September 25, 2019
Discuss Comic Book Nation
In class
Discuss Comic Book Nation. Read and analyze select comics from reading, which Mr. Cutler will project.
Homework / preparation
For Friday, please complete Chapter 1 in Comic Book Nation.
DAVID CUTLER · 2019–2020 ARCHIVE
Public reading edition · October 10, 2026. Read the daily classwork and homework here; no school login is required. These dates and directions belong to the archived course. Historical plans from the earlier course, Popular Culture in American History. Dates and deadlines follow the original sheets, including occasional inconsistencies.
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September 25, 2019
Discuss Comic Book Nation. Read and analyze select comics from reading, which Mr. Cutler will project.
For Friday, please complete Chapter 1 in Comic Book Nation.
September 27, 2019
Discuss Chapter 1 in Comic Book Nation. Read and analyze select comics from reading, which Mr. Cutler will project.
No additional homework.
September 30, 2019
No class.
No additional homework specified.
October 1, 2019
Continue discussing Chapter 1 in Comic Book Nation. Read and analyze select comics from reading, which Mr. Cutler will project.
For tomorrow, please read Chapter 1 in Harry Brod’s Superman is Jewish, “Superman as Supermentsh: How the Ultimate Alien Became the Iconic All-American.”
October 2, 2019
Discuss Chapter 1 in Harry Brod’s Superman is Jewish, “Superman as Supermentsh: How the Ultimate Alien Became the Iconic All-American.”
For Friday, please read Chapter 2 in Harry Brod’s Superman is Jewish, “Flights of Jewish Imagination: From the Old Country to Tales of a Better Tomorrow.”
October 4, 2019
Discuss Chapter 2 in Harry Brod’s Superman is Jewish, “Flights of Jewish Imagination: From the Old Country to Tales of a Better Tomorrow.”
For Monday, please read Chapter 1 in Larry Tye’s Superman: The High-Flying Adventures of America’s Most Enduring Hero, “Giving Birth.”
October 7, 2019
Discuss Chapter 1 in Larry Tye’s Superman: The High-Flying Adventures of America’s Most Enduring Hero, “Giving Birth.”
For Wednesday, please read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 2 in Larry Tye’s Superman, Enduring Hero, “A Hero for His Times.”
October 7, 2019
Examining early science fictions magazines and the pulps.
No additional homework.
October 9, 2019
Discuss Chapter 2 in Larry Tye’s Superman: The High-Flying Adventures of America’s Most Enduring Hero, “A Hero for His Times.”
No additional homework.
October 11, 2019
Examining early Superman comic books.
Remember, your essay is due Tuesday before the start of class . For Friday, please read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 2 in Larry Tye’s Superman, Enduring Hero, “A Master of Faith.”
October 14, 2019
No class.
No additional homework specified.
October 15, 2019
Share and discuss essays with peers.
No additional homework.
October 16, 2019
No class.
No additional homework specified.
October 18, 2019
Discuss Chapter 3 in Larry Tye’s Superman: The High-Flying Adventures of America’s Most Enduring Hero, “A Matter of Faith.”
For Monday, please read The Death of Superman to the opening spread of “Under Fire.” While reading, be prepared to discuss how Superman personifies his Jewish creation. What about the rest of the Justice League? How do superheroes in this graphic novel compare to Kingdom Come?
October 21, 2019
Discuss The Death of Superman to the opening spread of “Under Fire.”
For tomorrow, please read “Under Fire” to “Doomsday is Here!” in The Death of Superman. While reading, be prepared to discuss how Superman personifies his Jewish creation . What about the rest of the Justice League? How do superheroes in this graphic novel compare to Kingdom Come?
October 22, 2019
Discuss The Death of Superman from “Under Fire” to “Doomsday is Here!”
For tomorrow, please finish The Death of Superman. While reading, be prepared to discuss how Superman personifies his Jewish creation. What about the rest of the Justice League? How do superheroes in this graphic novel compare to Kingdom Come?
October 23, 2019
Discuss the final chapter of The Death of Superman. Introduce take-home response (4-5 pages), due Wednesday, Nov.6 . Please write an academic essay in response to one of the following prompts…
According to Kingdom Come author Mark Waid, “Superman is not a story about faith—it’s about inspiration. It’s a story about trying to move us into emulating, into being, into doing.” How and to what extent is this represented in DC’s The Death of Superman? When it comes this, the best-selling graphic novel of all time, do you agree with Waid’s sentiments? Would Brod and Tye agree with you?
After reading Brod and Tye, how and to what extent is Judaism, including Jewish lore, mysticism, and history, referenced in DC’s The Death of Superman, the best-selling graphic novel of all time? How does this make the storytelling more engaging?
For Friday, please read pages 30-43 in Chapter 2 of Comic Book Nation, stopping right before “Comic Books Go to War.”