Today I'm teaching the first Fall 2020 History of Comics class at New Hampshire Institute of Art and Design at New England College. The textbooks are these great old out of print books: The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics and A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics.
The class is more than 20 kids, which is great. And we cover everything from cave paintings to editorial cartoons to newspaper comics to comic books to manga to graphic novels. A lot of stuff!!!! I created the course and taught it last year. It was great to be asked back and do it again.
Course description:
Within the historic context of American culture, students will study the evolution of the picture narrative. The focus will be on knowledge and active application of visual comic art forms: comic panels, editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels. This course will survey the rise of popular form, and its influences, i.e: Ben Franklin's editorial drawings, Thomas Nast's Teapot Dome editorial cartoons, the standard "work for hire" comic book contracts that left creators uncompensated, the Superman/Captain Marvel court case, the HUAC investigation into the comic book's role in inciting juvenile delinquency, the rise of the underground comic revolution, and the graphic novel explosion. Industry professionals will visit the class to discuss their creative journeys and their cartooning careers.
Related:
I'm also teaching The History of Political Cartoons
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1 comment:
I have both of those books. I used to read the newspaper collection when I was a kid at my grandad's. He gave me the comic books collection also. The newspaper book gave me Roy Crane. The Wash Tubbs whaling story is fantastic. I was happy to see that released in its own volume recently. The comic collection was my introduction to Harvey Kurtzman. Not too shabby.
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