Z616 Comic Books and Their Readers, Spring 2025

Digital and Empirical Methods for Studying Readership and Fandom.

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General information

Comics Code Authority announcement in Katy Keene Annual #2 (Archie Comics, 1955-1956) Comics Code Authority announcement in Katy Keene Annual #2 (Archie Comics, 1955-1956)

Course description

In this seminar we will study the many ways in which readers and fans engage with comic books and comic book culture. Modes of reader engagement include correspondence and communications through print fan mail columns and social media; cosplay; fanzine production; participation in fan clubs, comics-related contests, and comics conventions; blogs and podcasts; and more. We will survey several research methods for studying reader and fan engagement, including archival research, ethnography, and text data mining.

The course is relevant both to students wishing to develop programs and resources to engage readers and others more generally interested in comics and fandom studies.

Because we will be engaging with digital media and digital research methods, this course fulfills requirements for the ILS digital humanities specialization and the IU digital arts and humanities Ph.D. minor and graduate certificate.

Course goal

By the end of this course students will be able to describe, analyze and engage with multiple forms of reader participation in comic book culture and fandom.

Learning outcomes

  • Students be able to describe and illustrate with examples the different types of participatory activities in which comic book readers and fans engage.
  • Students will be able to create and document data sets about participatory activities.
  • Students will be able to analyze data about participatory activities with appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • Students will be able to create visualizations (charts, graphs, maps) derived from data sets.
  • Students will be able to explain the ways in which participatory activities engage readers with content, creators, organizations, and other readers.
  • Students will be able to use a variety of digital and print reference resources to conduct research about the comics domain.

About your instructor

Photograph portrait of John Walsh Hello. My name is John. I use he/him/his pronouns, and you may call me John, Dr. Walsh, or Professor Walsh. I am an Associate Professor of Information and Library Science in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineeringand Director of the HathiTrust Research Center. I received my Ph.D. in English literature (focusing on 19th-century British poetry) at IU. While earning my Ph.D. and after, I spent ten years as a technologist and librarian in IU’s Digital Library Program before joining the Department of Information and Library Science in 2006. My research interests include: computational literary studies; textual studies and bibliography; text technologies; book history; 19th-century British literature, poetry and poetics; and comic books. Comics of course are the topic of this course.

I have been a comic book reader, collector, and fan since I was a young boy. As part of my research, I have developed the Comic Book Markup Language (CBML), an XML vocabulary for the scholarly encoding of comics, graphic novels, and similar documents. More recently my interests have moved in the direction of readership and fan studies. I am a founding member of the Comics Studies Society and regularly attend their annual conference and other comics studies conferences, workshops, and events. I like to spend time with my wife (a librarian!), four kids, and our dog Hugo.

I had a former life as a rock and roll musician, and I still play guitar, sing, write songs, and—very occasionally—perform.

Texts

  • Most readings will be available online or provided as PDFs through canvas.
  • Many of comics we will read are available digitally on comixology.com.

Grading

Late assignments will be accepted after the due date without a penalty on the grade only with the prior consent of the instructor. Assignments submitted late without the prior consent of the instructor will be docked the equivalent of half a letter grade for each day they are late. Missing a class without prior consent of the instructor may drop your final grade by a letter. Incompletes will be given for the course for medical reasons only.

Sexual Harassment

As your instructor, one of my responsibilities is to create a positive learning environment for all students. Title IX and IU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibit sexual misconduct in any form, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, stalking, and dating and domestic violence. If you have experienced sexual misconduct, or know someone who has, the University can help.

If you are seeking help and would like to speak to someone confidentially, you can make an appointment with:

The Sexual Assault Crisis Services (SACS) at (812) 855-8900 (counseling services) Confidential Victim Advocates (CVA) at (812) 856-2469 (advocacy and advice services) IU Health Center at (812) 855-4011 (health and medical services) It is also important that you know that Title IX and University policy require me to share any information brought to my attention about potential sexual misconduct, with the campus Deputy Title IX Coordinator or IU’s Title IX Coordinator. In that event, those individuals will work to ensure that appropriate measures are taken and resources are made available. Protecting student privacy is of utmost concern, and information will only be shared with those that need to know to ensure the University can respond and assist.

I encourage you to visit http://stopsexualviolence.iu.edu/index.html to learn more.