Though April fast approaches, there's still time to enroll in Christina Blanch's free Gender Through Comic Books online course. Blanch, a doctoral candidate at Ball State University, promises a class that will utilize comic books as a medium to explore gender identity and representation. The course is billed as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and will include video lectures and online student discussions.
The class has already garnered a number of supporters, including Stan Lee, who voices the course's promotional video. In addition, industry leaders like Terry Moore, Brian K. Vaughn, and Gail Simone have signed on for real-time interviews, while Mark Waid has not only agreed to participate, but personally endorsed the project on his website. Digital comics distributor comiXology is also offering a substantial discount on course materials. So far the required reading looks fairly diverse, and includes titles such as Strangers in Paradise, Superman: Birthright, and Marvel's recently revamped Captain Marvel.
Gender Through Comic Books is hosted by Canvas Network and is part of Ball State's recent MOOC Initiative. The class is scheduled to begin April 2 and will run through May 10.
