Superheroes are enjoying a cultural resurgence, dominating the box office and breaking out of specialty comics stores onto the shelves of mainstream retailers. A leading figure behind the superhero Renaissance is Grant Morrison, long-time architect of the DC Comics' universe and author of many of the most successful comic books in recent years. Known for his anarchic original creations - Zenith, The Invisibles, The Filth, We3 - as well as for his acclaimed serialized comics - JLA, Superman, Batman, New X-Men - Morrison has radically redefined the superhero archetype. Known for his eccentric lifestyle and as a practitioner of ""pop magic,"" Morrison sees the superhero as not merely fantasy but a medium for imagining a better humanity. Drawing on a variety of analytical approaches, this first-ever collection of critical essays on his work explores his rejuvenation of the figure of the superhero as a means to address the challenges of modern life.

Cinema is an affective medium. Films move us to feel wonder, joy, and love as well as fear, anger, and hatred. Today, we are living through a new age of sensibility when emotion is given priority over reason. Hollywood produces movies that employ cheap manipulative tricks to make audiences cry, feel good, or jump in fright. Yet, there is a counter-cultural current in contemporary American cinema that offers a more nuanced treatment of emotion. Both aesthetically and eidetically, this new cinema of affect allows viewers to make up their own minds about what they feel and think. This book focuses on key films by important auteur-directors--David Fincer, Bryan Singer, Christopher Nolan, Kathryn Bigelow, Richard Linklater, Barry Jenkins, Greta Gerwig, and Pete Docter--who are to the forefront of this new cinema. Without ever being dogmatic, these directors' films offer their audiences a glimpse at strategies for relating to, and entering into being with, others in a manner that can be regarded as profoundly ethical. Employing affect theory, Jungian analytical psychology, and Hegelian dialecticism, this book explores how these filmmakers anatomize affect, showing how it functions in the creation or degradation of character and society.