CLCS 245 Critical Approaches to the Graphic Novel: Justice in the Gutter
This interdisciplinary course will explore the theme of justice through the medium of the graphic novel. Although the battle between 'good' and 'evil' has been a mainstay of comic books for many generations, the emergence of the graphic novel as a recognized and serious artistic and literary medium has also problematized the theme of justice and its many variants, whether environmental, social, sexual, gendered, or racial. This course takes a serious look at how the graphic novel tells stories about justice. It explores the rhetorical, visual and semiotic strategies authors are using to tell those stories, considers critical approaches to the graphic novel as a medium, and studies the reception of graphic novels about justice in comparison with other media.