The Meaning Of Superhero Comic Books

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The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books

Author : Terrence R. Wandtke
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786490152
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books by : Terrence R. Wandtke

Download or read book The Meaning of Superhero Comic Books written by Terrence R. Wandtke and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 conventions of the medium have developed a culture like that of traditional epic storytelling. It chronicles the continuation of the oral/traditional culture of the early 20th century superhero industry in the endless variations on Superman and shows how Frederic Wertham’s anti-comic crusade in the mid–1950s helped make comics the most countercultural new medium of the 20th century. By revealing how contemporary superhero comics, like Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern and Warren Ellis’s The Authority, connect traditional aesthetics and postmodern theories, this work explains why the superhero comic book flourishes in the “new traditional” shape of our acutely self-conscious digital age.

What is a Superhero?

Author : Robin S. Rosenberg PhD
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019933952X
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis What is a Superhero? by : Robin S. Rosenberg PhD

Download or read book What is a Superhero? written by Robin S. Rosenberg PhD and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-01 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's easy to name a superhero--Superman, Batman, Thor, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rorschach, Wolverine--but it's not so easy to define what a superhero is. Buffy has superpowers, but she doesn't have a costume. Batman has a costume, but doesn't have superpowers. What is the role of power and superpower? And what are supervillains and why do we need them? In What is a Superhero?, psychologist Robin Rosenberg and comics scholar Peter Coogan explore this question from a variety of viewpoints, bringing together contributions from nineteen comic book experts--including both scholars in such fields as cultural studies, art, and psychology as well as leading comic book writers and editors. What emerges is a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most popular of pop-culture figures. Writer Jeph Loeb, for instance, sees the desire to make the world a better place as the driving force of the superhero. Jennifer K. Stuller argues that the female superhero inspires women to stand up, be strong, support others, and most important, to believe in themselves. More darkly, A. David Lewis sees the indestructible superhero as the ultimate embodiment of the American "denial of death," while writer Danny Fingeroth sees superheroes as embodying the best aspects of humankind, acting with a nobility of purpose that inspires us. Interestingly, Fingeroth also expands the definition of superhero so that it would include characters like John McClane of the Die Hard movies: "Once they dodge ridiculous quantities of machine gun bullets they're superheroes, cape or no cape." From summer blockbusters to best-selling graphic novels, the superhero is an integral part of our culture. What is a Superhero? not only illuminates this pop-culture figure, but also sheds much light on the fantasies and beliefs of the American people.

Superhero Thought Experiments

Author : Chris Gavaler
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 1609386558
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Superhero Thought Experiments by : Chris Gavaler

Download or read book Superhero Thought Experiments written by Chris Gavaler and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What if there's an alternative universe with a different moral code? What if we are being deceived by an evil genius? Examining the deep philosophical topics addressed in superhero comics, this entertaining book reads plot lines for the complex "thought experiments" they contain and analyzes their implications as if the comic authors were philosophers. In doing so, authors Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg--a comics expert and a philosophy scholar, respectively--find that superhero comics often depict philosophical thought experiments more fully than philosophers do, and with surprising results. For example, René Descartes briefly worries that we are being deceived by an evil genius, but Marvel Comics explores this concern--and its consequences--over decades. Similarly, in a few paragraphs philosophers Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons imagine a "moral twin earth" with deviant morality, while DC Comics dedicates multiple comics to different moral twin earths in which readers see multiple deviant moralities play out"--

The Amazing Transforming Superhero!

Author : Terrence R. Wandtke
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786490136
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis The Amazing Transforming Superhero! by : Terrence R. Wandtke

Download or read book The Amazing Transforming Superhero! written by Terrence R. Wandtke and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-11-16 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays analyzes the many ways in which comic book and film superheroes have been revised or rewritten in response to changes in real-world politics, social mores, and popular culture. Among many topics covered are the jingoistic origin of Captain America in the wake of the McCarthy hearings, the post-World War II fantasy-feminist role of Wonder Woman, and the Nietzschean influences on the "sidekick revolt" in the 2004 film The Incredibles.

Super Graphic

Author : Tim Leong
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 1452135274
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (521 download)

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Book Synopsis Super Graphic by : Tim Leong

Download or read book Super Graphic written by Tim Leong and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The comic book universe is adventurous, mystifying, and filled with heroes, villains, and cosplaying Comic-Con attendees. This book by one of Wired magazine's art directors traverses the graphic world through a collection of pie charts, bar graphs, timelines, scatter plots, and more. Super Graphic offers readers a unique look at the intricate and sometimes contradictory storylines that weave their way through comic books, and shares advice for navigating the pages of some of the most popular, longest-running, and best-loved comics and graphic novels out there. From a colorful breakdown of the DC Comics reader demographic to a witty Venn diagram of superhero comic tropes and a Chris Ware sadness scale, this book charts the most arbitrary and monumental characters, moments, and equipment of the wide world of comics. Plus, this is the fixed format version, which includes high-resolution images.

The Comics Form

Author : Chris Gavaler
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1350245933
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis The Comics Form by : Chris Gavaler

Download or read book The Comics Form written by Chris Gavaler and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-06-16 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Answering foundational questions like "what is a comic" and "how do comics work" in original and imaginative ways, this book adapts established, formalist approaches to explaining the experience of reading comics. Taking stock of a multitude of case studies and examples, The Comics Form demonstrates that any object can be read as a comic so long as it displays a set of relevant formal features. Drawing from the worlds of art criticism and literary studies to put forward innovative new ways of thinking and talking about comics, this book challenges certain terminology and such theorizing terms as 'narrate' which have historically been employed somewhat loosely. In unpacking the way in which sequenced images work, The Comics Form introduces tools of analysis such as discourse and diegesis; details further qualities of visual representation such as resemblance, custom norms, style, simplification, exaggeration, style modes, transparency and specification, perspective and framing, focalization and ocularization; and applies formal art analysis to comics images. This book also examines the conclusions readers draw from the way certain images are presented and what they trigger, and offers clear definitions of the roles and features of text-narrators, image-narrators, and image-text narrators in both non-linguistic images and word-images.

The New Mutants

Author : Ramzi Fawaz
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 147982349X
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Mutants by : Ramzi Fawaz

Download or read book The New Mutants written by Ramzi Fawaz and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How fantasy meets reality as popular culture evolves and ignites postwar gender, sexual, and race revolutions. 2017 The Association for the Studies of the Present Book Prize Finalist Mention, 2017 Lora Romero First Book Award Presented by the American Studies Association Winner of the 2012 CLAGS Fellowship Award for Best First Book Project in LGBT Studies 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 from icons of nationalism and white masculinity into actual mutant outcasts, defined by their genetic difference from ordinary humanity. These powerful misfits and “freaks” soon came to embody the social and political aspirations of America’s most marginalized groups, including women, racial and sexual minorities, and the working classes. In The New Mutants, Ramzi Fawaz draws upon queer theory to tell the story of these monstrous fantasy figures and how they grapple with radical politics from Civil Rights and The New Left to Women’s and Gay Liberation Movements. Through a series of comic book case studies – including The Justice League of America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and The New Mutants –alongside late 20th century fan writing, cultural criticism, and political documents, Fawaz reveals how the American superhero modeled new forms of social belonging that counterculture youth would embrace in the 1960s and after. The New Mutants provides the first full-length study to consider the relationship between comic book fantasy and radical politics in the modern United States.

Working-Class Comic Book Heroes

Author : Marc DiPaolo
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN 13 : 149681665X
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (968 download)

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Book Synopsis Working-Class Comic Book Heroes by : Marc DiPaolo

Download or read book Working-Class Comic Book Heroes written by Marc DiPaolo and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributions by Phil Bevin, Blair Davis, Marc DiPaolo, Michele Fazio, James Gifford, Kelly Kanayama, Orion Ussner Kidder, Christina M. Knopf, Kevin Michael Scott, Andrew Alan Smith, and Terrence R. Wandtke In comic books, superhero stories often depict working-class characters who struggle to make ends meet, lead fulfilling lives, and remain faithful to themselves and their own personal code of ethics. Working-Class Comic Book Heroes: Class Conflict and Populist Politics in Comics examines working-class superheroes and other protagonists who populate heroic narratives in serialized comic books. Essayists analyze and deconstruct these figures, viewing their roles as fictional stand-ins for real-world blue-collar characters. Informed by new working-class studies, the book also discusses how often working-class writers and artists created these characters. Notably Jack Kirby, a working-class Jewish artist, created several of the most recognizable working-class superheroes, including Captain America and the Thing. Contributors weigh industry histories and marketing concerns as well as the fan community's changing attitudes towards class signifiers in superhero adventures. The often financially strapped Spider-Man proves to be a touchstone figure in many of these essays. Grant Morrison's Superman, Marvel's Shamrock, Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta, and The Walking Dead receive thoughtful treatment. While there have been many scholarly works concerned with issues of race and gender in comics, this book stands as the first to deal explicitly with issues of class, cultural capital, and economics as its main themes.

Ed Brubaker

Author : Terrence R. Wandtke
Publisher : Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN 13 : 1496805518
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (968 download)

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Book Synopsis Ed Brubaker by : Terrence R. Wandtke

Download or read book Ed Brubaker written by Terrence R. Wandtke and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2016-03-04 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ed Brubaker (b. 1966) has emerged as one of the most popular, significant figures in art comics since the 1990s. Most famous as the man who killed Captain America in 2007, Brubaker's work on company-owned properties such as Batman and Captain America and creator-owned series like Criminal and Fatale live up to the usual expectations for the superhero and crime genres. And yet, Brubaker layers his stories with a keen self-awareness, applying his expansive knowledge of American comic book history to invigorate his work and challenge the dividing line between popular entertainment and high art. This collection of interviews explores the sophisticated artist's work, drawing upon the entire length of the award-winning Brubaker's career. With his stints writing Catwoman, Gotham Central, and Daredevil, Brubaker advanced the work of crime comic book writers through superhero stories informed by hard-boiled detective fiction and film noir. During his time on Captain America and his series Sleeper and Incognito, Brubaker revisited the conventions of the espionage thriller. With double agents who lose themselves in their jobs, the stories expose the arbitrary superhero standards of good and evil. In his series Criminal, Brubaker offered complex crime stories and, with a clear sense of the complicated lost world before the Comics Code, rejected crusading critic Fredric Wertham's myth of the innocence of early comics. Overall, Brubaker demonstrates his self-conscious methodology in these often little-known and hard-to-find interviews, worthwhile conversations in their own right as well as objects of study for both scholars and researchers.

The Psychology of Superheroes

Author : Robin S. Rosenberg
Publisher : BenBella Books
ISBN 13 : 1933771313
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (337 download)

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Book Synopsis The Psychology of Superheroes by : Robin S. Rosenberg

Download or read book The Psychology of Superheroes written by Robin S. Rosenberg and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2008-02-09 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This latest installment in the Psychology of Popular Culture series turns its focus to superheroes. Superheroes have survived and fascinated for more than 70 years in no small part due to their psychological depth. In The Psychology of Superheroes, almost two dozen psychologists get into the heads of today's most popular and intriguing superheroes. Why do superheroes choose to be superheroes? Where does Spider-Man's altruism come from, and what does it mean? Why is there so much prejudice against the X-Men, and how could they have responded to it, other than the way they did? Why are super-villains so aggressive? The Psychology of Superheroes answers these questions, exploring the inner workings our heroes usually only share with their therapists.

The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero

Author : Angela Ndalianis
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135213933
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (352 download)

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Book Synopsis The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero by : Angela Ndalianis

Download or read book The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero written by Angela Ndalianis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last several decades, comic book superheroes have multiplied and, in the process, become more complicated. In this cutting edge anthology an international roster of contributors offer original research and writing on the contemporary comic book superhero, with occasional journeys into the film and television variation. As superheroes and their stories have grown with the audiences that consume them, their formulas, conventions, and narrative worlds have altered to follow suit, injecting new, unpredictable and more challenging characterizations that engage ravenous readers who increasingly demand more.

How Comics Reflect Society

Author : Björn Saemann
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
ISBN 13 : 3640831128
Total Pages : 49 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (48 download)

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Book Synopsis How Comics Reflect Society by : Björn Saemann

Download or read book How Comics Reflect Society written by Björn Saemann and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2011-02-15 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 1,5, University of Hildesheim (Institut für englische Sprache und Literatur ), language: English, abstract: American superhero-comics have been around for over 70 years now. In that period not only the genre and its medium matured but also the social, cultural and political environment changed. This paper hypothesizes that superhero comics change over time to stay relevant and that the observant reader can make conclusions about the time during which a comic was written by analyzing it. The first part of this paper gives a short summary of the history of superhero comics from the creation of Superman in 1939 to the Modern Age of Comics. It explains how the superhero comic originated in the late 1930s, blossomed in the 1940s, struggled in the 1950s and reinvented itself in the 1960s. Events like the introduction of the Comic Book Code and the death of Gwen Stacy will be presented and it will be explained why they had an immense impact on the comic-book culture. Also, the definition of the term superhero will be discussed. Afterwards, the essay focuses on the different kinds of comic-book revisionism and the different reasons for it. This and the chapters before help to understand how the comic book industry works and how innovations in comic books are introduced and why they happen. The main part of the essay continues to prove the hypothesis on the example of three superheroes that have all existed since the Golden Age of Comics: Wonder Woman, Captain America and Batman. Each of those superheroes will provide an example for a different kind of social change: With the help of Wonder Woman, the change of the women's role and the change of feminism will be examined. Captain America is a great example of a superhero created out of a social and political need and of the struggle that arises when this need is fulfilled. He also poses as an example for how comics comment on political changes. Finally, the Batman comics are used to illustrate the power Dr. Frederic Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent had over society and over comics itself. That chapter also discusses what the changes, made to Batman comics in reaction to the accusation of homosexuality, say about the reputation of homosexuals in the 1950s. The last part of this essay gives an example for the possibilities to use this topic in school, in English as a foreign language or history classes.

Superheroes and Philosophy

Author : Tom Morris
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN 13 : 1459601130
Total Pages : 470 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis Superheroes and Philosophy by : Tom Morris

Download or read book Superheroes and Philosophy written by Tom Morris and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Great Caesars Ghost!! A team of Brainiacs! Superheroes and Philosophy is Kryptonite for those super villains who diss the heroes as lightweights! Riddle me this, Batman: How are Gotham City and Metropolis like ancient Athens and modern Paris? Read this sensational book and find out!

Superman and the Bible

Author : Nicholaus Pumphrey
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 1476665028
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (766 download)

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Book Synopsis Superman and the Bible by : Nicholaus Pumphrey

Download or read book Superman and the Bible written by Nicholaus Pumphrey and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1938, Superman debuted, jumping off the pages of Action Comics #1. In the cultural context of the Great Depression and World War II, the U.S. would see the rise of the superhero not only in comic books but in radio programs, animated cartoons and television shows. Superman forever changed one's concept of the hero and became permanently engrained in both American and worldwide culture. This study explores the Man of Steel's narrative as a fresh perspective on readings of the Bible--his character is reflected in such figures as Moses, Samson and Jesus. The author argues that if we read the Bible it can be said we are reading about Superman.

Comic Book Movies

Author : Blair Davis
Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 0813588790
Total Pages : 151 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (135 download)

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Book Synopsis Comic Book Movies by : Blair Davis

Download or read book Comic Book Movies written by Blair Davis and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-25 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 today? How far are we willing to go when fighting terror? How can we resist a dystopian state? Film scholar Blair Davis also considers how the genre’s visual style is equally important as its weighty themes, and he details how advances in digital effects have allowed filmmakers to incorporate elements of comic book art in innovative ways. As he reveals, comic book movies have inspired just as many innovations to Hollywood’s business model, with film franchises and transmedia storytelling helping to ensure that the genre will continue its reign over popular culture for years to come.

On the Origin of Superheroes

Author : Chris Gavaler
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
ISBN 13 : 1609383818
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis On the Origin of Superheroes by : Chris Gavaler

Download or read book On the Origin of Superheroes written by Chris Gavaler and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2015-11 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most readers think that superheroes began with Superman’s appearance in Action Comics No. 1, but that Kryptonian rocket didn’t just drop out of the sky. By the time Superman’s creators were born, the superhero’s most defining elements—secret identities, aliases, disguises, signature symbols, traumatic origin stories, extraordinary powers, self-sacrificing altruism—were already well-rehearsed standards. Superheroes have a sprawling, action-packed history that predates the Man of Steel by decades and even centuries. On the Origin of Superheroes is a quirky, personal tour of the mythology, literature, philosophy, history, and grand swirl of ideas that have permeated western culture in the centuries leading up to the first appearance of superheroes (as we know them today) in 1938. From the creation of the universe, through mythological heroes and gods, to folklore, ancient philosophy, revolutionary manifestos, discarded scientific theories, and gothic monsters, the sweep and scale of the superhero’s origin story is truly epic. We will travel from Jane Austen’s Bath to Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars to Owen Wister’s Wyoming, with some surprising stops along the way. We’ll meet mad scientists, Napoleonic dictators, costumed murderers, diabolical madmen, blackmailers, pirates, Wild West outlaws, eugenicists, the KKK, Victorian do-gooders, detectives, aliens, vampires, and pulp vigilantes (to name just a few). Chris Gavaler is your tour guide through this fascinating, sometimes dark, often funny, but always surprising prehistory of the most popular figure in pop culture today. In a way, superheroes have always been with us: they are a fossil record of our greatest aspirations and our worst fears and failings.

Rat Queens Vol. 3

Author : Kurtis J. Wiebe
Publisher : Image Comics
ISBN 13 : 1632159325
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis Rat Queens Vol. 3 by : Kurtis J. Wiebe

Download or read book Rat Queens Vol. 3 written by Kurtis J. Wiebe and published by Image Comics. This book was released on 2016-04-13 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having survived the end of the world, the Queens follow Hannah back to where it all began: Mage University. A long perilous journey awaits the Rat Queens as they attempt to find out what happened to Hannah's father while battling their own demons. Collects RAT QUEENS #11-15.