Comics and Graphic Novels Event

by Maria Bruno

As part of Michigan State University’s Arts and Culture Marathon last April (2008), the American Studies Program hosted a celebration of comics and graphic novels. The event included exhibit tables with local artists and panels on teaching, analyzing, and producing comics. In addition to the presenters and exhibiters, over 100 people attended.

The keynote speaker for the event was Phoebe Gloeckner, best known for her semi-autobiographical 2002 illustrated novel, The Diary of a Teenage Girl, which describes the often traumatic, unsupervised life of an adolescent growing up in San Francisco during the 1970s. Gloeckner, who currently teaches art at the University of Michigan, has a career spanning 25 years that has often stirred controversy.

Throughout the day the event offered panels as well as hands-on workshops in the Writing Center for participants who were eager to learn about graphic design, comic software, and iMovies. The Scholars Panel featured academic discussions which centered on more analytical and interpretive approaches to comics and graphic novels. The Teachers Panel focused on developing curricula that include comics and graphic novels in the high school and college classrooms. The Artists Panel featured graphic novelists from the greater Lansing community who discussed and signed their work. In the hallway, several mid-Michigan artists set up tables and displayed their work and enthusiastically encouraged the event’s aspiring comic illustrators and graphic novelists who ranged in age from middle school to college.

This event was organized by the American Studies Program, with the support of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, the Professional Writing Program, the Rhetoric and Writing Program and the Writing Center.