Pamela M. Fowler
Setting
Objectives Students will be introduced to setting—its function and necessity. Where action of comic strip episodes take place.
Students will analyze and discuss types of settings that exist in comics.
Students will choose and develop settings for their individual comic strip episodes.
Materials Setting ditto. Comics for visual reference. (?) Chalk.
Activities
-
1. 5-10 minutes. You have chosen a hero. You now have to create a world for your hero. You can give him a place to live in, work in, areas to move through and battle villains in. Where do some of the comic book heroes live?
-
____
e.g. Batman—Gotham City
-
____
Black Panther—New York City Superman—Metropolis
-
____
Flash—Central City
-
____
____
We want to try to create a new and different setting for the hero. New Britain, Pulaski High, Hartford? Or even an imaginary setting (place), you invent a name or place.
-
2. 10-15 minutes. Divide into groups. Individuals work on settings for their episodes with aid of ditto and teachers.
Follow Through Check on progress in class and work in folders.
More work on setting tomorrow.
-
Setting
-
1. Where will your story take place? In a city? New Britain? At Pulaski? What are some other possible settings?
-
2. Will your hero travel to different places to fight villains? What special dangers will these places have that challenge the hero?
-
3. Does the hero have a regular job when he’s not fighting villains? Where does he work?
-
4. Will the hero have a hideout or a laboratory?
-
____
a) Where will it be?
-
____
b) What will it look like?
-
____
c) Will there be any equipment there to help fight villains?
-
5. Does the hero have somewhere to live? A house? Apartment? Mansion?
-
6. Will the villain lead the hero into traps? What will they look like?
-
7. Is the hero ever called back to where he came from? Where is this place? What kind of people live there?
(figure 3)
-
Villain: Over a forty-five minute period of time the students develop their villain. The teacher will discuss the various villains students know and have the students describe them in their own words and terms. The teacher will then show a number of pictures of villains such as Al Capone, Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood), Bonnie and Clyde and a host of others and have the students try to figure out who they are and describing them before they are told their names.
For the remainder of the period the students again copy from the board the information regarding the description of a villain. (fig. 4) Following the completion of the worksheet the students are to illustrate their villain as they did their hero.