In the course, we’ll look at theories of the monstrous and representations of monsters in literature, comics, cinema, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the theme of monstrous appetites. Core “texts” will include Alien, Dracula, Carmilla, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Monstress, and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, among others. For students’ research projects, you’ll have the option of doing biographical research on a monster creator, doing literary or art historical research on a cultural text that represents the monstrous-feminine or monstrous appetites, or designing and creating a monster and documenting the theory behind their creation. Along the way, we’ll do exercises in comics art, participate in Critical Making exercises, and explore using generative AI to create monsters, as well as discussing the ethics of using AI for design.