Week 1: Introductions
Summary
This week we will go over some of the course basics, syllabus, and assignments. Following that we will begin to explore some basic topics related to studying comic books and their readers. We will discuss some read and discuss some introductory essays about comic book readers, discuss our own experience as comics readers or consumers/fans of other media, and introduce some of the research methods we’ll be exploring this semester.
Weekly Learning Objectives
- Discuss our own experience as comic book readers or consumers/fans of other media.
- identify research methods that may be applied to the study of comic book readership and fandom.
- outline a broad history of the comic book, as presented in Hatfield’s chapter.
Define and identify the following terms
- panel
- word balloon, thought balloon
-
caption
- writer, scripter
- artist, penciller
- inker
- colorist
-
letterer
- Platinum Age
- Golden Age
- Silver Age
-
Bronze Age
- floppy
- trade paperback
- underground comix
- pulps / pulp magazines
- direct market
-
fanzine
- Fredric Wertham
- Percival Chubb
- Seduction of the Innocent (1954)
- Comics Code and Comics Code Authority
- the “Dell Pledge”
- the kawaii aesthetic
- Graphix
- TOON Books
- Classics Illustrated
- funny animal comics
Before class: Readings, resources, and tasks
How to Read the Week 1 Materials
These readings are assigned before our first class meeting and serve a specific purpose:
They are not methods readings.
Instead, they are meant to orient you to:
- comics as a medium and cultural form,
- comics readers as historically and socially situated,
- the idea that readers and audiences are legitimate objects of scholarly study.
As you read, focus on big-picture understanding, not mastery of details.
In particular, consider the following questions:
- How do these authors define comics and comic books?
- What assumptions do they make about who comics readers are (or have been)?
- What kinds of evidence do they use to talk about readers?
- What kinds of evidence or voices seem absent?
You do not need to memorize terms or arguments.
You do need a working familiarity with how comics studies frames its object and its audiences.
Beginning in Week 2, we will shift our focus from what comics and comics readers are to how scholars study fans and readers, using specific research methods.
- Hatfield, Charles (2020). Comic Books. Comics Studies: A Guidebook (pp. 25-39). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Nel, Philip (2020). Children and Comics. Comics Studies: A Guidebook (pp. 126-137). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
- Duncan, R., Smith, M. J., & Levitz, P. (2015). The Comic Book Readers. The Power of Comics (2nd ed.) (pp. 297-326). London: Bloomsbury.
In class
Class sessions will combine short lectures, discussion, and small-group activities.
Week 1 will include:
- Introductions and discussion of students’ own experiences as comics readers or media fans
- Overview of course goals, syllabus, and major assignments
- Guided discussion of the week’s readings, focusing on how comics studies defines comics and conceptualizes readers
- Collaborative identification of key terms related to comics form, production, and historical periods
- Case study: teen humor and fashion comics (Katy Keene, Millie the Model, Misty) and reader participation
- Preview of the research methods we will explore beginning in Week 2