CMS.S60/CMS.S96 Lightning in a Panel: American Comics and the Graphic Novel

Lightning in a Panel: American Comics and the Graphic Novel is a one week IAP offering that tackles the American comic book from three distinct and defining perspectives: superheroes and fantasy, crime comics, and the graphic memoir. While the superhero offered an electrifying narrative for comics and ushered its transition from newspaper strips to the comic book, it also seemed to impose a limiting identity upon the medium as a site for “juvenile literature.” How did writers and artists respond by reinventing the superhero, borrowing from mythology and cinema, or channeling the properties of the novel? We’ll examine these approaches to expand the boundaries of American comics in four graphic novels: All-Star Superman, Parker: The Hunter, Last of the Dragons, and Fun Home. At the end of the week, students will reflect on how these strategies interact, by writing a short essay that contrasts one of these works with the first episode of the acclaimed Watchmen television series.

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Lecture: 10:30-12, M-F

January 11-15, 2021