The reality based graphic novel is one of the most important new movements in comics, whether it is a news story like Joe Sacco's Palestine, an oral history like Art Spiegelman's Maus or autobiography like Harvey Pekar's American Splendor. In this course, students will go out into the world and document real life situations in comic-book form. They will have the opportunity to work with community organizations to cover current events or to study their own personal relationships more closely. They will learn to gather information through observation, interviews, photo-reference and location sketches. And they will learn how to compile and edit this information to make a compelling graphic story.