Reading Graphic Novels at the Cambridge Center
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
September 23 - October 14, 2009
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 New Yorker illustrator Adrian Tomine, fantasy author Bill Willingham, and underground comix pioneer Kim Deitch. 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. Limited to 16.
Required Books
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Read For Week One: Exit Wounds. Rutu Modan. 2007, Drawn and Quarterly. ISBN: 978-1897299838.
Week One Handouts & Links- An Interview with Rutu Modan, Conducted by Joe Sacco (The Comics Journal #288, February 2008)
- Rutu Modan's visual blog "Mixed Emotions" from the New York Times Online
- Rutu Modan's short story "The Murder of the Terminal Patient" from The New York Times Sunday Magazine
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Read For Week Two: Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham and various artists. 2006, Vertigo. ISBN: 978-1401203696.
Week Two Handouts & Links- An Interview with Bill Willingham (excerpt), conducted with Dirk Deppy (The Comics Journal #278, September 2006)
- The Original Hansel and Gretel From Grimm's Fairy Tales
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Read For Week Three: A Treasury of XXth Century Murder: The Lindbergh Child by Rick Geary. 2008, ComicsLit. ISBN: 978-1561635306.
WITH
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. 2007, Drawn and Quarterly. ISBN: 978-1897299753.
Week Three Handouts & Links- Adrian Tomine Interview in Nichi Bei Times Nov 22, 2007
- "The Donger and Me" by Adrian Tomine
- Rick Geary on Comic Book Talk Radio with Jason Miner (2 parts)
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Read For Week Four: Alias the Cat by Kim Deitch. 2007, Pantheon. ISBN: 978-0375424311.
Week Four Handouts & Links- More Fun: An Afternoon with Kim Deitch Interview by Zak Sally in Comic Art #5