Author Archives: teachingcomics
The Graphic Novel - 16 Week Class
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The Graphic Novel ENG 411J - CRN 34984 Spring Semester, 2008 Instructor: Rebecca Gorman Classroom: King Center 314 Continue reading → |
July 26, 2010
in Syllabi, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged assignments, course description, course objectives, graphic novel, Rebecca Gorman
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Comic Book Superheroes
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Developing a Syllabus for a Course on Comic Book Superheroes By Elaine M. Deering Instructor of English, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida For years, I bought our family a stylish coffee table book on Superman or Spiderman or other comic book superhero each year at Christmas time. As I paid for my purchase, I would produce my faculty ID and ask if I could get a teacher’s discount. The cashier would invariably reply that the book would have to be related to a course I was teaching, to which I would confide my desire to develop a literature course on comic book superheroes someday. Sometimes I would get a wink and a discount; if the cashier was a purist, my request would be declined. Continue reading → |
March 13, 2010
in Syllabi, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged comic book, course, Elaine M. Deering, graphic novel, lynn university, superhero
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Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
| Written by M. David Lopez |
| Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud |
Directions: Using your book, notes and in small groups, discuss and arrive at conclusions to these discussion questions.
Chapter 1 – Setting The Record Straight – pp. 2
- What is McCloud’s dilemma regarding comics as the book begins?
- What’s the difference between pictures and comics?
- According to McCloud, why isn’t it easy to define comics?
- To what definition does he eventually arrive?
- List the ancient civilizations that had some form of comics. Continue reading →
February 21, 2009
in Study Guides, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged understanding comics discussion study guide scott mccloud group work literature circle
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How to Draw the Newspaper Adventure Strip
| Written by Charles Flanders |
| Saturday, 07 February 2009 19:13 |
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After attending classes at the Allbright Art School, Charles Flanders (1907-1973) moved to New York, where he was later employed by King Features Syndicate in 1932. There he worked on a number of comic strips by other artists, including Alex Raymond’s Secret Agent X-9, and Bringing Up Father. He adapted Ivanhoe and Treasure Island for Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s New Fun Comics as well as his original strip, Sandra of the Secret Service. He’s best known, though, for his work on Fran Striker’s The Lone Ranger, which he drew from 1939 until 1971.
NACAE is happy to be able to distribute this how-to booklet, entitled How to Draw the Newspaper Adventure Strip, recently rediscovered by the artist’s daughter Shelley Flanders, for classroom use. Charles Flanders created the booklet in the 1960s, with an eye toward young aspiring cartoonists looking for basic instruction in drawing a comic strip start to finish. If you’d like non-educational copies of this booklet or would like to order a spiral-bound hard copy of it, please visitwww.howtodrawcomics.net. Download attachment: How to Draw the Newspaper Adventure
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February 7, 2009
in Handouts, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged Charles Flanders, King Features Syndicate, NACAE, The Lone Ranger
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Crafting a Minicomic
| Written by Mac McCool |
| Creating a hand-made minicomics gives students a taste of self-publishing and an introduction to book-making. This exercise works for students ages 8 through college-level. In this exercise, students create an 8-panel story. With low-tech instruments (e.g. glue, scissors) or high-tech tools (e.g. Photoshop), students layout their panels in the correct orientation and paging sequence before making copies to share with friends and family.Download attachment: Crafting a Mini Comic
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September 21, 2008
in Exercises, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged book-making, Mac McCool, minicomic, self-publishing
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Image, Text, and Story: An exploration of graphic novels
| Written by Rachel Williams |
| Image, Text, and Story: An exploration of graphic novels is an interdisciplinary class designed to help students explore a variety of graphic novels that focus on social issues, personal stories, politics, and war. The graphic novel is a literary form that has grown in popularity over the past thirty years. They provide a compelling juxtaposition of image and narrative.Students will discuss the visual construction and written content in excerpts from a series of graphic novels and cartoons.
Finally, students will construct their own graphic novella. Download attachment: image_text_and_story |
September 21, 2008
in Syllabi, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged image, interdisciplinary class, narrative, Rachel Williams
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Serious Business About Comics
| Written by A. David Lewis |
| In 2006, comic book creator and educator A. David Lewis (THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS) was asked by Fuller Middle School in Framingham, MA to come speak on the graphic novel to a section of their 6th grade (ages 11-12). This fit into the MA educational curriculum framework (their state guidelines) as the exploration of an alternate literary genre as well as the integration of art with text. Having already taken that Spring’s MCAS exam, this interactive discussion on comics and graphic novels was a welcome respite to the students; in advance of the presentation, each class was given time, with some loose instructions, to fashion their own 8-page “graphic novels” on any story of their choosing/devising. Continue reading → |
September 21, 2008
in Lesson Plans, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged 6th grade, A. David Lewis, comic books, graphic novel
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Practicing Text-Image Relationships
| Written by Christian Hill |
| Comics express ideas through both words and images. The comic artist should play with both. That is how you learn to best use these two modes of storytelling.The downloadable exercise handout presents four main relationships and offers images without text so students can learn through practice about combining text and images.
For additional information, consult experts such as Thierry Groensteen, Benoit Peeters, or Scott McCloud. They have come up with other words-image categories. McCloud lists seven (Understanding Comics, 153-155; Making Comics, 131-140). Download attachment: 129_text_image |
September 21, 2008
in Exercises, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged Christian Hill, image, practice, storytelling, text
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Little Orphan Annie: Leapin’ Through the Depression
Materials Needed (adaptable according to activities selected): Access to internet, paper, printer; white-out; fine-tipped black felt-tip pens; access to Xerox machine; game of Monopoly, form of blank check (instructions included in “Suggested Activities”), copies of Little Orphan Annie comics (reproducible from “Printable Items” or from the internet, or from “Recommended Resources.” Additional resources about the 1930′s and Depression era (media, books, magazines, etc) might also be helpful; a visit to your school media center coinciding with “Suggested Activities” could expand possibilities. Continue reading →
September 21, 2008
in Lesson Plans, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged Daddy Warbucks, domestic hero, Great Depression, Harold Gray, literature lesson, suggested activities
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Chester Brown’s Louis Riel
Written by Tom Hart
Chester Brown’s commercial career began in 1986 with Yummy Fur, a series of comic pamphlets featuring his ongoing story, Ed The Happy Clown. Originally begun as a series of unrelated humorous comic pieces, Brown tied these individual strips together and continued it as a single, sprawling scatological adventure narrative involving pigmies and pigmy hunters, vampires, angels, saints, extra-dimensional travel, Frankenstein, and an other-world Ronald Reagan attached to the main character’s genitals. It was a black comedy, an understated monster epic, and vivid probing of a single creator’s subconscious through the perversions of many genres. Ed the Happy Clown which was published as a graphic novel in 1989 and went on to win several awards. Continue reading →
September 21, 2008
in Study Guides, Teaching With Comics, Teachingcomics.org
Tagged autobiographical, black comedy, Boston Tea Party, Canada, Catholicism, controversy, Ed the Happy Clown, Gospels, I Never Liked You, Louis Riel, The Playboy, Underwater
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