PROJECT ONE ✪ t h e a s s i g n m e n t

Comics creator Alison Bechdel has remarked that “[w]hat [she] loved about cartooning was . . . that the space between the image and the words was a powerful thing, if you could figure out how to work with it.” We’ve examined that space in our class discussions, observing how the ambiguous interplay the verbal and the visual gives rise to trenchant cultural commentary in the work of Bechdel, Clowes, and Spiegelman.

For this project, you’ll analyze the meaning created in this “space between” in a comics text of your choosing: What cultural commentary does the text perform via the interaction between its verbal and visual dimensions?

✪ f o r m a t , d u e d a t e s , e t c . • Your essay should make an original and thought-provoking argument based on your

analysis of specific panels and pages from your chosen text. It should be 1000–1250 words long

• The words you analyze should be quoted; the images you analyze should be described carefully and/or incorporated into your own text. But please remember that the words and images will not, by themselves, support your argument: you’ll need to analyze them in detail to show how they sustain your interpretation.

• You’ll start your essay in class on Tuesday, October 9.

• A complete first draft of your essay is due on Google Docs by the start of class on Thursday, October 11, to share this draft with your classmates.

• A revised draft is due on Google Docs by the start of class on Tuesday, October 16. I’ll comment on this one.

• Your final draft is due on Google Docs by noon on Thursday, November 22.

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