Few scholars nursed on the literary canon would dispute that knowledge of Western literature benefits readers and writers of the superhero genre. This analysis of superhero comics as Romance literature shows that the reverse is true--knowledge of the superhero romance has something to teach critics of traditional literature. Establishing the comic genre as a cousin to Arthurian myth, Spenser, and Shakespeare, it uses comics to inform readings of The Faerie Queene, The Tempest, Malory's Morte and more, while employing authors like Ben Johnson to help explain comics by Alan Moore, Jack Kirby, and Grant Morrison and characters like Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Justice League. Scholars of comics, medieval and Renaissance literature alike will find it appealing.

A distress beacon from a desolate section of tundra sends the heroes on a rescue mission in the biting cold. They find a lone vesk survivor in the wreckage of a starship prowled by a menacing insectile stowaway: a component of the dreaded Swarm! The heroes trace the creature's origin to a frozen gas giant in the same system, where a mutated Swarm colony has begun to awaken from a strange hibernation. Will the heroes brave the floating organic lair to stop the Swarm from contacting the greater hive mind? "Icebound" is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 7th-level characters by Jason Tondro. This adventure continues the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path, a six-part, bimonthly campaign in which the heroes are at the forefront of exploring and charting a newly discovered world filled with mystery. This volume also includes a dossier on the Veskarium spy agency known as Directive-9, technology repurposed from the Swarm, and a selection of deadly alien threats. Each bi-monthly full-color softcover Starfinder Adventure Path volume contains a new installment of a series of interconnected science-fantasy quests that together create a fully developed plot of sweeping scale and epic challenges. Each 64-page volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path also contains in-depth articles that detail and expand the Starfinder campaign setting and provide new rules, a host of exciting new monsters and alien races, a new planet to explore and starship to pilot, and more!

The Field Guide Vol. 4 continues the definitive encyclopedia of superhero archetypes in modern comics. The final volume in the series is also the first volume available for Print on Demand Written by Jason "Dr. Comics" Tondro, Author of "Superheroes of the Round Table" and professor of English Literature, the Field Guide is a gold mine of ideas and inspiration for your next hero. With art by ICONS Line Artist Dan Houser, the archetypes will leap off the page and into your games Rather than break archetypes down by power set, the Field Guide looks at the character's origin and role in the story. This makes the archetypes much more versatile and puts the emphasis on character, rather than power. After a discussion of each archetype, the Field Guide then gives a fully fleshed out hero, suitable for immediate use as a PC or important NPC in your ICONS campaign. From the Sidekick to the Young Hero, this final volume of the Field Guide is suitable for players from age 14 and up

Toil and Trouble! After stopping a poisonous plot against the living population of Graydirge, the player characters must seek out the hag pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Yet hags congregate in covens, and facing off against the insidious hag coven called the Graveclaw leads to a race across the undead-haunted nation of Geb. From shadowed forests to an undersea temple, and from rusted-out factories to university lecture halls, the characters must investigate the trails of misery and fear the hags leave in their wake. The characters must vanquish the Graveclaw to protect the residents of Geb—or end up stewing in a hag’s cauldron! “Graveclaw� is a Pathfinder adventure for four 4th-level characters. The adventure continues the Blood Lords Adventure Path, a six-part monthly campaign in which the characters rise from skilled troubleshooters to join the Blood Lords who rule a nation of the dead. The adventure also includes an article exposing the secrets of hag covens and plenty of new rules for fighting against hags. New spells and new items complete the witch’s brew in the coven’s cookpot! Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.