AWARD-WINNING GRAPHIC NOVELIST VISITS CLASS
Dr. Scahill's "From Literature to Film" Maymester course was honored to welcome comic book author Sean Benner (West of Oz) and artist Jorge Corona (Middlewest) to class for a Q&A. This year's course is centered around adaptations of L. Frank Baum's book The Wizard of Oz, and both Benner and Corona's comics offer original and inspiring takes on the Ozified narrative.
Jorge Corona was previously nominated for an Eisner Award (comic book's version of the Oscars) for his work on No. 1 With a Bullet. Middlewest garnered a 2019 nomination for the Best Young Adult Publication, and follows a young boy escaping the tornado-like rage of his father and asks the reader to consider how we might break the cycles of abuse.
At the close of the course, student pitched their own Wizard of Oz movie adaptations to a panel of "studio excutives": Dr. Scahill and his English department colleagues Dr. Sarah Hagelin and Dr. Cynthia Wong.