Short analysis essay

Write a short essay, of about three pages, that constitutes a critical analysis of one or two full pages from one graphic novel. Essays shorter than two and a half pages or longer than five pages may be returned unread.

You must choose to write on any one of the following: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Ghost World, Maus I, or Maus II. You must choose any one page from the text of your choice. If you want, you may choose two consecutive pages (especially two facing pages).

Your goal in this essay is to analyse some of the features that are particular to the comic book / graphic novel medium. Some aspects your essay can focus on include: story, panels, tiers, borders, gutters, colours, drawing styles, speech balloons, narration, onomatopoeia, symbols/icons, character posture, visual perspective, the graphical representation of time and/or action, closure, and encapsulation. Your essay will probably treat more than one of these.

You are writing a critical analysis, not a review or a personal response. Your essay is expected to be argumentative: it should have a singular thesis and the whole essay will support the thesis. A common way to construct a thesis for this assignment would be to identify the main feature or features on the page(s) that contribute to the development of the story and/or characters, explaining how this is accomplished.

As with most English Studies essays, value will be awarded based on the depth of the analysis, the complexity of the discussion, the solidity of the writing, and the thoroughness of the support to the thesis.

I recommend you stay away from other sources for this essay, though you may choose to use other sources if you feel you need to. As always, plagiarism will not be tolerated. Document all sources (of ideas and of quotations), including all web sources (whether an author is identifiable or not).

Essays should conform to MLA guidelines. Essays should have double-spaced lineation. Printed essays should use a 12-point, serif font and should not have a justified right margin. Please use one-inch margins on all sides. Please do not submit the essay in a binder or folder. I am not fond of title pages. Essays must be accompanied by the Essay Submission Checklist.

Essays may be handed in at any time, but no later than the start of class on which we begin studying the text you have chosen to write about. If your essay is late, you must choose to write on a different text.