Art for action! Comics for change! In what ways does art show us the world around us, our history, and who we are? Using comic books and contemporary media from a diversity of cultures, we will explore the ways in which artists and authors tell our personal and social narratives. You will step into the artists’ shoes to create our own artistic cultural and personal stories in comic book form.

1 Credit

Introduction to the art of comics and the methodologies of comic studies. Covers a range of comic texts from the early 1900s to the present. You will be exposed to a spectrum of comic-art forms (the newspaper strip, the comic book, the graphic novel) and a variety of modes and genres. You will also be asked to read several examples of contemporary comics scholarship.

Core Education Arts & Letters (>1)

4 credits

Japanese fashions, games, manga, anime, toys, music, and more have spread worldwide and have created a new form of national superpower. Anime has played an important role in international events like the Olympics; anime fan cons are held around the world and attract tens of thousands of people. What makes Japanese popular culture so fascinating? We will look at how various kinds of people have used Japanese popular culture to form communities, make statements about gender and identity, and to overturn cultural stereotypes. We will analyze how Japanese popular culture both “belongs” to Japan and has become an “international “culture, linking people around the world.

Elective satisfying course, Applies to overall degree

4 credits