I know there are a few Sandman one-shots out there ... but thoughts on which might be best to teach?

Thanks!

Oooo, cool. What level? You could go all literary and Shakespearean with the Mid-summer's night dream one, obviously. You could go all Greek mythology with "Brief Lives." Or you could go for just plain fabulousness that includes multiple mythologies and pick the best -- "The Kindly Ones." Or if you want something slightly different, you can go both philosophical on the nature of love and the virtues of vengence combined with Buddhist beliefs with the incredibly beautiful "Dream Hunters." That one is simply amazing.

just some thoughts, thought in a hurry...

Can you give us more information on your class?

I wish I got to teach Sandman to my kids. Unfortunately, I'm currently teaching elementary school kids, and their parents probably wouldn't approve.

quote:

Originally posted by bitey:
Can you give us more information on your class?

Right. I was just wondering if you teach literature, or maybe you teach art, or maybe there's something else that you teach

i'd say the World's End offers the best opportunites to look at structure and themes and so on, but the strongest individual stories are in Fables and reflections.

Awesome.

It's a senior level college course--on text and image. We'll be starting with some children's lit, then looking at illustrated novels (Alice in Wonderland, I think), and then some photographic essays--and then the bulk of the course will be spent on comic books/graphic novels. I plan on teaching Watchmen and some of the earlysih Spiderman. Etc. etc.

I definitely want some Sandman in there, though. So basically, a one-shot that really showcases the relationship between text and image? I was thinking the Midsummer Night's Dream one, too ... but a friend of mine taught that for one her classes last year and I thought it might be nice to try something different ...

Thanks so much!!!!!!

I would also consider City of Glass by Paul Auster.

But as for Sandman...I think World's End would be a good one, since each story is told in a different way.

If you're going for a single issue rather than a whole collection, I think your best bets would be "Ramadan" which uses every graphic element to further the story (lettering, the word balloons, the design of the panels, the art itself), or "The Sound of Her Wings" which isn't as graphically intertwined with the story, but which has a lot of bird imagery, and is a better place to introduce people to the Sandman story arc in general.

"Exiles" is possibly my favorite single issue of the series, it's included in the "Wake" graphic novel, and much like Ramadan, the graphic elements support the story. This one would give you the opportunity to talk about the "dark" Dream (filled with experience, colored in) and the "light" Dream (aka Daniel, pale and sort of a blank slate). Of course, I don't think you should do that, because it ruins the story line for people that haven't actually read it all the way through. And the two Dreams don't make much sense or really matter if you're not familiar with the character.

quote:

Originally posted by me, of course:
Awesome.

It's a senior level college course--on text and image. We'll be starting with some children's lit, then looking at illustrated novels (Alice in Wonderland, I think), and then some photographic essays--and then the bulk of the course will be spent on comic books/graphic novels. I plan on teaching Watchmen and some of the earlysih Spiderman. Etc. etc.

I definitely want some Sandman in there, though. So basically, a one-shot that really showcases the relationship between text and image? I was thinking the Midsummer Night's Dream one, too ... but a friend of mine taught that for one her classes last year and I thought it might be nice to try something different ...

Thanks so much!!!!!!

Where do I sign up?

quote:

Originally posted by Weeble:
Where do I sign up?

And thanks everyone. I'm going to start rereading Fables and Reflections ... with a special eye out for "Ramadan" ... and then go on from there. I really do have to keep pinching myself that this is my job.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: me, of course,

the other thing that it seems good to mention here is that if you wanted to look at two or 3 related stories, in fables and reflections there are two different linked sets.

The distant mirrors quadrology, all concerning historical events and with titles of months, and the convergence trilogy, where the storyteller becomes part of the story.

I wrote about those heavily on my BA!

i would definitely agree with Exiles for the pure poetry of the imagery and the text in unison, and to some degree also ramadan in this respect. In terms of interesting examples of image and text, the dream sequences in Into the Night in the Doll's house tpb is excellent in its use of different approaches to both text and image with individual characters to exentuate their personalities and the dream-like feel of the whole piece. Although i'm not a huge fan of the art aesthetically, this collection is also generally excellent at matching the visuals to the tone and meaning of the text.
Slaughter on Fifth Avenue, the first issue in A Game Of You, would also i think be good to look at in terms of the way the text and visuals play off each other contrasting the ideas of reality and fantasy at play.
sorry if that is too much waffle, i'm new to this board.

As strange as this may sound, here in the Philippines, we don't usually use graphic novels as a form of literature which is a bit surprising. But I was able to convince our principal in giving it a try. She allowed me by using Fear of Falling with my senior high school students (aged 15-17).

This is one of those short stories that I highly recommend.

Another story that comes into mind is Men of Good Fortune. The theme is simple. It talks about the value of friendship as well as the value of life.

Ooh, what fun! I'd LOVE if my teachers did graphics with us....I highly reccomend "Mr. Punch" by Gaiman. The images are linked right into the story, and it's just FABULOUS!!!
I'd go for "The Sound of Her Wings." It's such a great little short. Thought-provoking, too.