Manga, superheroes, underground comix, Donald Duck and webcomics
New humanities class at Seattle Central Community College gets graphic
SEATTLE — Not long ago film was not an accepted academic topic of study. Nor were environmental sciences or women’s studies for that matter.
Today, comics and graphic novels have entered the realm of legitimacy in universities and colleges across the country. Seattle Central Community College will offer a new course, Sequential Art: History and Criticism of Comic Books and Graphic Novels – Humanities 270 – during spring quarter. The class will explore how comics had earned their low reputation and the surprising paths they took toward respect and acceptance.
The five-credit transfer class meets Monday and Wednesday, 1 to 3:30 p.m., April 2 through June 13. To enroll, visit www.seattlecentral.edu.
“The comics coming out these days include some of the greatest work ever done in this medium,” said Dr. Leonard Rifas, comics scholar and HUM 270 instructor. “This class aims to help students to both understand comics as an industry and to appreciate comics as a form of art and literature.”
Dr. Rifas’s extensive qualifications include a career as comic book publisher and cartoonist, and participation as an active member of an international network of comics scholars, with publications in “The Comics Journal”(published by Seattle’s Fantagraphics), “The International Journal of Comic Art,” and other journals, and comics-related presentations at academic conferences. His vita appears in the online Directory of Comics Scholars, http://www.english.ufl.edu/comics/scholars.
He earned both his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Washington School of Communications. His master’s thesis was “The forgotten war comics: the Korean War and American comic books.”
The course will survey superhero comics, funny animals, war comics, underground comix, manga and anime, alternative comics, graphic novels and webcomics. To help students understand the history and ethics of cartooning more deeply, the class will also include cartooning lessons. No previous drawing experience is required.