Discourse Chronicle

Look at this list of award-winning graphic novels. Especially if you want to understand another item in the news, like Kosovo peeling itself away from Serbia (graphic journalist Joe Sacco‘s Balkan War novels shed ink and insight on the region. To understand what’s popping off in Palestine, check out Sacco’s book of the not-quite-a-recognized-country‘s same name.) And how else would a layman understand the 9/11 Commission’s report? –Kell Dailey

[Here at BGSU, freshman students are required to take two composition courses, Eng 111: Introduction to Composition and then Eng 112: Varieties of Writing. I am currently teaching Eng 112 and students gain exposure to reading academic articles while learning to argue in writing, but they often complain that articles are not entertaining enough. I wonder if students might be more interested in composition and English as a subject if a textbook presented material in graphic novel format like Scott McCloud‘s Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics. BK]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

There’s no debating the logic of donating the comics. They’ll be far safer in the high-security, fireproof library. And besides, I keep telling John, books are meant to be read, not sit in our basement. People will be able to study John’s books in the Andersen reading room, as long as they leave their packs outside, use only a pencil or a computer to take notes, and wear white cotton gloves while handling them. That’s a far cry from the days when my son read his copies in the bathtub. –Judith Yates Borger

[I also consider having my collection donated to a university library when its time comes, but I imagine that will span more than one and a half five-shelf bookcases then. I believe a great retirement plan for me in the future is owning and running a comics shop after spending most of my life as a college English professor. I am currently 27. BK]

category: Comics, Popular Culture    

[I found this webcomic hilarious because I know Elizabeth’s research is on cookbooks and cooking. However, I imagine from a feminist perspective, many things are going wrong in these three panels. BK]

category: Comics, Humor, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

Initially, I was skeptical about a comic strip deploring online file sharing. But the 18-page story does what the NCSC set out to do: explain the court system in an interesting way. I guarantee you I wouldn’t have been able to read a black and white document on this stuff but I whizzed through it in its graphic novel format. -Miyoko Ohtake

category: Comics, Pedagogy, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

Things aren’t looking super-duper for the next Superman movie, after Warner Bros. announced Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris – the writers from Superman Returns – don’t want to pen the follow-up.

[…]

However, Singer’s future has now come into question too because of his long-running collaboration with the Dougherty and Harris – stretching back to 2003’s X2 – although this has been denied by the studio. Warner also unveiled that Brandon Routh is donning the iconic red Lycra underpants again, as expected. -Orlando Parfitt

[New writers may benefit Warner’s investment in its Superman franchise on the big screen, which works with many other successful franchises such as James Bond, but not so much with others like Star Wars. BK]

category: Comics, Popular Culture    

So why the sexism charge? Well, originally the book was solicited with the 1967 cover to “The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl” on the front, a standard shot of Batgirl running toward the reader with the Dynamic Duo reacting in the background. But when the book arrived, another cover had been selected – the first page of “Batgirl’s Costumed Cut-Ups” (“Detective” No. 371, 1967), where Batgirl is depicted as being more concerned with her lipstick than fighting crime. –Andrew A. Smith

[Smith points out that the chosen cover image is slightly misleading since “Cut-Ups” shows Barbara Gordon / Batgirl overcoming doubts about being both a woman and a crime-fighting superhero. However, fans reactions are divided by gender, with men saying “What’s the problem?” and women saying “If you don’t see the problem, that is the problem.” BK]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

[Hilarious re-enactments of great movies like Superman, Spider-Man 1 and 2, James Bond, and Star Wars along with others! From Monty Ernst. BK]

category: Comics, Humor, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

Entertainment Weekly is giving the world a sneak peek at Stephen Colbert’s new comic book series, entitled Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen. The five-issue series features art by Scott Chantler, of Northwest Passage fame, and follows the intergalactic adventures of Jansen, the hero of a sci-fi novel that Colbert’s Comedy Central host character claims to have written. The title is a nod to William Shatner’s TekWar series. -Megan Grittani-Livingston

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics, Television    

Comic-book writer, Gerry Conway, responsible for the death of Gwen Stacey (Spiderman) and rape of Cinder (Cinder and Ashe) says, “Male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art.” Samarjit Choudhry, VP Gotham Comics (India) disagrees, “Superheroines are killed as often as the superheroes.” -Himank Sharma

[Sharma claims a lack of female readership among comics due to preferences for “humorous, light hearted comics” over “high-action, superhero-versus-the baddie-in-mid-air drama.” I disagree with Sharma’s apparently black-and-white assessment on why women read fewer comics. The description given for superhero comics is also true for manga and an increasing number of women are attracted to that format. BK]

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics    

In the issue that came out on March 7th of this year, Captain America was shot by an assassin’s bullet. This outraged many fans of Marvel’s oldest superhero. It also made many fans realize the political connotations of the storyline that led up to one of their favorite hero’s deaths.

The current storyline for Marvel Comics centers around the Superhero Registration Act. The goal of the act is to have all of the superheroes officially register with the government, and to reveal their secret identities. -L. Vincent Poupard

category: Comics, Popular Culture, Rhetoric and Poetics