Contemporary Fiction Graphic Novel

[YAGoodBadUgly]

I'm looking for a Graphic Novel to use in my Contemporary Fiction class. Any ideas? These are seniors but are reluctant learners age 17-21.

[Thomas Roddy, Jr.]

I think a great Graphic Novel is American Born Chinese. It has wonderful themes about identity and myth. My very reluctant readers loved it.

[YAGoodBadUgly]

I love that one. I think that might be what I go with but i was wondering if there are other gems i'm missing!

[glenda funk]

I teach MAUS and MAUS to seniors and also really like "Pride of Baghdad." You might also take a look at the graphic novel version of "Beowuld."

[Russ Weems]

Look for my reply in the Resistance to Graphic Novels thread that has a pdf attachment of my syllabus of the Introduction to Graphic Literature course that I just started teaching as a full year graphic literature course to seniors. The novels mentioned below are good, particularly Maus and Pride of Baghdad. Persepolis was also well received, as well as Watchmen. Look through it and I will give you some ideas on what worked and didn't work this year.

[Phil Huff]

Here's a couple of 'mainstream' titles to look for.

Batman-The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. On par with The Watchmen, as one of the first great graphic novels. This is a mature disturbing, and thrilling re-working of the Batman Legend. The characters are familiar, especially with the current films, but taken in new directions. Highly Recommended.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore. First of all, if you've seen or heard of the atrocious film version, forget it. It is nothing like the original work. Alan Quatermain, Dr. Jeckyl, Captain Nemo, The Invisible Man, and Mina Murray (recently divorced from her husband Jonathan Harker) are recruited by Campion Bond (James' great grandfather) to serve the British Empire when needed. Victorian-era literary characters make frequent guest appearances, which adds to the fun if you know who they are. Even if reader's don't, this is one of the best adventures ever set to print.

[glenda funk]

A podcast describing recently published graphic novels is available at Read, Write, Think. It's episode 15, Under "Podcasts for Ages 11-18."

http://www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer/podcastsvid...

[Forrest Helvie]

A couple of good suggestions already made (and one or two not yet suggested) are:

Maus
Persepolis
Pride of Baghdad
Watchmen
V for Vendetta

I debated about Marvel Comics' "Civil War" mini series as it makes a great launching point to discuss many current events such as the Patriot Act and other political, hot-bed issues. The one snag to using this is that I COULD foresee a problem with students "entering" into a pre-established world of the Marvel Universe, and if they aren't already familiar with it, there could be some problems with missing some of the finer details of the story.

You might also try splitting the class in half with one group working on the Hinds' rendition of "Beowulf" (which is supposed to be truer to the original text) and the Neil Gaiman edition which is what the movie was based on. You could have the two reading groups present to the class how their text handles each part of the story and the differences might make for some interesting discussion.

Best of luck!

[Russ Weems]

One great activity I found with using Hind's "Beowulf" is to take Seamus Heaney's translation of "Beowulf" and have them sketch the panels from the Hind's rendition of the battle between Beowulf and Grendel, then to find quotes from the text that correspond to the scenes drawn (the battle is presented with no words at all). It really gets them to appreciate how an artist converts words to art, how a picture can truly speak a thousand words. I'm sure it would work with other translations (I think Hind specifies which translation he used to create the book).

In regards to the Marvel issue, I had that concern when I used the books "Marvels" by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, and "Kingdom Come" by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. I each case, I had them do some quick research on major Marvel and DC characters respectively before reading and look for those characters and elements as they read. No, they won't get all of the pre-established universe's nuances, but they will get some, and there are bound to be comic aficionados in the class who would be happy to enlighten others.

[Jeraldine Kraver]

Take a look at the gorgeous _The Rabbi's Cat_ by Joann Sfar.
Also, _The Arrival_ (Shaun Tan) is a curious take on the mode, but it's provocative and really asks students to "create" a narrative.

[Jeraldine Kraver]

Here's a link to a review of Tan's book by Gene Luen Yang (of _Americn Born Chinese_)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Yang-t.html