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SS-216GP Cartoon Politics: The History of Comics

3 Credits

This course will examine the origins, development, and history of comics art and media in world-historical perspective. Students will investigate the emergence of graphic narrative from prehistorical pictorial art to direct antecedents to sequential cartoons, as well as the theoretical foundations of the study of comics as art, as literature, and as objects of rigorous historical analysis and study. The course will consider questions of comparative global traditions and trends in comics production, consumption, narrative and formal conventions, and the significance of comics media in world politics, culture, and society. Beyond the stated emphasis on the comics medium, this course will also examine matters of intermediality and adaptation, particularly the relationship between cartoons, comics, and animated motion pictures, as well as the emergence of multimedia franchises. Lastly, this class will address contemporary developments and trends in comics production, consumption, distribution, and fan cultures, with particular emphasis on continuities of comics titles and characters in digital and new media.