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This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of
comic-books, mobilising them as a means to understand better the
political context in which they are produced. Structured around key
political events in the US between 1938 and 1975, the author
combines analyses of visual and textual discourse, including
comic-book letters pages, to come to a more complete picture of the
relationship between comic-books as documents and the people who
read and created them. Exploring the ways in which ideas about the
US and its place in the world were represented in major superhero
comic-books during the tumultuous period of US history from the
Great Depression to the political trauma of Watergate and the end
of the Vietnam War, Superheroes and American Self-Image sheds fresh
light on the manner in which comic-books shape and are shaped by
contemporary politics. As such it will appeal to scholars of
cultural and media studies, history and popular culture.
This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of
comic-books, mobilising them as a means to understand better the
political context in which they are produced. Structured around key
political events in the US between 1938 and 1975, the author
combines analyses of visual and textual discourse, including
comic-book letters pages, to come to a more complete picture of the
relationship between comic-books as documents and the people who
read and created them. Exploring the ways in which ideas about the
US and its place in the world were represented in major superhero
comic-books during the tumultuous period of US history from the
Great Depression to the political trauma of Watergate and the end
of the Vietnam War, Superheroes and American Self-Image sheds fresh
light on the manner in which comic-books shape and are shaped by
contemporary politics. As such it will appeal to scholars of
cultural and media studies, history and popular culture.
Printing Terror places horror comics of the Cold War in dialogue
with the anxieties of their age. It rejects the narrative of horror
comics as inherently, and necessarily, subversive and explores,
instead, the ways in which these texts manifest white male fears
over America's changing sociological landscape. It examines two
eras: the pre-CCA period of the 1940s up to 1954, and the post-CCA
era to 1975. The book examines each of these periods through the
lenses of war, gender, and race, demonstrating that horror comics
at this time were centered on white male victimhood and the
monstrosity of the gendered and/or racialised other. It is of
interest to scholars of horror, comics studies, and American
history. -- .
History has always been a matter of arranging evidence into a
narrative, but the public debate over the meanings we attach to a
given history can seem particularly acute in our current age. Like
all artistic mediums, comics possess the power to mold history into
shapes that serve its prospective audience and creator both. It
makes sense, then, that history, no stranger to the creation of
hagiographies, particularly in the service of nationalism and other
political ideologies, is so easily summoned to the panelled page.
Comics, like statues, museums, and other vehicles for historical
narrative, make both monsters and heroes of men while fuelling
combative beliefs in personal versions of United States history.
Drawing the Past, Volume 1: Comics and the Historical Imagination
in the United States, the first book in a two-volume series,
provides a map of current approaches to comics and their engagement
with historical representation. The first section of the book on
history and form explores the existence, shape, and influence of
comics as a medium. The second section concerns the question of
trauma, understood both as individual traumas that can shape the
relationship between the narrator and object, and historical
traumas that invite a reassessment of existing social, economic,
and cultural assumptions. The final section on mythic histories
delves into ways in which comics add to the mythology of the US.
Together, both volumes bring together a range of different
approaches to diverse material and feature remarkable scholars from
all over the world. Contributions by Lawrence Abrams, Dorian
Alexander, Max Bledstein, Peter Cullen Bryan, Stephen Connor,
Matthew J. Costello, Martin Flanagan, Michael Fuchs, Michael
Goodrum, Bridget Keown, Kaleb Knoblach, Christina M. Knopf, Martin
Lund, Jordan Newton, Stefan Rabitsch, Maryanne Rhett, and Philip
Smith.
In Drawing the Past, Volume 2: Comics and the Historical
Imagination in the World, contributors seek to examine the many
ways in which history worldwide has been explored and
(re)represented through comics and how history is a complex
construction of imagination, reality, and manipulation. Through a
close analysis of such works as V for Vendetta, Maus, and
Persepolis, this volume contends that comics are a form of
mediation between sources (both primary and secondary) and the
reader. Historical comics are not drawn from memory but offer a
nonliteral interpretation of an object (re)constructed in the
creator's mind. Indeed, when it comes to history, stretching the
limits of the imagination only serves to aid in our understanding
of the past and, through that understanding, shape ourselves and
our futures. This volume, the second in a two-volume series, is
divided into three sections: History and Form, Historical Trauma,
and Mythic Histories. The first section considers the relationship
between history and the comic book form. The second section engages
academic scholarship on comics that has recurring interest in the
representation of war and trauma. The final section looks at mythic
histories that consciously play with events that did not occur but
nonetheless inflect our understanding of history. Contributors to
the volume also explore questions of diversity and relationality,
addressing differences between nations and the cultural,
historical, and economic threads that bind them together, however
loosely, and however much those bonds might chafe. Together, both
volumes bring together a range of different approaches to diverse
material and feature remarkable scholars from all over the world.
Contributions by Dorian Alexander, Chris Bishop, David Budgen,
Lewis Call, Lillian Cespedes Gonzalez, Dominic Davies, Sean Eedy,
Adam Fotos, Michael Goodrum, Simon Gough, David Hitchcock, Robert
Hutton, Iain A. MacInnes, Malgorzata Olsza, Philip Smith, Edward
Still, and Jing Zhang.
History has always been a matter of arranging evidence into a
narrative, but the public debate over the meanings we attach to a
given history can seem particularly acute in our current age. Like
all artistic mediums, comics possess the power to mold history into
shapes that serve its prospective audience and creator both. It
makes sense, then, that history, no stranger to the creation of
hagiographies, particularly in the service of nationalism and other
political ideologies, is so easily summoned to the panelled page.
Comics, like statues, museums, and other vehicles for historical
narrative, make both monsters and heroes of men while fuelling
combative beliefs in personal versions of United States history.
Drawing the Past, Volume 1: Comics and the Historical Imagination
in the United States, the first book in a two-volume series,
provides a map of current approaches to comics and their engagement
with historical representation. The first section of the book on
history and form explores the existence, shape, and influence of
comics as a medium. The second section concerns the question of
trauma, understood both as individual traumas that can shape the
relationship between the narrator and object, and historical
traumas that invite a reassessment of existing social, economic,
and cultural assumptions. The final section on mythic histories
delves into ways in which comics add to the mythology of the US.
Together, both volumes bring together a range of different
approaches to diverse material and feature remarkable scholars from
all over the world. Contributions by Lawrence Abrams, Dorian
Alexander, Max Bledstein, Peter Cullen Bryan, Stephen Connor,
Matthew J. Costello, Martin Flanagan, Michael Fuchs, Michael
Goodrum, Bridget Keown, Kaleb Knoblach, Christina M. Knopf, Martin
Lund, Jordan Newton, Stefan Rabitsch, Maryanne Rhett, and Philip
Smith.
In Drawing the Past, Volume 2: Comics and the Historical
Imagination in the World, contributors seek to examine the many
ways in which history worldwide has been explored and
(re)represented through comics and how history is a complex
construction of imagination, reality, and manipulation. Through a
close analysis of such works as V for Vendetta, Maus, and
Persepolis, this volume contends that comics are a form of
mediation between sources (both primary and secondary) and the
reader. Historical comics are not drawn from memory but offer a
nonliteral interpretation of an object (re)constructed in the
creator's mind. Indeed, when it comes to history, stretching the
limits of the imagination only serves to aid in our understanding
of the past and, through that understanding, shape ourselves and
our futures. This volume, the second in a two-volume series, is
divided into three sections: History and Form, Historical Trauma,
and Mythic Histories. The first section considers the relationship
between history and the comic book form. The second section engages
academic scholarship on comics that has recurring interest in the
representation of war and trauma. The final section looks at mythic
histories that consciously play with events that did not occur but
nonetheless inflect our understanding of history. Contributors to
the volume also explore questions of diversity and relationality,
addressing differences between nations and the cultural,
historical, and economic threads that bind them together, however
loosely, and however much those bonds might chafe. Together, both
volumes bring together a range of different approaches to diverse
material and feature remarkable scholars from all over the world.
Contributions by Dorian Alexander, Chris Bishop, David Budgen,
Lewis Call, Lillian Cespedes Gonzalez, Dominic Davies, Sean Eedy,
Adam Fotos, Michael Goodrum, Simon Gough, David Hitchcock, Robert
Hutton, Iain A. MacInnes, Malgorzata Olsza, Philip Smith, Edward
Still, and Jing Zhang.
Contributions by Dorian Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola,
Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich,
Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan
North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott, Philip Smith, and Maite
Ucaregui 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 have become more openly inclusive to an
audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an
intense backlash, most famously in 2015's Gamergate controversy,
when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers,
and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in
superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with
important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic
shifts-both in the creation of superhero media and in their
critical and reader reception-need reassessment not only of the
role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives
of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten
essays that explore the point where social justice meets the
Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman:
Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this
volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research,
engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight
and thus inspire change.
According to Joss Whedon, the creator of the short-lived series
Firefly (2002), the cult show is about "nine people looking into
the blackness of space and seeing nine different things." The
chronicles of crewmembers on a scruffy space freighter, Firefly ran
for only four months before its abrupt cancellation. In that brief
time, however, it established a reputation as one of the best
science-fiction programs of the new millennium: sharply written,
superbly cast, and set on an exotic multicultural frontier unlike
anything ever seen on the small screen. The show's large,
enthusiastic fan following supported a series of comics and a
theatrical film, Serenity (2005), that extended the story, deepened
the characters, and revealed new wonders and dangers on the
deep-space frontier. In Firefly Revisited: Essays on Joss Whedon's
Classic Series, Michael Goodrum and Philip Smith present a
collection that reflects on the program, the characters, and the
post-cancellation film and comics that grew out of the show. The
contributors to this volume offer fresh perspectives on familiar
characters and blaze new trails into unexplored areas of the
Firefly universe. Individual essays explore the series' place in
the history of the space-Western subgenre, the political economy of
the Alliance, and the uses of music and language in the series to
immerse audiences in a multicultural future. These essays look at
how the show offered viewers high adventure as well as engaged with
a range of themes that still resonate today. As such, Firefly
Revisited will intrigue the show's many fans, as well as Whedon
scholars and anyone interested in the twenty-first-century
renaissance of science-fiction television.
Contributions by Dorian Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola,
Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich,
Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan
North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott, Philip Smith, and Maite
Ucaregui 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 have become more openly inclusive to an
audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an
intense backlash, most famously in 2015's Gamergate controversy,
when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers,
and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in
superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with
important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic
shifts-both in the creation of superhero media and in their
critical and reader reception-need reassessment not only of the
role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives
of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten
essays that explore the point where social justice meets the
Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman:
Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this
volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research,
engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight
and thus inspire change.
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