Week 12 Comics by Women

This week we are focusing on the contributions of women creators to comics.  The featured reading is a This One Summer by the Tamaki cousins. . There are a number of possible alternate readings including several works that are autobiographical non-fiction. Among the most important of these might be Fun Home, the autobiographical "graphic novel" by strip cartoonist Alison Bechdel which we have considered before.  Also Bechdel's sequel Are You My Mother which is a deeper psychological exploration of the creator's relationship with her Mother.

In class we will look at some of the history of comics written and drawn by women. If you didn't read My Favorite Thing is Monsters last week, it is a good selection for this week as well as are Persepolis and My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Among other works you might find interesting are Julie Doucet's My New York Diary, Diary of a Teenage Girl by Phoebe Gloeckner, and Laurie Sandell's The Imposter's Daughter. If you are interested in women working in somewhat more mainstream comics you might look at Pretty Deadly, Lumberjanes, and Bitch Planet all which show a greater participation in mainstream comics by female writers and artists. 

I will be discussing a number of other works that relate to the history of women in making comics and I hope that you all are able to read some of the excellent work we are considering this week and be prepared to talk about what you read in class.

For a further list of works check the assignment for this week on the Activity Page for this week.