The Graphic Novel and the Postmodern City

From dystopian visions of isolation and alienation to utopian illustrations of soaring towers and integrated communities, comics and graphic novels since the 1970s have represented a range of cityscapes and ways of living in them. Our efforts will focus on understanding how comics work as a cultural form distinct from others and how various artists and writers have imagined urban space in relatively recent U.S. cultural history. Some texts might include: Daniel Clowes, Ghost World; Alan Moore and David Lloyd, V for Vendetta; Chris Ware, Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth, and G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphono, Ms. Marvel.