Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100; students in the SEEDS program can take ENGL 110, ENGL 111, ENGL 113, or ENGL 114 in place of WRIT 105. Students will study graphic novels and comics, as well as other forms of visual narrative art (including comic strips, illustrated texts, illuminated manuscripts, etc.) as literary forms. They will learn to contextualize graphic novels and comics as part of artistic traditions as well as important entries into popular culture. The course will emphasize the formal qualities of graphic narratives--their use of words and images--to enable students to analyze and interpret these texts. Students will thus look at graphic narratives from formal, social, and cultural perspectives. The reading list may include histories of comic production and reception by Robert Harvey, Charles Hatfield, or Roger Sabin; critical introductions to interpreting visual narrative by Hilary Chute, Scott McCloud, or W.J.T. Mitchell; books or collections by Marjane Satrapi, Harvey Pekar, Alison Bechdel, Art Spiegelman, Aaron MacGruder, Chris Ware, Bryan K. Vaughn, Frank Miller; studies of particular superheroes (Batman, for instance) or comic book producers (DC comics); and/or preceding examples of graphic narrative such as works by Edmund Spenser and William Blake. Satisfies SEEDS Literary and Artistic Analysis student learning outcome in alignment with Educated Citizenry value.