"This critical text examines the seventy-year history of comic book superheroes on film and in comic books and their reflections of the politics of their time. Superheroes addressed include Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Superman, the Invisible Woman and the X-Men, and topics…
"An analysis of superhero comic books beginning with Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen drawing on the literary and psychoanalytic theory of Harold Bloom and Slavoj Žižek, How to Read Superhero Comics and Why argues for the recognition of a …
"This collection analyzes the many ways in which comic book and film superheroes have been revised or re-written in response to changes in real-world politics, social mores, and popular culture. Also included are several illustrations and promotional photographs, along with sepa…
For decades, scholars have been making the connection between the design of the superhero story and the mythology of the ancient folktale. Moving beyond simple comparisons and common explanations, this volume details how the workings of the superhero comics industry and the conv…
"This volume details how the workings of the superhero comics industry and the conventions of the medium have developed a culture like that of traditional epic storytelling. By revealing how contemporary superhero comics connect traditional aesthetics and postmodern theories, th…
"In 1964, noted literary critic Leslie Fiedler described American youth as "new mutants," social rebels severing their attachments to American culture to remake themselves in their own image. 1960s comic book creators, anticipating Fiedler, began to morph American superheroes fr…
"In 1964, noted literary critic Leslie Fiedler described American youth as 'new mutants, ' social rebels severing their attachments to American culture to remake themselves in their own image. 1960s comic book creators, anticipating Fiedler, began to morph American superheroes f…
"Despite continued warnings of "superhero fatigue," Marvel and DC's current cinematic universes (the MCU and DCEU) have dominated the last two decades of popular culture and continue to obliterate box-office records. Where other scholars have focused solely on superhero films' g…
"Comic Book Movies explores how this genre serves as a source for modern-day myths, sometimes even incorporating ancient mythic figures like Thor and Wonder Woman's Amazons, while engaging with the questions that haunt a post-9/11 world: How do we define heroism and morality tod…
Gender and the superhero narrative
"The explosive popularity of San Diego's Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix's Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests. Yet just as these areas h…