From: web-form@Oswego.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 3:12 PM
To: ucc@oswego.edu
Subject: Web Form: Course_Submission

Department_Chair: Cynthia Clabough
Department_Chair_Email: clabough@oswego.edu
Additional_Contact: Philip Heimes
Additional_Contact_Email: philipheimes@mac.com

Course_Number: Art 376
Course_Type: New Course
Course_Title: Graphic Novel

Catalog_Description: This course offers hands-on engagement with graphic literature. Students examine theories of sequential art and work with photography, found visual materials, and basic illustration to develop graphic literature in various genres. The course is taught in a media lab environment that allows students to work on projects in a collaborative manner. 

Prerequisites: None

Fl - every Fall: Yes
Sp_every Spring: Yes
Semester_Hours: 3

Justification: 
Course Rationale: Target student population: Majors in Art, Graphic Design, Studio Art, Art History, Creative Writing, and Cinema and Screen Studies, as well as other students interested in the graphic novel. 

Class size: This will be offered as a lab-based class with nineteen students. Teaches out of CCIT, does not impact Graphic Design facility use.

Elective status: This is a specialty topic that can be pursued as an elective within several majors at the university or as a general elective.

Level: This course is at the 300 level. While no prior art or creative writing courses are required, students will be expected to complete intensive exercises and a culminating project.  

Course_Objectives: 
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
•	Demonstrate proper use of key elements of graphic novels, including panels, panel transitions, icons and symbols.
•	Apply theories of sequential art to the creation and analysis of comics and graphic novels.
•	Create graphic literature within different genres, including memoir, suspense, super hero and historical fiction.

Course_Description: Over the past two decades, the graphic novel has risen to become one of the most popular forms of literature. This course integrates history, theory and practice to help students understand and create comics and graphic short stories, leading to the development of their own graphic novels. The course begins by introducing students to the visual grammar of graphic novels, such as icons, symbols, panel transitions, the picture plane, textual placement, lines and colors.  Students will learn to use the visual grammar of sequential art to develop narratives, character relationships, the passage of time, and expression of mood in their works. Through analysis of key graphic novels and focused exercises, students learn how to develop the form in different genres, including memoir, historical fiction, superhero comics, and web comics. This course complements offerings in Art, Graphic Design, Art History, Creative Writing, Cinema and Screen Studies.
Resources: No additional resources are needed for the course, although further strengthening of the holdings at Penfield would be an ongoing process handled through the standard procedures for placing orders. The University has faculty resources and expertise to offer this course. We have verified with computing resources and the library that we have sufficient resources to offer this course. 

Bibliography: Bendis, Brian Michael and Marc Andreyko. Torso. Berkeley: Image Comics, 2001. 

Gaiman, Neil and Dave McKean. The Wolves in the Walls. New York: Harper Trophy, reprint edition, 2005. 

Gravett, Paul. Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know. New York: Collins Design, 2005.

Hatfield, Charles. Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2005. 
 
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1994.

Moore, Alan and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen. New York: DC Comics, 1995.

Sabin, Roger. Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels: A History Of Comic Art. Londong: Phaidon Press, 2001.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon, 2004.

Spiegelman, Art. Maus. New York: Pantheon, 1993.

Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Porland: Top Shelf Productions, 2003.
 
Vaughan, Brian K. and Niko Henrichon. The Pride of Baghdad. New York: Vertigo, 2006.

Wright, Bradford. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2003.

Varnum, Robin and Christina T. Gibbons, Eds. The Language of Comics: Word and Image. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002.

Other_Comments: 
IP_Adress: 129.3.12.135