1. Image credit: Victor GAD Marija Dalbello Comics Rutgers School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~dalbello

2. Comics _______________________________________ History Comic book culture Visual language of comics (Comic literacy) Artists / Publishers / Readers Taxonomies

3. Comic Book History _______________________________________ turn of the century (pictorial storytelling) 1940s superhero comics 1960s adult comics 1980s slump 1990s revival; alternative comics (Vertigo); graphic novel boom Comic Book Code (Fredric Wertham’s The Seduction of the Innocent (NY: Random, 1954)

4. Artists / Writers • _______________________________________ • Harvey Pekar (writer: American Splendor)(http://www.harveypekar.com) • Chris Ware (innovative visual language) (http://orion.it.luc.edu/~dcihla/ware.htm) • Robert Crumb (http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/crumb/crumb.html) • Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons (Watchmen-cinematic effects) (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3840/watchmen.html) • Neil Gaiman (Death, The Cost of Living, Sandman - horror, supernatural) (http://www.neilgaiman.com) • Art Spiegelman (Mauss - Pulitzer prize) (http://www.iath.virginia.edu/holocaust/spiegelman.html) • DC comics, Vertigo, Marvel, minicomics (Samizdat editions)

5. Artists / Writers _______________________________________

6. Readers • _______________________________________ • Comicon • published letters (interaction bw readers and with the writers) • close relationship with production (readers as participants and producers in the culture) • extensive reading • mainstream vs. alternative audience

7. Taxonomies • _______________________________________ • manga (anime) • superhero comics (young adult, adult) • alternative comics (adult) • genres: action, horror, supernatural, SF