our next topic? who knows!

Right now I'm leaning toward studying graphic novels. Webcomics are a logical progression from blogs, and we could discuss comics vs. graphic novels (I don't actually know anything about this).  We could study graphic novels like Persepolis, young adult graphic novels, and maybe manga.  I don't actually know too much about western graphic novels (beyond Johnny the Homicidal Maniac...), so this would be a learning experience for me to an extent.  Also, if we did superhero comics (I don't know much about these either), we could discuss how the concept of the hero is perceived over the years (and maybe across mediums).

For me, graphic novels are in between cartoons or television and actual novels.  I would like to learn something about genre lines or maybe expand my own (or other people's) perceptions of what genres are.

I think what would be more relevant to our class on genres (or at least what we talked about in the beginning of class?) would actually be to look at some sort of concept across genres, mediums, and time periods, but I'm not sure how to do this.

I think fanfiction would be a terrible thing to study but have thought about it in the context of "remixing"---generally I don't like fanfiction because it's unoriginal, and it's too easy if the author doesn't have to invent new characters, etc.  I don't think fanfiction could be much more than a writing exercise.  But that goes against what we've been saying in class discussion.