Our Creating Comics Syllabus

Leigh Ann Beavers and I taught our hybrid studio-arts/creative-writing course for the fifth time this spring. We were three years out of practice, but we already wrote a book on the course, which our former selves mapped out meticulously. I’m also comics editor of Shenandoah magazine, so our reservoir of online comics keeps getting deeper. I updated all of the reading assignments and my presentations, which mostly just reinforce what’s in the textbook. I literally never lecture in any of my other classes, so it’s a weird change of pace. So are the four-hour blocks four days week, especially the second two weeks of individual studio time. It’s nothing like teaching a discussion-based literature course. I just got back student evaluations, so here’s a self-congratulatory selection of cherry-picked compliments: “I love the tailored feedback and it really shows how much effort and interest the professor has for his students.” “Chris was so kind and helpful, always being supportive.” “The…