The Superhero Reader

by Charles Hatfield (Editor), Jeet Heer (Editor), Kent Worcester (Editor)

Overview

Despite their commercial appeal and cross-media reach, superheroes are only recently starting to attract sustained scholarly attention. This groundbreaking collection brings together essays and book excerpts by major writers on comics and popular culture. While superhero comics are a distinct and sometimes disdained branch of comics creation, they are integral to the development of the North American comic book and the history of the medium. For the past half-century they have also been the one overwhelmingly dominant market genre. The sheer volume of superhero comics that have been published over the years is staggering. Major superhero universes constitute one of the most expansive storytelling canvases ever fashioned. Moreover, characters inhabiting these fictional universes are immensely influential, having achieved iconic recognition around the globe. Their images and adventures have shaped many other media, such as film, videogames, and even prose fiction. The primary aim of this reader is twofold: first, to collect in a single volume a sampling of the most sophisticated commentary on superheroes, and second, to bring into sharper focus the ways in which superheroes connect with larger social, cultural, literary, aesthetic, and historical themes that are of interest to a great many readers both in the academy and beyond. Contributions from Will Brooker, Jeffrey Brown, Scott Bukatman, John G. Cawelti, Peter Coogan, Jules Feiffer, Henry Jenkins, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, Gerald Jones, Geoff Klock, Karin Kukkonen, Andy Medhurst, Adilifu Nama, Walter Ong, Lorrie Palmer, Richard Reynolds, Trina Robbins, Lillian Robinson, Roger B. Rollin, Gloria Steinem, Jennifer Stuller, Fredric Wertham, and Philip Wylie

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617038020
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	06/14/2013
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Charles Hatfield is an associate professor of English at California State University, Northridge, and is the author of Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature and Hand of Fire: The Comic Art of Jack Kirby, both published by University Press of Mississippi.


Jeet Heer, a former columnist for the National Post (Canada), has been published in Slate, the Boston Globe, the Guardian, the Comics Journal, and many other venues. He is also the coeditor (with Kent Worcester) of Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium and A Comics Studies Reader, both published by University Press of Mississippi.


Kent Worcester teaches political theory at Marymount Manhattan College and is the author of C. L. R. James: A Political Biography and coeditor (with Jeet Heer) of Arguing Comics: Literary Masters on a Popular Medium and A Comics Studies Reader, both published by University Press of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

I Historical Considerations 3

Comics Predecessors Peter Coogan 7

Men of Tomorrow Gerard Jones 16

Gladiator Philip Wylie 23

The Great Comic Book Heroes Jules Feiffer 30

The Comics and the Super State Walter Ong 34

The Superman Conceit Fredric Wertham 46

The Great Women Superheroes Trina Robbins 53

Fandom and Authorship Will Brooker 61

II Theory and Genre 73

Literary Formulas John G. Cawelti 78

Crowds of Superheroes Robert Jewett John Shelton Lawrence 80

The Epic Hero and Pop Culture Roger B. Rollin 84

Masked Heroes Richard Reynolds 99

The Revisionary Superhero Narrative Geoff Klock 116

Jack Kirby and the Marvel Aesthetic Charles Hatfield 136

Navigating Infinite Earths Karin Kukkonen 155

A Song of the Urban Superhero Scott Bukatman 170

III Culture and Identity 199

Wonder Woman Gloria Steinem 203

Invisible Girl Lillian Robinson 211

Love Will Bring You to Your Gift Jennifer Stuller 216

Batman, Deviance and Camp Andy Medhurst 237

Color Them Black Adilifu Nama 252

Comic Book Masculinity Jeffrey Brown 269

The Punisher as Revisionist Superhero Western Lorrie Palmer 279

Death-Defying Heroes Henry Jenkins 295

List of Contributors 305

Index 309

Editorial Reviews

"The introduction provides a superb analysis (and diagnosis) of the current state of the field, while the anthology itself gathers some of the most influential and intelligent critical writing on superhero comics into one place. The Superhero Reader is an essential volume for any comics scholar."

—Ben Saunders, author of Do the Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes

From the Publisher