The Superhero Symbol: Media, Culture, and Politics

Published by Rutgers University Press 2020

The Superhero Symbol

Media, Culture, and Politics

Edited by: Liam Burke , Ian Gordon and Angela Ndalianis
With contributions by: Liam Burke , Henry Jenkins , Neal Curtis , Jason Bainbridge , Mitchell Adams , Ian Gordon , Tara Lomax , Dan Golding , Steven Conway , Claire Langsford , Vladislav Iouchkov , John McGuire , Naja Later , Paul M. Malone , Shan Mu Zhao and Kevin Patrick

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813597201

Overview
Contents

About this book

“As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting”. In the 2005 reboot of the Batman film franchise, Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne articulates how the figure of the superhero can serve as a transcendent icon.

It is hard to imagine a time when superheroes have been more pervasive in our culture. Today, superheroes are intellectual property jealously guarded by media conglomerates, icons co-opted by grassroots groups as a four-color rebuttal to social inequities, masks people wear to more confidently walk convention floors and city streets, and bulletproof banners that embody regional and national identities. From activism to cosplay, this collection unmasks the symbolic function of superheroes.

Bringing together superhero scholars from a range of disciplines, alongside key industry figures such as Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini, The Superhero Symbol provides fresh perspectives on how characters like Captain America, Iron Man, and Wonder Woman have engaged with media, culture, and politics, to become the “everlasting” symbols to which a young Bruce Wayne once aspired.

Author / Editor information

LIAM BURKE is the Cinema and Screen Studies Coordinator at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, where he also teaches classes on comic books and cinema. He has written and edited a number of books including The Comic Book Film Adaptation (2015), Fan Phenomena Batman (2012), and Superhero Movies (2008).

IAN GORDON teaches cultural history and American Studies at the National University of Singapore, where he is the Head of the Department of History. His books include Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon (2017), Kid Comic Strips: A Genre Across Four Countries (2016), Comic Strips and Consumer Culture (1998), and the edited work Film and Comic Books (2007).

ANGELA NDALIANIS is Director of the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology. The books she has written or edited include The Horror Sensorium: Media and the Senses (2012), Science Fiction Experiences (2010), The Contemporary Comic Book Superhero (2009), Super/Heroes: from Hercules to Superman (2007), and Neo-Baroque Aesthetics and Contemporary Entertainment (2004).

Reviews

"Throughout the essays cross-refer, giving the collection considerable unity. Combining fundamental concerns in superhero studies with a variety of thought-provoking special topics, and studded with color illustrations, this is a worthwhile collection for both knowledgeable scholars and newcomers to superhero studies. Recommended."

— Choice

"With contributions by an imposing list of scholars, The Superhero Symbol offers readers enlightening essays on the politics of the superhero, on the commercial branding, nationalism and national identity, on sexuality and sexual identity, and on the culture and mythology of the superhero; in short, everything about the superhero that you never asked because it never even occurred to you to ask."

— Trina Robbins, author of Pretty in Ink, North American Women Cartoonists 1896 - 2013

"This extraordinary league of transmedial comics scholars pull off the impossible: the definitive tome on how global industries create and planetary consumers actively engage with the superhero symbol. The tack-sharp cross-disciplinary scholarship along with deep-probe interviews with industry titans take us on a wild journey through time and space to forcefully show how those costume-clad full-chested insignias and sky-beamed icons are much more than expressions of fan-boy wish fulfilment fantasies. Provocative. Field defining. A must read!"

— Frederick Luis Aldama, author of the Eisner Award winning Latinx Superheroes in Mainstream Comics

"There is a lot of ground covered in this book, much of which will make you think beyond your normal perimeters and that’s never a bad thing and makes for an interesting book."

— SFcrowsnest

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction “Everlasting” Symbols Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1 Superheroes, Politics, and Civic Engagement
1 “What Else Can You Do with Them?” Superheroes and the Civic Imagination Henry Jenkins Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2 “America Is a Piece of Trash” Captain America, Patriotism, Nationalism, and Fascism Neal Curtis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
3 “This Land Is Mine!” Understanding the Function of Supervillains Jason Bainbridge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
4 An Interview with Comics Artist, Writer, and “Herstorian” Trina Robbins Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Part 2 The Superhero as Brand
5 The Secret Commercial Identity of Superheroes Protecting the Superhero Symbol Mitchell Adams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
6 Siegel and Shuster as Brand Name Ian Gordon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
7 Practicing Superhuman Law Creative License, Industrial Identity, and Spider-Man’s Homecoming Tara Lomax Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
8 The Sound of the Cinematic Superhero Dan Golding Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	135
9 An Interview with Former President of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Part 3 Becoming the Superhero
10 Arkham Knave The Joker in Game Design Steven Conway Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
11 Being Super, Becoming Heroes Dialogic Superhero Narratives in Cosplay Collectives Claire Langsford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
12 From Pages to Pavements A Criminological Comparison between Depictions of Crime Control in Superhero Narratives and “Real-Life Superhero” Activity Vladislav Iouchkov and John McGuire Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
13 An Interview with Dark Night: A True Batman Story Writer Paul Dini Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Part 4 Superheroes and National Identity
14 Captain America, National Narratives, and the Queer Subversion of the Retcon Naja Later Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
15 Apes, Angels, and Super Patriots The Irish in Superhero Comics Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
16 Missing in Action The Late Development of the German-Speaking Superhero Paul M. Malone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
17 Chinese Milk for Iron Men Superhero Coproductions and Technological Anxiety Shan Mu Zhao Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	273
18 Age of the Atoman Australian Superhero Comics and Cold War Modernity Kevin Patrick Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	286
19 An Interview with Cleverman Creator Ryan Griffen and Star Hunter Page-Lochard Liam Burke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 335
Illustrations
- Other: 34 color images, 3 BW images, 1 table

eBook

Published: December 13, 2019
ISBN: 9780813597201