Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero

Published by University of Texas Press 2020

Supersex

Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero

Edited by: Anna Peppard

In the series World Comics and Graphic Nonfiction Series

https://doi.org/10.7560/321607

Overview
Contents

About this book

2021 Comic Studies Society Prize for Edited Collection

From Superman, created in 1938, to the transmedia DC and Marvel universes of today, superheroes have always been sexy. And their sexiness has always been controversial, inspiring censorship and moral panic. Yet though it has inspired jokes and innuendos, accusations of moral depravity, and sporadic academic discourse, the topic of superhero sexuality is like superhero sexuality itself—seemingly obvious yet conspicuously absent. Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero is the first scholarly book specifically devoted to unpacking the superhero genre’s complicated relationship with sexuality.

Exploring sexual themes and imagery within mainstream comic books, television shows, and films as well as independent and explicitly pornographic productions catering to various orientations and kinks, Supersex offers a fresh—and lascivious—perspective on the superhero genre’s historical and contemporary popularity. Across fourteen essays touching on Superman, Batman, the X-Men, and many others, Anna F. Peppard and her contributors present superhero sexuality as both dangerously exciting and excitingly dangerous, encapsulating the superhero genre’s worst impulses and its most productively rebellious ones. Supersex argues that sex is at the heart of our fascination with superheroes, even—and sometimes especially—when the capes and tights stay on.

Author / Editor information

Anna F. Peppard is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow in Brock University’s Department of Communication, Popular Culture, and Film. She has published widely on representations of gender, race, and sexuality in popular media, including comic books, television, and sports culture. She is a regular contributor to the podcast Three Panel Contrast.

Reviews

Supersex has what no other current title has: a multidisciplinary, multifaceted, and intersectional exploration of superheroes and sexuality across media.

— Carolyn Cocca, author of Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation

This collection of essays is long overdue and very welcome. Well researched and thought-provoking, Supersex provides an enjoyable read and effective observations about gender and sexuality.

— Joan Ormrod, author of Wonder Woman: The Female Body and Popular Culture

Insightful...Peppard’s assemblage shows just how varied and multivalent superhero media is, as well as highlighting the diversity of experiences and interpretations of it. Supersex is a broad cultural survey of superheroes, with insights that are beguiling fuel for the critical imagination.

— Foreword Reviews

Peppard's introduction is a brilliant overview of the history of superhero bodies that perfectly sets the stage for the essays that follow, and the epilogue by Richard Harrison is an inspired piece that provides a satisfying summation for this eclectic collection. Supersex is intelligent and entertaining and, for comics fans, it opens new avenues for thinking about how superheroes affect readers and culture.

— Comic Book Yeti

If the stated task of assembling a volume dedicated to 'unpacking the superhero genre’s complicated relationship with sexuality' does seem not impressive enough, Peppard has also managed to curate a book that is utterly enjoyable to read. In other words, the sexiness of this collection is tied not only to its intellectual contributions, but also to its affective power—at times I felt downright naughty for reveling in Supersex as much as I did...[Supersex is] strong...from cover to cover.

— Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society

This thoughtful, up-to-date collection pursues questions anyone who studies superheroes will want to answer...We can do more—and this volume can help us do more—to spot, to interpret, and sometimes even to champion the exceptions, the comics that work on behalf of the readers who want them, against the now all too familiar hetero-patriarchal rules.

— Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

Supersex offers an in-depth starting point to examine superhero sexuality and eroticism...The chapters are not just a collection, but a dialogue that allows for a subjective multiplicity that ultimately provides a rich tapestry of insights that are interlinked even (or especially) when they are contradictory...[Supersex] offers a wonderful exploration of the contradictions inherent to supersex.

— Journal of American Studies

From the queering of costume to weapons and war, shapeshifting characters, and buddy systems, Supersex takes the subject to places not usually explored, creating a solid foundation for future scholars and critics...Supersex is a long, rich academic book; however, it’s highly accessible and written with enthusiasm and verve...curious readers seek something a little weightier and will find plenty to ponder.

— Women Write about Comics

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION. Presence and Absence in Theory and Practice: Locating Supersex Anna F. Peppard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. COMICS
1. Tarpé Mills’s Miss Fury: Costume, Sexuality, and Power Richard Reynolds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
2. Superman Family Values: Supersex in the Silver Age Matt Yockey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
3. A Storm of Passion: Sexual Agency and Symbolic Capital in the X-Men’s Storm J. Andrew Deman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
4. Dazzler, Melodrama, and Shame: Mutant Allegory, Closeted Readers Brian Johnson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
5. “Super-Gay” Gay Comix: Tracing the Underground Origins and Cultural Resonances of LGBTQ Superheroes Sarah M. Panuska Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
6. Parents, Counterpublics, and Sexual Identity in Young Avengers Keith Friedlander Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
PART II. FILM, TELEVISION, AND FAN CULTURE
7. X-Men Films and the Domestication of Dissent: Sexuality, Race, and Respectability Christopher B. Zeichmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
8. Over the Rainbow Bridge: Female/Queer Sexuality in Marvel’s Thor Film Trilogy Samantha Langsdale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
9. “No One’s Going to Be Looking at Your Face”: The Female Gaze and the New (Super)Man in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Anna F. Peppard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
10. The Visible and the Invisible: Superheroes, Pornography, and Phallic Masculinity Jeffrey A. Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
11. “I Think That’s My Favorite Weapon in the Whole Batcave”: Interrogating the Subversions of Men.com’s Gay Superhero Porn Parodies Joseph Brennan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
12. “That’s Pussy Babe!”: Queering Supergirl’s Confessions of Power Olivia Hicks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291
13. Meet Stephanie Rogers, Captain America: Genderbending the Body Politic in Fan Art, Fiction, and Cosplay Anne Kustritz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
EPILOGUE: The Matter with Size Richard Harrison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	367

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 384
Illustrations
- Other: 11 b&w photos, 45 b&w illus.
Keywords: comic books; comics; comics studies; comics scholars; sexuality; gender and media; Superheroes; Superheroines; Wonder Woman; sex; graphic novels; superhero; queer comics; queer media; sex in popular culture

eBook

Published: December 8, 2020
ISBN: 9781477321621