Order 1121077: Creating a poetic of the Graphic Novels and juxtapose its characteristics to those of a comic book

Comic Books & Graphic Novels Dr. Kenneth Sammond

Summer 2018 [email protected] or [email protected]

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Paper

Final Draft (3 pages [no more, no less] + a Works Cited page) Due: 8/7/18 (via email)

Save the paper in the following format: “lastname.GNpaper” – e.g. my paper would be saved

as “Sammond.GNpaper2.” If you use “Pages,” please save as your file as a rich format text

(*.rtf)

You can include images/panels from works read this semester and attach them to the end of

your paper.

Assignment

Some twenty-three hundred years ago, the philosopher and teacher Aristotle lectured on the

topic of “poetics,” which have formed much of the basis from which we have come to

understand what literature, drama and performance are—that is, he defines their forms and

their function. The term “poetics” comes from the Greek word  or “poieō,” which

means “to make” or “create.” Thus, a poetics has to do with how something is created or

crafted and recognizing its characteristics.

In his discussion of poetics, Aristotle defines the characteristics of tragedies and epics. In

order to do so effectively, he refers especially to works by Sophocles (tragedy) and Homer

(epic), describing the actions, the characters, the types of plot (for example, tragedy treats

characters of a higher sort as opposed to comedy, which treats baser characters; think of

Oskar Schindler as tragedy and Peter Griffin [from Family Guy] as comedy). He also

considers the ways stories are told (for example, the uses of rhythm and meter). His poetics

would have defined and discussed comedy; however, that part of the manuscript has been

lost.

Nonetheless, Aristotle had not read a graphic novel; indeed, that term only had its first use

when Richard Kyle used it in November 1964 in a fanzine, CAPA-ALPHA, devoted to

people were in what has come to be called, somewhat awkwardly, the sequential art industry

(which covers comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, etc.). Therefore, Aristotle had no

points of reference and no way of describing the characteristics of GNs. Therefore, this task

of describing a poetics of the GN has now fallen to you.

So, using the materials we have read this semester, for this paper, I need you to create a

poetics of the Graphic Novel and juxtapose its characteristics to those of a comic book (we

will do what Aristotle had done, when he juxtaposed tragedy and comedy, as well as tragedy

and epic). Comics and graphic novels may have some shared characteristics; however, there

should be some characteristics that distinguish the graphic novel from the comic book (other

than the fancy binding in the former!). You might use McGrath to help you out.

Focus on three characteristics (you have to define these characteristics clearly and

concretely—this means not only telling, but showing) and reveal how they are used in one or

two of the works that we have read (you may indeed claim that one of the works assigned is a

GN, while the other is a comic book), arguing that the work you are examining is indeed a

graphic novel and not merely a comic book (it just looks like one..!). Discuss the relevance

of these characteristics and how they are central to our understanding of what a graphic novel

is and should be.

Comic Books & Graphic Novels Dr. Kenneth Sammond

Summer 2018 [email protected] or [email protected]

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Here are some key guidelines:

 Use Times New Roman 12 pt, Double Spaced

 Use correct Spelling and Grammar

 MLA Format must be followed correctly or it will cost you a FULL grade (proper format and citation information can found here: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. If

the author is mentioned in the context of your paper, only cite the page of the work,

otherwise cite author and page number. If there is no page number (as in the case of

McGrath), do not put one there. Here are two examples:

o In the beginning of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, Saladin Chamcha, an uptight buffoon, is possessed as he plunges from an exploded airline: “what had taken

him over was the will to live, unadulterated, irresistible, pure” (9). According to

Rushdie, the…

o It is quite disturbing to see a man falling from an exploded plane, even more so when he is possessed, for “what had taken [the man] over was the will to live,

unadulterated, irresistible, pure” (Rushdie 9). This possession of Saladin Chamcha…

 Here’s how you do it for a graphic novel, in a case where you might have to cite a particular page and panel. In that case, you cite the page, followed by the panel

number…you put them in parentheses. Here’s an example:

o In Spiegelman’s Maus, Vladek states that he was handsome when in his twenties, pointing out that “People always told me I looked like Rudolph Valentino” (13/5)

o

Here is how you cite a Graphic narrative

Picoult, Jodi and Dustin Weaver. The Tenth Circle. Washington Square, 2006.

Moore, Alan and David Lloyd. V for Vendetta. Vertigo-DC, 2008.

Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Top Shelf, 2005.