Syllabus

The Basics

What: ENGL 375TT Graphic Novels, a Spring 2009 Course at the University of Mary Washington
Where: Combs 002
When: 11:00 - 11:50 MWF
Web: teaching.zachwhalen.net/comics/

The Instructor

Dr. Zach Whalen
E-mail: zwhalen [at] umw.edu
Office hours: 1:00 - 2:00, M - F (or by appointment)
Office: Combs 308
Phone: 5406542355
Web: www.zachwhalen.net

Objectives

In this class, we’re going to study stories conveyed through the combination of images with text. The graphic novel will be the primary genre under examination, but other specific forms (comic books, comic strips, and especially webcomics, etc.) will be considered as well. Indeed, the term “graphic novel” will be interrogated for its significance and relevance to specific works, especially in light of the fact that creators of these works often eschew the term. Primary readings will include the works listed below, and these will be supplemented by relevant literary theory and comics-specific theory and criticism. This will include work by such authors as Donald Ault, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Thierry Groensteen, Jan Baetens, Will Eisner, and Scott McCloud. The goal of our study will be to understand the formal structures of comics in the context of a long history of medial shifts. Accordingly, the question we will attempt to answer by the end of the semester is: What do the developments of New Media technology mean for the future of comics?

Framework

The major projects of the semester will be 1) to collaborate on a book and 2) to produce (write, design, publish) a webcomic as part of a working group of 3 or 4 students. Both of these projects will be completed with a group of your peers. The goal of the book is that we as a class produce a body of knowledge that reflects diverse interests while still managing to make a coherent presentation. The book itself will be built within this website (in a fashion similar to a wiki), and the specific arguments and topics will be determined through class discussion. Ultimately, each group will be responsible for at least one chapter of content.

The final project of the class will be a webcomic that you devise with a group of your peers and publish for at least three continuous weeks. The goals of this project work in two ways. First, we will experience the degree to which readings in comics theory and criticism will help you gain a sense of how to make better comics. And second, the experience of creating comics will help us think more clearly about how and why comics work as a medium.

The culmination of publishing the webcomic will be a presentation either to the class or at the ELC department's annual Kemp Symposium.

PLEASE NOTE: Many of the materials in this class--books, lectures, discussions--concern issues and topics including but not limited to race, gender, sexuality, religion, and politics. In particular, some films and books include depictions of violence and/or sexuality that some readers/viewers may find objectionable or offensive. I will do my best to treat these matters discreetly and with the highest standards of professional good conduct. In turn, I expect you to help me create a community in which these challenging and potentially uncomfortable issues can be discussed in a mature, sensitive, and tolerant manner.

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Required Texts

All of these texts should be available at the UMW bookstore. Additional readings (mostly secondary) will be provided or are freely available online.

• Eisner, Will. A Contract with God and other Tenement Stories (1976). New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2006. ISBN: 0-393-32804-X
• Ware, Chris, Editor. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, vol. 13. San Francisco: McSweeney's Ltd., 2004. ISBN: 1-932-41608-0
• Moore, Alan and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. DC Comics, 1986. ISBN: 978-0-930289-23-2.
• Ware, Chris. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. New York: Pantheon, 2003. ISBN: 0375714545
• Kindt, Matt. Super Spy. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions, 2007.
• DeMatteis, John Marc. The Compleat Moonshadow. DC Comics, 1998. ISBN: 1563893436.

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Assignments

Participation

Because this class will rely heavily on class discussion, both in person and online, participation comprises 15% of your final grade. In general, your participation grade will be a reflection of how well you contribute to the general conduct of class, and, in practice, this means being in class each day prepared to discuss the assigned readings. This also means reading and commenting on others' blog entries.

Your participation grade can also be directly impacted (negatively) if you run afoul of the attendance or decorum policies outlined below.

Quizzes

Quizzes will be given about every two weeks, and may or may not be announced in advance. The material each quiz covers will be drawn from class discussions, assigned readings, and blog content. (In other words, I may ask you questions about material that other students have introduced in their blogs or blog comments.) Quizzes are given at the beginning of the class period and may not be made up if missed.

Homework

Occasionally I will assign you to complete and turn in short homework assignments. These may consist of a writing exercise or demonstration of a particular concept from the reading.

Homework and quiz grades will be averaged together for 10% of your final grade.

Blog

Each member of the class, including the instructor, will post a series of discursive blog entries through the course website. These entries will be graded on a checkpoint system. This means that there are 15 checkpoints scheduled throughout the semester, and when a checkpoint arrives, I will grade your oldest, non-graded blog entry, if any are available. In other words, I will grade no more than one blog entry per checkpoint. There are 15 checkpoints, but I will only count your highest-scoring 10 entries. This system is designed so that you can get ahead on entries if you want, but if you fall behind, you won't be able to gain credit by writing 10 entries in the final week of the semester.

Each blog entry will be awarded a letter grade, and I may also provide private comments through the class gradebook system explaining how, for example, you might improve on future entries.

The overarching goal of the blog assignment is to engage in a meaningful discussion that extends and supports the in-class discussion. Your blog entries should be well-thought out and interesting, and since these are produced on a public website, your blog entries should appeal as much as possible to the broad audience of readers who may find their way here. We will discuss what comprises good blog writing, but briefly, in order for a blog entry to receive an A, it should contain the following elements:

• A unique title. If, for example, after we read Jimmy Corrigan, your blog entry is one of 19 with the title "Jimmy Corrigan," it is not unique. Nothing about your title encourages me to click on it in my RSS reader.
• Relevant tags (keywords). A unique title helps you separate your content from similar content on the site, but appropriate keywords work the other way: to connect your content with what it is similar to. You should try to include at least three keywords when you create each blog entries.
• An external source or text. In addition to the primary source material and assigned readings, your blog entries should also reference concepts and materials beyond the scope of the class. Examples could include other secondary readings on a text, or other texts you want to compare or contrast with a primary text from the class.
• An image. Since this is a class on visual storytelling, your discussion will in almost all cases be enhanced by the addition of visual examples from the texts under discussion.

In addition, links to outside material or other students' blog entries will often, though not always, be appropriate. Above all else, your blog entry should contribute to the ongoing production of knowledge that comprises the course discussion. This means that you should demonstrate through your blogging that you are familiar with the other contributions by your fellow bloggers.

Blog entries will be graded on a simplified letter scale: A, B, C or F. At the end of the semester, your highest-scoring 10 blog entries will be averaged together to comprise 20% of your final grade.

Comic Analysis

The first major assignment for the class will be a short, analytical paper on any (approved) work of graphic fiction. This may be one of the primary texts we've studied already or, ideally, it can be a work you are familiar with from your own reading. The main idea is to experiment with the techniques of literary analysis, particularly the idea of "close reading," in terms of how the introduction of graphic elements change the assumptions we bring to a text. To this end, we will read several examples of different approaches to this kind of writing.

The paper should be about 3 - 5 pages long, and it should be a well-organized, clearly articulated, properly cited piece of academic writing. This paper is worth 10% of your final grade.

Book

This will be a collaborative book project completed in working groups. That is, the class will produce one book through this website, and you will work with your group to produce at least one "chapter" of content. The tentative title of the book is "An Approach to Webcomics," but the title and indeed the focus of the content is going to be determined as a class. We will discuss this in class and on the blog and find a mutual consensus for how each group will contribute. (One example might be for each group to focus on a particular webcomic and write a chapter of history and analysis.)

The book contributions will be evaluated February 27. Additionally, a component of the webcomic project will ask you to revise and extend the book based on your experience with the comic.

Your contribution to the book will be graded to comprise 15% of your final grade.

Web Comic

The capstone project of this course will be a webcomic that you complete with a group of your peers and publish consistently over a period of three weeks. At the conclusion of this three weeks, your group will submit a portfolio of material documenting your experience. You will also give a presentation to the class about your webcomic. The goal of this assignment is to experiment with the formal constraints and opportunities introduced through the medium of the web. The default publishing platform will be the ComicPress plugin for WordPress (I will create a site for you), but other platforms are acceptable. Groups may choose the form, topic, and style of their comic, including the frequency of publication within that three week period.

The final portfolio is due to me by the assigned time of the course final exam, April 27. The presentation component of this assignment is worth 10% of your final grade, and the portfolio will be worth 20% of your final grade.

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Grading

Distribution

Scale

Where applicable, the following letter-to-number equivalency will be
in effect:

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Policies

Use of Electronic Devices in Class

Students are allowed, even encouraged, to bring laptops or other electronic devices to class for the purpose of taking notes. However, activities such as surfing the web, reading e-mail, or text-messaging are not allowed. Also, turn off your cell phone ring, and please do not answer it if you forget and it rings unless there is an emergency. If you are browsing Facebook instead of participating in class, I will consider you absent for the day. Furthermore, if I determine that you are abusing this policy, I reserve the right to ban use of electronic devices either for you individually or for the class at large.

Academic Dishonesty

The UMW Honor System is in effect for our course. I may authorize specific exercises as collaborative work, but all other work must be your own, as per Article 1, Sections 1 and 2 of the University of Mary Washington Student Honor Code.

Late Work

Unless otherwise indicated, all assigned work is due at the beginning of class on the specified due date. Work that is submitted after this time will be considered late and will be subject to a grade penalty equal to a full letter.

Decorum

Students are expected to treat the instructor and fellow students with the appropriate degree of respect, both in class and in online discussions. Communication, either in person or through electronic media, that is deemed abusive, threatening, or harassing in nature will not be tolerated. Students who fail to abide by this policy will receive a participation grade of 0.

Attendance

Because this class depends heavily on class discussion, you should be in class every day we meet, ready to contribute to the conversation. The work we do in class each day is a major part of how you demonstrate your learning in this course. Unless emergency arrangements have been made, missing more than five classes will thus result in a zero for participation, and any student who misses an excessive number of classes will automatically fail the course. There is no way to make up credit for quizzes. You must complete all assignments to get credit for the term

Unsatisfactory Mid-Semester Reports

Students with a grade average below 70% or with more than 3 unexcused absences will receive an unsatisfactory grade report at the mid-term.

Students with Disabilities

The Office of Disability Services has been designated by the University as the primary office to guide, counsel, and assist students with disabilities. If you already receive services through the Office of Disability Services and require accommodations for this class, get in touch with me as soon as possible to discuss your approved accommodation needs. Please bring your accommodation letter with you to the appointment. I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise. If you have not contacted the Office of Disability Services and need accommodations, (note taking assistance, extended time for tests, etc.), I will be happy to refer you. The office will require appropriate documentation of disability. Their phone number is 540-654-1266.

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Schedule

The schedule for this class is always subject to change, but it is always available on this page.