You're gonna teach what?

Well, I talked about it enough, so I guess I'd better do it. For awhile now I've been thinking about teaching a class on the graphic novel. I think it would be good for me to think about novels in a different way. Mainly I'm a word person; images mean little to nothing to me. The only things I really "see" in my head are sentences and phrases; sometimes I diagram them while I'm thinking or saying them (don't tell anybody). This class idea comes from, I suppose, knowing smart (really smart) people like Carlen Donovan who really like graphic novels and people like Anthony Ford who has created Laura Jones, Suck On This. My background with the graphic novel is scant, at best. So, I'll need some help with a reading list. I'll include Persepolis and if I can decide whether or not J. Lethem's graphic stuff is comic book, I'll include one of his.

Speaking of comic books, Clark, I'm thinking this endeavor takes me onto a slippery slope. How far away from the "real thing" (print only "literature" -- keep the pictures out of it) are we moving when we teach a course on the graphic novel? Am I gonna be sitting in a room with a bunch of 19 year old dudes in Superman t shirts and Spiderman costumes? Maybe I should just stay a stuffy old English teacher.

D not only wants me to teach the course, he wants me to do a curriculum action to get the graphic novel as a distinct course, not just a version of the current novel course. He says it would appeal to a different population. I can only imagine what that population is.

So, if you have any suggestions for graphic novels/comic books (cause that's what they really are, right?) and/or criticism, let me know. I'm swimming in some murky waters here.

Happy Monday