Category: comics

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Contaminated Blood in EC Comics’ “The Green Thing!”

I have always enjoyed reading EC Comics from the 1950s because William Gaines and the crew didn’t shy away from broaching topics such as antisemitism, racism, sexism, and more. Even in stories that seemingly, on the surface, seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with these issues, they expose these issues, specifically the social constructions of race. They do this in horror stories such … Read More Contaminated Blood in EC Comics’ “The Green Thing!”

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The Cost of War in Rick Remender and Daniel Acuña’s “Escape” #1

I toy with a various different writing assignments in my composition courses, typically crafting assignments based on our readings. Last spring I had students construct zines since we read riot grrrl memoirs. I’ve had students create their own comics, either scripts or full fledged comics. This semester, I am having students write fan letters. Since we are reading some early EC Comics, notably a collection of Weird Fantasy and a … Read More The Cost of War in Rick Remender and Daniel Acuña’s “Escape” #1

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Comics in the Rhetoric and Composition Classroom

Every time I teach an introductory rhetoric and composition course, I struggle with what texts and assignments to do in the class. Last semester, I focused on personal memoirs, having students read Kathleen Hanna, Carrie Brownstein, Salman Rushdie, and oral interviews with individuals in Appalachia. I’ve also do Civil Rights memoirs. This semester, I’m doing comics, specifically having students look at some EC comics from the … Read More Comics in the Rhetoric and Composition Classroom

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“Life’s an exercise in making memories”: Our Sustained Existence

I first read Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s The Many Deaths of Laila Starr back in 2022, and immediately fell in love it with it. I recently picked up it back up and reread it. During this read through, I kept thinking about the ways that death impacts all of us and the ways that memory sustains us, topics I have been looking at fairly often over … Read More “Life’s an exercise in making memories”: Our Sustained Existence

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The Sickly Flavor of the Contagion Beneath Our Feet

Writing about the responses from world leaders to his stabbing in 2022, Salman Rushdie points out that while some expressed their condolences and support others rejoiced in the fact that an assailant attacked him on stage at Chautauqua. Referencing the fatwa that Ruhollah Khomeini issued on him following the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1989, Rushdie points out that once “you are turned into an object of … Read More The Sickly Flavor of the Contagion Beneath Our Feet