Check out this Press Release from NYU. Yeah, it's a month or two old, but still it goes to show that comics are continuing to receive increasing recognition in the mainstream for their artistic and cultural impact on society:
STUDY COMICS AND MEET TOP COMICS CREATORS AT NYU AND MOCCA
New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies will be presenting FOUR FANTASTIC COMICS COURSES this semester.
The courses are:
WRITING COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS
Course # X32.9372
Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH
Tuesday nights 6:20-8:40 p.m., beginning Feb. 15
This course teaches you the basics of story structure, dialogue and characterization as applied to comics. In this limited-enrollment roundtable workshop, students learn by doing and by having their assignments thoughtfully critiqued by the instructor and their classmates. Whether you want to write about mainstream superheroes like Spider-Man and Batman, or you have a personal vision you feel compelled to express, this class can help you get your ideas out on paper in structured, focused form. The goal is to have at least one script written by semester's end. (Top comics pros will appear as guests at several sessions.)
WRITING COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS-ONE WEEK INTENSIVE
Course # X32. 9384
Instructor: DANNY FINGEROTH
Monday through Thursday nights May 9-12 6:20-9:05 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday May 14 & 15, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
A course for the more experienced writer. In four weeknights and two weekend days, students will write a complete comics script. Like the course title says, it will be an intensive experience. Sessions are held in a computer lab so scripts can be written, critiqued and revised on the spot.
INSIDE THE COMICS CREATORS' STUDIO
Course # X02.9211
Alternate Monday nights 6:30-8:30 pm, beginning Feb, 7
Moderator: DANNY FINGEROTH
This bi-weekly Monday night seminar series-held at New York's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA)-features presentations by, and interviews with, prominent comics creators, followed by Q & A with the audience. The series is given as a complete block of six seminars through NYU (see enrollment details at the end of this release). Tickets for individual seminars may be available on the day of each lecture if space is available. Contact MoCCA at 212-254-3511 for details on individual seminar ticket sales.
The lineup for the semester is:
Feb 7: BILL SIENKIEWICZ ( Stray Toasters, Elektra Assassin)
Feb. 21: MICHAEL AVON OEMING (Powers, The Saga of Beta Ray Bill)
March 7: JOE QUESADA (Marvel Editor-in-Chief)
March 21: TOM DeFALCO (Spider-Girl, Thunderstrike)
April 4: PETER DAVID (Incredible Hulk, Star Trek)
April 18: JOEY CAVALIERI (Editor of Flash and Bizarro)
COMICS AS LITERATURE
Course # X02.9288
Wednesday nights 6:20 to 8:00 p.m. beginning March 2
Instructor: PETER SANDERSON
This course deals in literary criticism of both mainstream and alternative comics. This spring's syllabus includes CHRIS CLAREMONT and JOHN BYRNE's "The Dark Phoenix Saga," landmark 1960s underground stories by R. CRUMB, WILL EISNER's "A Life Force," MARJANE SATRAPI's "Persepolis," FRANK MILLER and BILL SIENKIEWICZ's "Elektra: Assassin," ALAN MOORE and DAVID LLOYD's "V for Vendetta," and a volume of NEIL GAIMAN's "Sandman." (To get a sense of the approach the course takes, look at Sanderson's online column, "Comics in Context," at: filmforce.ign.com/comics.html.)
DANNYFINGEROTH, longtime Marvel Comics writer and editor of Spider-Man and many other comics, is editor-in-chief of WRITE NOW magazine, the premier publication about writing comics, and author of SUPERMAN ON THE COUCH: WHAT SUPERHEROES REALLY TELL US ABOUT OURSELVES AND OUR SOCIETY (Continuum).
PETER SANDERSON (B.A., M.A., M.Phil.) is a comics critic and historian. He's the former Marvel Comics archivist and is the comics critic for IGN/FilmForce, graphic novel reviewer for Publishers Weekly, and author of MARVEL UNIVERSE (Harry N. Abrams, Inc.)