The course aims to be threefold. We will first consider how comics are written and drawn, and then examine the comic form in detail, focusing on such issues as the difference between realistic and iconic representation, redundancy between frames, and the perception of the comic page as a graphic map. We will then briefly outline the century-long development of comics in three major world hotspots – the USA, French-speaking Europe, and Japan, and finally consider the globalization and transmutation of comics from a primarily graphic and newspaper medium of the nineteenth century to a largely digital participant in transmedia popular culture of the twenty-first century. Students will read several major comics from the past and present centuries over the course of the semester, and will, finally, be involved in creating their own comics throughout the semester, because nothing encourages thinking about comics like creating them.

The course aims to be threefold. We will first consider how comics are written and drawn, and then examine the comic form in detail, focusing on such issues as the difference between realistic and iconic representation, redundancy between frames, and the perception of the comic page as a graphic map. We will then briefly outline the century-long development of comics in three major world hotspots – the USA, French-speaking Europe, and Japan, and finally consider the globalization and transmutation of comics from a primarily graphic and newspaper medium of the nineteenth century to a largely digital participant in transmedia popular culture of the twenty-first century. Students will read several major comics from the past and present centuries over the course of the semester, and will, finally, be involved in creating their own comics throughout the semester, because nothing encourages thinking about comics like creating them.