ENG 470: Comics and Graphic Novels
The many links on this page are to specific texts that were taught in ENG 470 during Spring 2008 by Jan Susina, in the English Department at Illinois State University.
Comics and Graphic Novels that were studied in this course include:
- Brian Selznick The Invention of Hugo Cabret website
- Gasoline Alley
- Babymouse! website.
- Tintin Official Tintin site
- Will Eisner's work official site for Will Eisner:
-
Art Spiegelman's Maus. overview on Spiegelman from Read Yourself Raw
- R. Crumb. Official website of R. Crumb
- Chris Ware. Info about Ware and his books on Fantagraphics website
-
Craig Thompson, creator of Blankets. Thompson's website Doot Doot Garden
- Alison Bechdel. Her website is Dykes to Watch Out For: Life in a Box
Scroll down for additional links to these authors and much more.
Good web sites for reference
Scott McCloud's website
Fantagraphic Books website
Acme comic store in Normal, Illinois
Gene Kannenberg's Comic Research website
The Acme Comic store website in Normal
International Journal of Comic Arts website
ImageText: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies (University of Florida)
Gene Yang's Humble Comics website (Yang is the author of American Born Chinese)
Dav Pilkey's Website o' Fun (Pilkey is the author of the Captain Underpants series)
Ivan Brunetti's website
I Brunetti image
Rodolpher Topffer information
A website about Winsor McCay
Lambiek Comiclopedia
The Drawn and Quarterly website
Top Shelf Productions website
Frank King short video on YouTube
Artbomb.net. A site devoted to graphic novels, including reviews.
Alison Bechdel links
Alison Bechdel's website Dykes to Watch Out For: Life in a Box
Video of Bechdel at Rutgers (5 min)
From Bechdel's wikipedia entry: "The strip popularized what is now known as the Bechdel Test, also named the Mo Movie Measure or Bechdel's Law. Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the test. The test appears in a 1985 strip entitled "The Rule", in which a character says that she only watches a movie if it satisfies the following requirements:
- It has to have at least two women in it, who
- Talk to each other about,
- Something besides a man."
Dykes to Watch out for archive on planetout.com 
Biographies for Bechdel's characters, from her blog
Bookslut interview with Bechdel from March 2007
Pine Street Art Works, a gallery representing Bechdel. Here showing large sketches on kraft paper.
Article on Bechdel on Afterellen.com
Austin Kleon's blog notes on talk by Alison Bechdel, nicely detailed, particularly on how she creates her comics. Oct. 2006
Craig Thompson links
Craig Thompson's website Doot Doot Garden
interview with Craig Thompson about Blankets by Bookslut. February 2004
.Craig Thompson on his influences in a blog entry for Boneville.com
From Thompson's blog "The comics narrative part of the CARNET DE VOYAGE.was constructed during a more comfortable part of the day or the next morning. I kept a separate journal to doodle and piece out my thoughts and thumbnail page compositions. Here’s a peek at that:"
an rejected image from Blankets
From Thompson's blog: "Okay. And now since this is supposed to be a visual blog, here’s a sample of the construction of a single HABIBI page.(recently shown at my Wordstock and PNCA talks)
1) the first draft drawn directly in my sketchbook in ballpoint pen. 2) the messy, re-edited / page breakdown version. 3) the penciled page, and some ornamentation I sampled and digitally arranged. 4) the final inked page.
Click on the following images for links to bigger images of preliminary sketches for Blankets
A page from a proposed screenplay of "Blankets"
Portland Life interview with Thompson about Blankets
Thompson talks about his 2007 Grammy award nomination for best record packaging for CD by Menomena
Link to the band Menomena's website, note Thompson graphics
Chris Ware links
YT. Comix:Chris Ware interviewed on French television in 2005. part 1 of 3.
YT. Comix: Chis Ware interviewed on French television in 2005. part 2 of 3
YT. Comix; Chris Ware interviewed on French television in 2005. part 3 of 3.
YT. Chris Ware on graphic novels vs. comics terms. 40 sec.
Images from Jimmy Corrigan on Random House website (a series of 4 images)
Chris Ware gallery on Random House page. with single images of Jimmy Corrigan
Chris Ware The Whitney Prevaricator 2002 From the Tate Modern collection
Transcript of Chris Ware interview on PBS, including thoughts on Tintin Copyright
Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago, one of the galleries representing Ware. Check out b/w early versions and later color versions of work.
Adam Baumgold Gallery in New York. Links to some Chris Ware works. includes link to four New Yorker covers for Thanksgiving 2006.
Chris Ware original art, framed, from David Chila. Many links to Corrigan pages.
Article from Publishers Weekly blog on comics about Chris Ware and the Columbian Exposition
Robert Crumb links
YT. Interview with Robert Crumb. (1 min 39 sec)
YT. 8 1/2 minutes with Robert Crumb.
YT. A Short History of America From Crumb, the 1994 Terry Zwigoff documentary
YT. Ghost World. Clip called "Satanists and Wowville" ( 3 min 17 sec)
Official website of R. Crumb
R. Crumb family website (may have adult themes)
Salon biographical article about R Crumb. By Steve Burgess. May 2, 20000.
Art Spiegelman. Maus. Links.
YT. Art listens to the Vladek tapes
YT. Charlie Rose. 1996. Stanley Crouch is the subsitute host and eventually there's an interview with Spiegelman.
Lambieknet. brief bio on Spiegelman.
Read Yourself Raw. Bio and description of comics of Spiegelman from his site for Raw magazine.
Virginia Quarterly. Comic Spiegelman created for this journal.
Will Eisner
Montilla Pictures: official site for Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Art. Scroll down for trailer.
Link to imdb on Will Eisner documentary
Video interview of Eisner documentary director, Andrew D. Cooke. This is on Huffington Post site.
Interview with Jon B. Cooke on Eisner documentary from The Comics Reporter site.
Overview of Oliver Twist.
Official site for Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist 2005 film
Link to PBS site for 2002 Masterpiece Theater version of Oliver Twist
A Dickens Dinner at Indiana University
Tintin sites
PBS. Tintin and I. part of the POV series.
Official Tintin site. Includes video extract link on front page, biography details, & book material.
Titinophile blog with links.
National Maritime Exhibit website. Tintin at Sea.
YT. Hergé's Adventures. A West End play, based on Tibet book.
YT. Hergé's Adventures. Play. shorter video, quick overview.
YT. Tintin in Tibet. Animated version in English. part 1. about 10 min.
YT. Tintin in Tibet. Cartoon in English. part 2. 10 min. begins with Snowy getting lost.
YT. Tintin in Tibet. Cartoon in English. part 3. "We must save Chang!" 10 min.
YT. Tintin in Tibet. Cartoon in English. part 4. Begins with meeting in monastery. 10 min.
Link to Arefee's YouTube page with many Tintin animated versions in English.
YouTube. Tintin, in Swedish 
(I think)
Good web sites for reference
Scott McCloud's website
Fantagraphic Books website
Gene Kannenberg's Comic Research website
The Acme Comic store website in Normal
International Journal of Comic Arts website
ImageText: Interdisciplinary Comics Studies (University of Florida)
Gene Yang's Humble Comics website (Yang is the author of American Born Chinese)
Dav Pilkey's Website o' Fun (Pilkey is the author of the Captain Underpants series)
Ivan Brunetti's website
I Brunetti image
Rodolpher Topffer information
A website about Winsor McCay
Lambiek Comiclopedia
The Drawn and Quarterly website
Top Shelf Productions website
Frank King short video on YouTube
Artbomb.net. A site devoted to graphic novels, including reviews.
Links to texts from course
Babymouse! website. Interview with Matthew Holm, co-creator of Babymouse
D.C. Comics website
Minx Books website
Brian Selznick The Invention of Hugo Cabret website
Website devoted to the history of Flipbooks. At end of this page is one of Chris Ware's viewers.