Teaching+the+Graphic+Novel

Session Description:
This session will briefly survey the roots of the graphic novel and some of the basic issues inherent in the pairing of image and printed word, before exploring in more depth the formal elements and expressive opportunities of the graphic novel itself; that is, we will look at the graphic novel as an object of analysis and of synthesis, as object of literary critique and as occasion for student creativity. We will discuss issues of concern in choosing a curriculum which incorporates the graphic novel, as well as global and local resources, helpful web-sites and helpful computer programs for those interesting in cartoons, comics and the graphic novel format. In addition we will go through assignments which help highlight some of the formal issues involved in comics and graphic novels. The aim of this course is to provide the interested instructor with a theoretical overview of the form coupled with “hands on,” practical applications for the classroom.

Presenter Bio: Chris Rappleye, St. Louis, MO
Chris Rappleye escaped from regular English classes in the 10th grade to begin drawing editorial cartoons for his High School newspaper; this experience of having a “real audience” for his work eventually led to writing for the same publication, including a regular column, an experience which further reinforced his interest in effective communication, rhetorical form and audience. Fleeing the confines of southern Michigan, he eventually landed in Saint Louis to attend Washington University as a pre-med student; unfortunately he fell in with a shifty crowd of poets and never looked back, completing a dual major in History and Religious Studies: story, rhetoric and the making of meaning continued to fascinate him. He followed this up by attending the Writers’ Program at Washington University--a course of study which included a stint in a printmaking class to in which he continued to pursue an interest in the relationship of image, design and the printed word--receiving his MFAW from that institution. Ironically after trying to escape the confines of the English classroom, he has taught English at MICDS since 1989, and has recently team-taught several mini-term courses in “Image and The Word “with the chair of the Art Department, courses which explore the relationship of the printed word and the image in broadside format and in hand-bound Artists Books, and he will be team teaching a course on the Graphic Novel in the coming year.