The Adventure School for Ladies is an experimental graduate program that explores gender, cultural production, political engagement, and social divisions with the top ladylike scholars in the field of adventure studies. Our upcoming program will run from June 4 to June 15 2012, in advance of the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (Cake) on June 16th and 17th. This two-week collaborative comics intensive, held at Chicago’s Read/Write Library and Spudnik Press, will host top and emerging ladylike drawers as they create and publish a collaborative comics anthology based on research of gender, race, and economics in the comics industry. Previous experiments have adventured the notion of school by having students contribute equally to group learning experience as an exercise in intellectual trust. Absolutely nothing was supplied by the school except administrative support; scholars were required to bring all curricula, drinks, foods, study materials, and spa entrance fees—for our orientation session—necessary to attend and create an educational environment.

Brilliant Chicago-based comics creator Edie Fake recently called the project a “tripped-out grad school” in his scene report for my own former haunt, The Comics Journal.