Back to School: "Gender Through Comic Books" at Ball State University

A few days ago, comic writer Mark Waid posted an entry to his blog about a Ball State University course that combines comics with higher eduction (two things I'm interested in) in the form of a new, massive open online course (abbreviated as MOOC, which sounds too much like "mook" for me) titled "Gender Through Comic Books".  This course, which runs from April 2 through May 10, 2013, will be taught online and features open registration - with no enrollment cost.

This already is a pretty tempting offer, but it turns out that Waid and a number of other comic book creators will be involved, through interviews, in this course as well.  Waid mentions the likes of Brian Michael Bendis, Terry Moore, Brian K. Vaughn, Jonathan Hickman, Scott Snyder as well as others.

Here's the official solicitation info from the Ball State course page:

Gender Through Comics: A Super MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) coming Spring 2013 that examines how comic books can be used to explore questions of gender identity, stereotypes, and roles. This highly engaging learning experience is designed for college-age and lifelong learners.

The course, led by Christina Blanch of Ball State University, uses a study of comic books incorporating highly interactive video lectures, online discussions between students, and real-time socially driven interviews. Interviews with the comic industry's biggest names such as Terry Moore, Brian K Vaughan, Mark Waid, as well as others address questions of gender representations and constructions involving both men and women.

Aaaand I'm sold.  I signed up for the course and will be taking it along with, apparently, over a thousand other people.  I'm not sure what the course will involve as far as texts, schedules or grading, but I'm excited to see what it's going to offer.  I've even got a student page at Ball State's webpage!

It's a bit sparse right now.  But I'll personalize it soon and add a link for, I don't know, Franks and Beans or something.

This is an exciting opportunity for anyone who enjoys comics, women's studies or new educational advancements.  The course is taught by Christina Blanch as part, it looks like, of a doctoral program at Ball State, so hopefully this thing gets her a PhD in something or other.  I'll post updates on the blog as the class meets - or, if you'd like, you can take the class with me and hundreds of other friends.  Just go to https://www.canvas.net/courses/gender-through-comic-books and sign up!  It's quick and easy, and it should be an interesting experience.  Kudos to Blanch and Ball State for coordinating this course and offering it to the general public.

Oh, and they got Stan Lee to narrate their YouTube ad.

You are here.

The New York Comic-Con floor plan is now online, and while I knew that Wagon Wheel Comics had been assigned booth 550, now I know exactly where that's going to be.  I'm pretty happy with our location - we're right across from artists' alley, and while it would have been nice to be on the other side of our row, I think we lucked out with where we are.  One thing about the small press section: people tend to see those booths on the way to other booths, so being next to artists' alley is a good thing.

If you go to the interactive version of the map (and don't just look at my screenshot), you can see some of the other creators we'll be stacked up next to.  We've got some talented company to be sure.  Wagon Wheel will be back-to-back with Khary Randolph (Mutant 2099) and Mike Norton (Green Arrow), and just a few blocks away are the incredibly talented David Lloyd and Michael Gaydos!  Gaydos worked on the series Alias with Brian Michael Bendis and David Lloyd is none other than the artist of the Alan Moore-penned V for Vendetta.  Let me reiterate: the artist on V for Vendetta, one of the classic comic stories of all time (it even includes sheet music!) will be just a few feet away from me at the New York Comic Con.

It'll take a little while for that to sink in.  Oh, and these gentlemen are both Brits, which should make Duane Redhead feel right at home.

Pretend it's Friday, then go here.

Brian Michael Bendis, along with being a prolific and popular comic book writer, has also developed a pretty strong Internet following on his website, www.jinxworld.com.  From this site you can go over to his message board, which is teeming with the usual message board stuff - good and bad.  I can't say that I've been an active member of any message board community for years now (I guess they just lost their appeal after a while), but I still manage to head over there once a week for a posting titled "Weird images I found while surfing this week".

I don't know the person who tirelessly scours the Internet(s) every week for the dozens of strange and funny pictures found within this posting, but I want to shake his hand.  He's continued to bring me something to look forward to, week after week, for years now.

There's a lot of comic book related jokes, but there's plenty of stuff there even if you've never read a comic in your life.  Not all of the pictures are as PG-rated as the examples I'm posting here (uploaded of my own right, not hotlinked...which would be a jerk thing to do), so please don't go there with the wrong impression - some of the pictures aren't for everyone (it's mostly language that some might find offensive).  But if you need a laugh every Friday, hop over to that site, click on the "search" function, and type in the aforementioned "Weird images I found while surfing this week".

If your sense of humor is anywhere close to mine, you'll be glad you did.