Gilgamesh: The Comic
As I’ve mentioned before, Gilgamesh, though fascinating and entertaining, is not overly
complex and can be easily digested on a variety of levels. In this assignment you will be
addressing two levels of comprehension: plot (narrative) and analysis. Here’s the plan.
Each person in class will select what element of Gilgamesh they want to address (it can
be one book, part of the epic, or the entire epic). With your selection, first write a brief
plot summary: what happens, to whom does it happen, where does it take place, etc. If
you want to cover the entire epic, your plot summary should skim over some items you
think are less important. If you want to cover only one book, your plot summary will be
more in-depth. Regardless, target about one page for plot summary (double-spaced).
The second thing you need to do is think about what themes or messages you want to
focus on in your section. For example, if you select Book II, you will need to discuss not
just the fight and bonding between the boys, but also the idea that we all carry our other
half within us, that friendship can make us complete, that there is violence and love in
humanity, and possibly discuss how Enkidu came to fight Gilgamesh, but did he want to
fight to save the people of Uruk or to dominate a mighty man? This too should be about
one page.
Once you have all that written up, you can think about how you want to approach your
comic. You must include some of those thematic elements you’ve just discussed. You
will be writing a short apologia that addresses how you integrate your thematic and
character analysis into your comic (more on that later as this portion of the paper will be
written as you create your comic).
Once your paper is prepared (or at least you’ve thought it through), you can start on your
comic. Use Comic Life to design your book. You’ll need to include all the necessary
elements in of the book in your comic, and it needs to make sense and look good. This
may take some time, so to expedite your endeavors, I’ve segmented the assignment
thusly:
Tuesday, February 14: bring to class a draft (typed) of the paper that spells out your
plot summary and the thematic elements of your section (or the entire text). This paper
should be at least 1.5 pages (10 points). This is also a workday. If you don’t know
Comic Life, it’s pretty intuitive, but you will need to give yourself time to play around
with it, so budget your time accordingly.
Thursday, February 16: workday on Comic Life.
Tuesday, February 21: Comic strip and paper due. Please print your final version of the
comic using the color printer. Do not use the color printer until you are %100 sure that
this is your final version!!!!!
The Paper:
Your paper will be made up of three parts:
• Plot summary (one page)
• Character/thematic analysis (one page)
• Apologia (half to one page)
What is an apologia?
An apologia (or apology) is a paper that presents an explanation. You may be perfectly
clear on why you are including the elements you are, but your reader may not pick up on
this. An apologia allows you to tell you reader all the choices you made and why. This is
your opportunity to let me know that you have indeed addressed all the thematic and
character elements in your comic that you noted in your paper, and it tells me exactly
how you did this. For example, let’s go back to Book II: I might have Gilgamesh and
Enkidu look exactly alike except that one of them has a lot of hair. This would let my
reader now that they are two joined together. If I was just viewing the comic, I might not
realize this. I might think that you were just lazy and didn’t want to find another picture
so you used the same one for both guys. Thus, the apologia would clue me in to an
important decision you made. Please give the apologia the time it deserves.
Comic Strip: 30 points
Paper: 25 points