Czech

Not applicable.

Students acquire basic knowledge about the development of comics from the first comic strips in humorous magazines to contemporary graphic novels. They will be able to recognize significant realizations, understand the context and links between sequential stories, animated film, literature, and visual arts.

Students should have general knowledge of visual arts history.

Not applicable.

Lectures accompanied by projections of digitized comics, examples of original prints (newspapers, albums, books etc.) and reading key passages from important theoretical and critical texts.

Exam - written test.

1. Cartoon, illustration and narration
19th century readers, spectators and graphic arts. George Cruikshank: Comic Almanacs. Rodolphe Töppfer: La littérature en estampes. Wilhelm Busch: Bilderbogen. Problems of searching for "comics predecessors". Visual humor and satire in albums and illustrated magazines. E. H. Gombrich: Cartoon Experiment.

2. Yellow journalism
W. R. Hearst vs. Joseph Pulitzer. Humorous newspapers, advertising and comic strip at the end of the 19th century. Phonographic paradigm. Phonography (shorthand), phonographs and speech balloons. R. F. Outcault. Rudolph Dirks. F. B. Opper. Bud Fischer.

3. Nightmares and day dreams
American comics from the 20's and 30's. Winsor McCay. George Herriman. Lyonel Feininger. Comics as a model of film animations.

4. From the newspaper strip to the album
Collection of newspaper strips. Funnies on Parade. European comic books. Georges Remi (Hergé): The Adventures of Tintin.

5. Seduction of innocents
Superheroes, detective and horror comics of the 40's and 50's. Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster: Superman. Bob Cane: Batman. Superhuman and non-human characters in modern mythology. Critical responses in the American press. Comics Code: establishment of censorship in USA. The practice of censorship in Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc.

6. The Silver Age of Comic Books (American comics of the 1960s)
Marvel Comics: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko. Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Amazing Spider-Man. X-Men. Consequences of censorship.

7. Comix
Parody and paraphrase of newspaper strips. Tijuana Bibles. American Comic Underground of the 1960s and 1970s. MAD. Harvey Kurtzman, Basil Wolverton. Robert Crumb.

8. Manga
Narrative images in Japan. Japanese Modernists: Rakuten Kitazawa, Saseo Ono. Japanese comics after 1945. Mangaka Osama Tezuka. Entertainment industry of the 1980s. Katsuhiro Otomo: Akira. Reflections of Japanese Popular Culture: Takeshi Murakami and Superflat.

9. Semiotics and System of Comics
Will Eisner. Comics and Sequential Art. Film metaphors in Comics theory. Umberto Eco: Apocalypse Postponed. Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics. Thierry Groensteen: The System of Comics.

10. Graphic novels
From narrative picture series to "graphic novels". W. Hogarth: Harlot's Progress. Rodolphe Töpffer: Histoire de M. Vieux Bois. Frans Masereel: Mon livre d'heures.
Will Eisner. Art Spiegelman. Osamu Tezuka. David B. Frank Miller. Alan Moore.

11. Comics in Czechoslovakia
Cartoons and pictorial stories. Kája Saudek. Vlastislav Toman. Václav Šorel, František Kobík: Vzpoura mozků (The rebellion of Brains).

12. Unpopular culture
Comics albums and books in the 1990s. L'Association, Small Press, La Nouvelle Bande Dessinée. Fantagraphics. Chris Ware: Acme Novelty Library. Comics without recitatives and dialogues. Jean Giraud (Moebius). Jim Wodring: The Frank Book.

13. Infinite Canvas
Online comics. Realization, publishing and distribution of digital formats. Scott McCloud: Reinventing Comics.

Not applicable.

The aim of theseries of lectures is to acquaint students with the history and the contemporary form of sequential narratives – comic strips, albums or graphic novels.

Lectures are optional.

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