney

Luca Raffaelli, "Disney, Warner Brothers and Japanese Animation," in Jayne Pilling (Ed.) A Reader in Animation Studies (London: John Libbey, 1997)

OCTOBER 23, 2002

Day 13: Funny Animals with Funny Ideas

Read: Carl Banks, "Uncle Scrooge – So Far and No Safari" and "Uncle Scrooge in the Second-Richest Duck"; Walt Kelly, excerpt from Positively Pogo; Martin Barker, "Deconstructing Donald," Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1989)

OCTOBER 28, 2002

Day 14: Postwar Surrealists

Read: Art Spigelman, Jack Cole and Plastic Man; Basil Wolverton, "A Nightmare Scare" and "An Encounter at the Counter," Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper (Seattle: Fantagraphics, 1994).

Harvey Kurtzman, "Superduperman," The Complete First Six Issues of Mad; J. Hoberman, "Vulgar Modernism"; Leonard Maltin, "UPA", Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (New York: Plume, 1980)

Lab: Screening – Selected of Tex Avery and UPA

OCTOBER 30, 2002

Day 15: Seduction of the Innocent?

Read: William Krigstein, “The Bath”; “Murder Dream”; Jack Davis, “Telescope”; Jack Kamin, "Cold War", Tales From the Crypt, Robert Warshow, "Paul, The Horror Comics and Dr. Wertham," The Immediate Experience (New York: Antheneum, 1975), Amy Kiste Nyberg, "The Senate Investigation," Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998).

NOVEMBER 4, 2002

Day 16: Underground Comics

Read: R. Crumb, "Fritz Bugs Out"; Justin Green, "Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary"; Roberta Gregory,"Hippy Bitch Gets Laid,"; Aline Kominsky, "Growing Up as Arnie's Girl,"; Mark James Estren, "Sex and Sexism," A History of Underground Comics (Berkeley: Ronin Publishing, 1974)

Lab: The Faith and John Hubley Story (with filmmaker Sybil Delgaudio)

NOVEMBER 6, 2002

Day 17: The Raw Bunch

Read: Charles Burns, "Teen Plague"; Kim Deitch, "Karla in Kommieland"; Richard McGuire, "Here" from Raw: Open Wounds from the Cutting Edge of Commix (Penguin Books, 1989); "Art Spigelman", Andrea Juno (ed.) Dangerous Drawings (ReSearch, 1997); Art Spiegelman, "Ace Hole, Midget Detective" from The New Comics Anthology Bob Callahan (ed.) (Collier Books); Ben Katchor, "The Evening Combinator"

NOVEMBER 11, 2002

VETERAN’S DAY – NO CLASS

NOVEMBER 13, 2002 (sub: Kim De Vries)

Day 18: Sequential Tarts

Read: Neil Gaiman, Death: The High Cost of Living; Elisabeth Watasin, Charm School 1,2

Lab: The Undergrounds Go Mainstream

Read: Interview with Matt Groening, The New Comics (Berkeley: Berkeley, 1988)

Screening: The Simpsons, South Park

NOVEMBER 18, 2002

Day 19: The Autobiographical School

Read: Howard Cruse, Stuck Rubber Baby; Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette, "Howard Cruse," Comic Book Rebels (New York: Donald I. Fine, 1993)

Lab: Digital Comics, Webtoons, and Computer Animation

Read: Scott McCloud, "The Infinite Canvas: Digital Comics," Reinventing Comics (New York: DC, 2000);

-Scott McCloud, "My Obsession With Chess" http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/chess/index.html

- Demian 5, "When I Am King" http://www.demian5.com/

- Patrick Farley, "Chrystalis Colossus" http://www.e-sheep.com/chrysalis/

- Tristam Farnon, "Rhapsody in Yellow" http://www.leisuretown.com/stories/travel/ryellow/index.html

- Daniel Merlin Goodberry, "Doodleflak" http://www.e-merl.com/flak.htm

- Jason Lex, "The Awful Science Fair: Snapping Turtle Cabaret"

http://www.opi8.com/sequence/asf/asf_1701.html

NOVEMBER 20, 2002

Day 20: Comics and Ethnic Identity

Read: Jaime Hernandez, "100 Rooms", from Love and Rockets; Gilbert Hernandez, “Chelo's Burden,” and “Heartbreak Soup”

NOVEMBER 25, 2002

Day 21: Experiments in Narrative and Narration

Read: Excerpts from Edward Branigan, Narration, Narrative Comprehension, and Film (London: Routledge, 1992); Daniel Clowes, Eightball 22

Lab: Screening - Waking Dreams

NOVEMBER 27, 2002

Day 22: Documentary Comics

Read: Joe Sacco, Palestine

DECEMBER 2, 2002

Day 23: Words and Images (Revisited)

Read: Brian Michael Bendis, Fire; David Carrier, "The Speech Balloon; or, the Problem of Representing Other Minds," The Aesthetics of Comics (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000).

UNIT FIVE: Cartoons and Comics in the Global Marketplace

Lab: Animation in Canada and the UK

Screening: selected animated works from Canada and UK; selections from documentary series on international animation

DECEMBER 4, 2002

Day 24: Animation in Eastern Europe

DECEMBER 9, 2002

Day 25: Comics in Japan

Read: Sandra Buckley, "Penquin in Bondage: A Graphic Tale of Japanese Comics," in Constance Penley and Andrew Ross (Eds.) Technoculture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesotta Press, 1991); Matt Thorn, "What Japanese Girls Do With Manga, and Why," http://www.matt-thorn.com/jaws.html; Naoki Yamamoto, Dance Till Tomorrow

Lab: Anime

Read: Susan J. Napier, "Anime and Local/Global Identity," in Anime from Akira to

Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation (New York:

Palgrave, 2000)

Screening: Metropolis

DECEMBER 11, 2002

Day 26: Comics in New Zealand

Read: Dylan Horrocks, “A Letter from Hicksville: Why I Love New Zealand Comics”; Tom Bollinger, “Comics in Antipodes: A Low Art in a Low Place”, from nga Pakiwaithhi Aoteroa: New Zealand Comics (Auckland: Hicksville Press, 2000).