Z604/Z672 Comic Books and Their Readers
Digital and Empirical Methods for Studying Readership and Fandom
Spring 2024
12:40 - 15:15 Wednesday, Sycamore Hall (SY) 103
Instructor: Associate Professor John A. Walsh, jawalsh@indiana.edu.
Office Hours: Schedule at https://fantastical.app/jawalsh-r1Wz/office-hours.
Associate Instructor: Alex Wingate, alewinga@iu.edu
Office Hours: Thursdays, 1:30pm-2:45pm, and by appointment (click Zoom link in Alex’s profile)
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Week 2: Fandom Studies
Summary
This week we will explore the topic of fandom studies as an academic discipline and explore fandom in the context of comics and comics culture.
Weekly Learning Objectives
- summarize key concepts of fan studies, as presented in the readings from Jenkins.
- apply concepts and methods from Jenkins to other areas and manifestations of fandom.
- share a fandom experience with the class to reflect on our own encounters with fandom.
Define and identify the following terms
- acafan
- participatory culture
- Fandom Forward (formerly, the Harry Potter Alliance)
- Trekkie
Before class: Readings, resources, and tasks
- Jenkins, H. (2012). Introduction. Textual Poachers (2nd ed.) (pp. 1-8). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Jenkins, H. (2012). “Get a Life!”: Fans, Poachers, Nomads. Textual Poachers (2nd ed.) (pp. 9-49). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Woo, B. (2020). Readers, Audiences, and Fans. Comics Studies: A Guidebook (pp. 126-137). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Henry Jenkins on Participatory Culture
In class
- review class comic archive and online collections
- Interview another student about their fandom, and report back to the class. Start with
“What type of fandom do you want to tell me about (comics, film, manga, music, pokemon, etc.)?” and adapt the questions below as necessary.
Questions from Duncan, R., Smith, M. J., & Levitz, P. (2015). The Comic Book Readers. The Power of Comics (2nd ed.) (pp. 297-326). London: Bloomsbury.
- When did you begin reading comic books?
- Did you stop reading comic books at any point? If so, why? What prompted you to start again?
- What do you like about the comic book medium? How have you benefited from reading comic books?
- Besides reading comic books, do you take part in any other
fan activities like attending conventions, collecting related merchandise, posting to a website, etc.?
- What do you gain from those activities?
- If time allows, begin Spurlock’s Comic con episode IV: A fan’s hope.