ENG 2610 - Spring 2026 - Peebles

This course explores how graphic novels are a medium for engaging with urgent sociopolitical, cultural, historical, and environmental issues. In addition to the aesthetics, we will examine the themes and the development of the genre of the Graphic Novel from popular culture to high-literary genre. Students are invited to analyze the visual narratives combined with the texts, imagery, and design to deepen their understanding of human resilience, the complexities of history, and ecological crisis. To this end this course will look at a wide variety of graphic novels from memoirs such as Persepolis and It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, to journalistic endeavors, to superhero comics and Japanese Manga. Drawing insights from historical inquiry, environmental studies, and through literary analysis, this course critically examines how graphic novels interrogate traditional narratives, amplify marginalized voices, make the public aware, and inspire action.