"Reading comics was always a summer holiday kind of thing.
"Reading them just kind of stuck with me, but really I would have been 7 or 8 when I started reading them."
The progression of comics from the realm of adolescent boys and die-hard fans to the mainstream, as well as the development of graphic novels as sophisticated visual texts, will form the content of a summer school paper to be taught by Dr Large this summer.
At present the department was undergoing staff cuts as part of a review of the humanities division, but response to the paper, which had an enrolment cap of 30 students, had been "strong".
"We surveyed the students as part of of our management of change process and many said they wanted updated courses and contemporary literature."
The six-week "Word and Image" paper would study texts including Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and The Unwritten comic book series.
The influence of early 20th century woodcut novels by Lynd Ward would also be "read" in relation to their influence on modern comics.
Dr Large expected a "diverse" class.
"I have had people come to me and say why are you not teaching Watchmen or Love and Rockets?
"That people have their favourites and they realise they can easily be studied at university level is great."
The paper topic was also welcomed by the department, he said.
"Comics have the potential to be highbrow. That is certainly something that was realised."
But his students wouldn’t have their heads in comics all summer.
The paper would also include an exam, research essay and assessment in which students would draw on a life experience to write a comic script.