German comic strips? Seriously? Undoubtedly, today's comic strip super powers are the US, Japan, France,
and Belgium. But when American comic strips were born around 1900, their »midwife« was the German
»Bildergeschichte« - a graphic narrative combining pictures and rhymed captions. For instance, »Max and
Moritz«, the story of two rascals who raise hell in a North German village, was the model for
»Katzenjammer Kids«, a newspaper comic strip originally aimed at German immigrants, which is still in
existence today.
So then, what did the Germans do with that American version of the »Bildergeschichte« called the »comic
strip« when it finally came to Germany after World War II? And what do German comic strips tell us about
the Germans, their everyday-life, collective dreams, sense of humor, fears, and their history? Comics are a
fascinating window into another culture - and a fun way of improving your language skills! This course will
cover German »Bildergeschichten« and comics from the 19th century to the present, with a special
emphasis on the topic of childhood and on recent graphic novels.
However, in this course (conducted in German) you will not only learn a lot about German comics, German
culture and language, but also about the history of American comics and about the »language« of comic
strips: How do they manage to tell a story through a sequence of pictures? How do words and images
work together? What is the secret of inventing captivating plots and fascinating characters?