Comics Studies Minor
Comics Studies Minor courses present students with an international, historical, and critical perspective on the art of editorial cartoons, comic books, and graphic novels, and how these forms communicate, inform, and emotionally engage their audiences. Students will be required to think outside of accustomed disciplinary boundaries, and to analyze and experiment with the interaction of both visual and linguistic systems of meaning.
This course studies works of film and media as aesthetic objects that engage with communities identified by class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. It considers both the effects of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination on media and filmmaking practices and modes of reception that... (read more)
“In this seminar, we will examine the form of sequential art we call comic books. The course is composed of two parts: close reading of landmark graphic novels and comics, and secondly the writing of original comic scripts. Throughout the term, we will examine a wide variety of groundbreaking... (read more)
ENG 386 examines bodily transformations in 20th and 21st century English-language comics through the lens of disability studies, with focus on race, gender, income, and queerness. We explore the intertwining of bodies and minds that disability studies scholars call the bodymind. We compare... (read more)
This class provides an introduction to the history and art of comics and to the methodologies of the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Students will be exposed to a range of different comic-art forms (including newspaper strips, collections of serialized comic books, and free-standing... (read more)
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
This course studies works of film and media as aesthetic objects that engage with communities identified by class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. It considers both the effects of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination on media and filmmaking practices and modes of reception that... (read more)
Introduction to Comics Poetry
It may seem strange to think of comics and poetry in connection with one another. Yet comics, in their way, have always been an intensely poetic medium even when no outright poetry has been involved. The increasing number of scholarly papers and web articles... (read more)
This class provides an introduction to the academic discipline of Comics Studies. We will explore a spectrum of comic-art forms (the newspaper strip, the comic book, the graphic novel) and a variety of modes and genres. We will closely read primary texts as well as contemporary comics... (read more)
What does it mean for a woman to write her self in comics? Our class will explore the form of graphic memoir through works such as Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, and Bishakh Som’s Spellbound, in order to think through the risks and tactics of... (read more)
This course offers an introduction to the graphic narrative form with a focus on life-writing and coming of age narratives. Themes will include: the process of life-writing; time; representing bodies/disability; “comic’s long history of ‘powerful marginality’” (El Refaie, 7); reader response;... (read more)
This course examines human bodies in comics, focusing on intersections of disability with gender, race, and sexuality. We consider the intertwined relationship between bodies and minds that disability studies scholars call the bodymind. Change is a fundamental property of bodyminds. Sometimes we... (read more)
In the last two decades, comics journalism has become one of the most provocative forms of creative nonfiction and an essential field of comics art. University of Oregon alum Joe Sacco, who received his BA in journalism in 1981, effectively founded contemporary comics journalism through his... (read more)
Instructor: Gurley, Gantt
Monsters mirror the anxieties and fears of the cultures and communities in which they are formed, emerging more vigorously when cultural stresses are keenest. This course examines the Jewish experience in the modern world by exploring both the monsters Jewish... (read more)
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
Comics and graphic narratives are uniquely suited to exploring cultural location because they transform the storytelling unit of the page into a space of representation. The comics page graphically negotiates dynamics of home and away, self and other, as well as race and culture. In this course... (read more)
Once upon a time, the four-color world of the superhero was a comfortingly simple place. The super-powered beings of the 1940s and 50s were secure in their sense of righteousness and generally saw no contradiction between truth, justice, and the American way. But in the 1960s, superheroes... (read more)
Instructor: Warren T.
Examines application of print media in contemporary visual culture; explores its use in a fine art context. Introduces digital dreaing, digital photo editing, and typographic layout to visually communicate expressive concepts.
(read more)Instructor: Ching, I
Applies technology as a drawing medium to communicate concepts visually. The entire creative process is researched in an experimental studio environment.
(read more)Instructor: Bray, M
Applies technology as a drawing medium to communicate concepts visually. The entire creative process is researched in an experimental studio environment.
(read more)This class provides an introduction to the history and art of comics and to the methodologies of the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Students will be exposed to a range of different comic-art forms (including newspaper strips, collections of serialized comic books, and free-standing... (read more)
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
This course studies works of film and media as aesthetic objects that engage with communities identified by class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. It considers both the effects of prejudice, intolerance and discrimination on media and filmmaking practices and modes of reception that... (read more)
Surveys the 1,000-year history of visual-verbal narratives--comics--in Japan, ranging from medieval picture to modern manga.
(read more)In this seminar, we will examine the form of sequential art we call comic books. The course is composed of two parts: close reading of landmark graphic novels and comics, and writing of original comic scripts. Throughout the term, we will examine a wide variety of groundbreaking graphic novels,... (read more)
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
Comics and graphic narratives are uniquely suited to exploring cultural location because they transform the storytelling unit of the page into a space of representation. The comics page graphically negotiates dynamics of home and away, self and other, as well as race and culture. In this course... (read more)
In this seminar, we will examine the form of sequential art we call comic books. The course is composed of two parts: close reading of landmark graphic novels and comics, and writing of original comic scripts. Throughout the term, we will examine a wide variety of groundbreaking graphic novels,... (read more)
This course provides an introduction to the analysis of comics and graphic narratives in terms of their poetics, genres, forms, history, and the academic discipline of Comics Studies. Our multifaceted examination will balance close reading with in-depth research and analysis of the development... (read more)
In the last two decades, comics journalism has become one of the most provocative forms of creative nonfiction and an essential field of comics art. University of Oregon alum Joe Sacco, who received his BA in journalism in 1981, effectively founded contemporary comics journalism through his... (read more)
In this course we’ll explore graphic narratives as a mode of life writing (biography. autobiography, memoir, coming of age narratives). We’ll discuss the ways in which the graphic narrative lends itself particularly well to these kinds of stories. Themes will include: the process of life-writing... (read more)
Once upon a time, the four-color world of the superhero was a comfortingly simple place. Whether they came from distant galaxies or our home planet, the super-powered beings of the 1940s and 50s were secure in their sense of righteousness and generally saw no contradiction between truth,... (read more)