Reading Graphic Novels at the Cambridge Center
How to Sign Up
"Reading Graphic Novels" is taught at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square, Cambridge. You can sign up on the Center's Web site or by calling 617-547-6789.
Email questions to: rhino@alum.mit.edu
Optional Books
The following optional books cover the language and history of comics and expand on many of the ideas we will cover in class. They are not required, but you may want to read or consult these books as you take the course.
- Comics and Sequential Art. Will Eisner. 1985, Poorhouse Press. ISBN: 0961472812
- Graphic Novels: Everything You Need To Know. Paul Gravett. 2005, Collins Design. ISBN: 978-0060824259
- Understanding Comics. Scott McCloud. 1994, Perennial Currents. ISBN: 006097625X
- Making Comics. Scott McCloud. 2006, Perennial Currents. ISBN: 0060780940
- The Comics Before 1945 Brian Walker. 2004, Harry N. Abrams. ISBN: 978-0810949706
Reading Graphic Novels
at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education
42 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA
Wednesdays, 5:45pm - 7:45pm
October 1 - October 22, 2008
Can comics aspire to the expressive and artistic heights of cinema and the novel? Or must the medium always occupy the low-brow dust-bin of popular culture? Come help us explore the growing literary graphic novel movement where an extraordinary number of new works of autobiography, journalism and fiction are targeted at serious adult readers. In this four-week course we will read seminal graphic novels by French author Joann Sfar, MacArthur genius Ben Katchor and Max Allan Collins, author of Road to Perdition. Along the way we will discuss each artist's unique approach to visual storytelling and find how this melding of words and pictures offers a unique forum for ideas, stories and characters. We'll also touch on the 150 year history of the medium.
Required Books
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Read For Week One: The Rabbi's Cat. Joann Sfar. 2007, Pantheon. ISBN: 978-0375714641.
Week One Handouts & Links- The Rabbi's Cat Visits America, 2005 Interview with Joann Sfar
- Hyacinthe by Thomas Fersen, a music video with animation by Joann Sfar
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Read For Week Two: Astro City: Life in the Big City by Kurt Busiek, Brent E. Anderson, and Alex Ross. 1999, Wildstorm. ISBN: 978-1563895517.
Week Two Handouts & Links- 1999 Interview with Kurt Busiek, The Comics Journal #216
- List of characters in Astro City series
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Read For Week Three: Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: Stories by Ben Katchor. 1999, Little, Brown and Company. ISBN: 978-0316482943.
Week Three Handouts & Links- A Wanderer in the Perfect city by Lawrence Weschler (1993)
- Ben Katchor Strips from Metropolis Magazine
- How to Read Nancy by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik (1998)
- Julius Knipl Audio Cartoons produced by David Isay for NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday
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Read For Week Four: The Road to Perdition by Ma Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner. 1998, Pocket Books. ISBN: 978-1416578758.
Note: This week, you should also watch the 2002 movie adaptation of the novel directed by Sam Mendes. Available on DVD: Road to Perdition
Week Four Handouts & Links- Just The Facts Ma'am: Max Collins Talks Road To Perdition by Arune Singh (2002)