Topics

Readings (for following class)

1/10

Intro to course; comics as literature

1/12

Early history/prehistory; comic strips, collections, penny dreadfuls, dime novels, early pulps

Wright, Chapter 1

Week 2

1/17

The Platinum Age, Yellow Kid, earliest comic books

1/19

1930s history; depression years; rise of the pulps

McCloud, Understanding Comics

Week 3

1/24

Big Little Books, earliest comic books, early historical figures, quasi-superheroes and costumed adventurers

Course packet 1, 2, 3

1/26

Understanding Comics -- Rhetoric of the comic book; the medium, vocabulary, grammar, defining terms

 Course packet 4, 5

Week 4

1/31

1938 -- Superman: History, origins, mythos

Course packet 6, 7, 8

2/2

Superman's imitators and competitors; Superman as a cultural icon, the psychology of dual identities; hero narratives and superheroes

Week 5

2/7

1939-1941 -- The New York World's Fair, pre-WWII; Timely Comics, Captain America, the Batman

Wright, Chapter 2
 

2/9

MIDTERM EXAM #1

Week 6

2/14

Batman as a cultural icon; Wonder Woman as proto-feminist; images of women in the comics

Course packet 9

2/16

WWII -- the "Golden Age"; comics as propaganda

Week 7

2/21

 Wright, Chapter 3

2/23

The early post-war period

Wright, Chapter 4

Week 8

2/28

The Cold War, the Red Scare, and the emergence of new genres

Wright, Chapter 5
Course packet 10, 11

3/2

EC Comics

Wright, Chapter 6
Course packet 12-15

Week 9

3/7

Seduction of the Innocent, the Kefauver hearings, and the Comics Code

Wright, Chapter 7 (180-201)
Course packet 16-18

3/9

The 1950’s and the dawn of the Silver Age; monsters, flying saucers, superheroes ascendant

Course packet 19-23

Week 10

 SPRING BREAK

Week 11

3/21

Disney, Dell, Ducks, and cultural imperialism

Wright, Chapter 7 (201-225)
Course packet 24

3/23

CLASS CANCELLED
(CONFERENCE)

Week 12

3/28

MIDTERM EXAM #2

3/30

The Marvel Age of Comics

Wright, Chapter 8

Week 13

4/4

The 60’s and 70's – Vietnam, civil rights, and feminism

 Course packet 25- 27

4/6

Underground Comix

Wright, Chapter 9

Week 14

4/11

The early 1980’s – independents, X-Men, and direct marketing

 Moore, Watchmen

4/13

Alan Moore and The Watchmen; The Dark Knight Returns

Waid, Kingdom Come

Week 15

4/18

Course packet 28

4/20

Week 16

4/25

Creators’ rights, Jack Kirby, and Image Comics 
Research Paper Due

Course packet 29

4/27

 Wright, “Spider-Man at Ground Zero” (287-293)