Mar 28, 2024  
Academic Catalog 2022-2023 
    
Academic Catalog 2022-2023 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

LALW415 Creating a Comic Book 3cr


In this course, you will be both students and
creators of the graphic novel form. We will begin
by familiarizing ourselves with the history of
“sequential art,” from comic strips to superhero
comics, from comics to graphic novels. After
establishing this larger historical context,
though, most of our time will be spent on
exploring the possibilities of the form. To do
this, we will seek out and study cartoonists who
have experimented with comics and graphic novels.
Through a series of weekly in-class and
extracurricular sketching and writing
assignments, you will also experiment with the
form. Ultimately, you will draft, revise, and
complete a polished, substantial graphic
narrative that tells a story of your choosing;
and a preface that contextualizes your narrative
within the class’s readings and your personalized
research.

This is a Summative Elective Liberal Arts class,
meant to represent the culmination of three to
four years of integrating liberal arts and studio
classes at MassArt. The assignments in this class
embody this synthesis. As you write and re-write
your comic, you will draw on analyses of other
graphic novels, research tailored to your story,
and feedback from your peers and me. This course
is especially suitable for students who have
studied graphic novels in other settings but is
open to all who are intrigued by the endless ways
to tell stories through comics.

Prerequisites: Take 15 credits from Lib. Arts

Seminar

Spring