Prerequisite: ENGL 102, or concurrent enrollment inENGL 102, required. Analysis of the comic book interms of its unique poetics (interplay of word andimage); themes suggested in various works; historyand development of the form and its subgenres,expectations of readers. Also explores the influence ofhistory, culture, and economics on comic book artistsand writers, definitions of ?literature," how these applyto comic books, and the resulting tensions.