IAP 2026
CMS.S63/S99 Special Subject: “American Comics and the Graphic Novel”
Instructors: Sajan Saini
Units: 2-0-1
Day/time: MTWRF, 1-3pm; January 12-16
Room: 2-103
A detective superhero who stops at nothing to reveal a monstrous truth, and a kid seeking monsters to speak truth. A conned con man out to settle up, a lost artist and a hothead in Neo-Tokyo, and a time-displaced survivor of invasion. Dive into comics, the speculative medium of post-industrial bodies—where sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, melodrama, and the funnies collide with “anything goes” gusto. This one-week IAP offering examines comics from the lens of several genres, to explore how a medium once dismissed as “juvenile lit” offers a space for subversive questions; and what is gained or lost, as the medium de-marginalizes with the proliferation of the graphic novel. Students will do a close reading of the superhero classic Watchmen, with in-class excerpts from Calvin and Hobbes; Parker: The Hunter; Fun Home; Akira; and El Eternauta. During the week, students complete an independent study of a comics text of their choice (examples may include Saga, Monstress, The Good Asian, Captain Marvel, The Dark Knight Returns, The Far Side) and prepare a final class presentation and short essay on their critical study. Limited to 10.