Batman Unmasked - Will Brooker

Although books focused on superhero comics are not unheard of, such an in depth study of a single character like Will Brooker's investigation of Batman is still a very welcome entry.
In his own words, "This book is an investigation, a detection, a 'forensic examination' of the disparate texts which have borne the signifier 'Batman' over 60 years, in an attempt to reconstruct their context and hence recover the meanings carried by this cultural icon at key moments in his history".

Covering the entire history of Batman can be a daunting task where a detailed study can easily lose focus, but Brooker manages to sustain his perspective by being consistent in his questions that he directs to all periods of history, which he lists as;
-What does Batman signify in this cultural moment?
-What wider context surrounds this particular inflexion?
-What different interpretations govern this meaning, and within which matrix of imposed, 'dominant', delimiting and counter-definitions is it situated?

By carefully defining his objectives, Brooker then moves on to provide a very useful and detailed overview of the history of Batman. Starting with his origins, he discusses how the essentials of the character are established, then moves on to how the Batman franchise opened up to different interpretations, especially with the controversial 60's TV series. While discussing the issue, Brooker demonstrates excellent non-partiality and successfully places his objects within their carefully defined cultural contexts.
His attitude is similarly objective and perpective when analyzing the later incarnations of the Batman, like the 80's Miller graphic novels and movie adaptations by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher.
Although he admits being a fan of Batman and warns the reader that he can not be fully value-free in analyzing his beloved chilhood hero, Brooker's work is the most objective study of a comic book character I have came across until now. He successfully identifies the cultural components of each of the eras that he analyzes and places the relevant Batman titles within them with insight.
For the fans of the Dark Knight, Batman Unmasked will make a revealing read, an excellent demonstration on how personal tastes and preferences can disturb perception.
For all those who are interested in the academic study of comics, Brooker's excellent study is a brilliant example of how a character as complex and layered as Batman can, and should, be treated.
Overall, an excellent read, highly recommended.

Superman on the Couch - Danny Fingeroth

In his 2004 volume Superman on the Couch comics industry veteran Danny Fingeroth aims to go beyond the history of superhero comics and analyze the reasons for our persistent fascination with them and what this can tell about our societies.
For his analysis, Fingeroth identifies certain key elements that are common amongst superhero comics starting with their dual identity and their orphanage, moves on to their built-up anger and the values they represent. But before tackling with these individual aspects, Fingeroth addresses the question, where do superheroes come from and what they represent.

According to Fingeroth, a superhero represents what we believe is best in ourselves, he/she is a standard to aspire to as well as an individual to be admired.
In general, then, a superhero is an individual who possess extraordinary skills and abilities, with a strength of character and a set of values. The superhero is determined to protect these values with his/her abilities, regardless of the circumstances. Fingeroth points out that these exact identifiers can also be applied to a supervillain. An interesting observation that he later picks up in his chapter on values.

Defining superheroes as such, Fingeroth also states that they relate to many important social an psychological issues on many levels and that they have a timeless quality that can be adapted by an endless variety of media and audiences.

After providing a brief history of superhero comics, Fingeroth moves on to the key issues he identifies within them, starting with the dual identity. Arguing that dual identity is appealing to the readers because it lets them imagine themselves as superheroes deep down, Fingeroth also mentions the particular attractiveness of such a setup to a young immigrant generation, which was a principal audience of the comics in 30's and 40's. Fingeroth argues that the immigrant experience of a divided identity between an everyday American on the street and an ethnic minority at home amongst family is well-represented by, especially, Superman.

Speaking of the family ties of the superhero, the next issue Fingeroth takes up is the orphanage of the superhero character. He argues that being an orphan leaves the young hero free of parental guidance and lets himself invest into his pursuit, while all his achievements will be even more impressive for they are accomplished without any external support.

Following these issues that concern the individuality of superheroes, Fingeroth turns his attention to women in superhero narratives and observes that traditionally, women who acquire great power would eventually become evil characters, but recently this trend is being abandoned and powerful female superhero characters like Buffy are becoming very popular.

Next topic addressed in the book is the family relations as they are represented by the superhero comics. Fingeroth argues that throughout their history, superhero comics have presented many opportunities to analyze and fantasize about family from the 'real' family issues of the Fantastic Four to the chosen, surrogate, family of the X-Men.

Fingeroth then return to issues surrounding individual superheroes and takes up the issue of anger, which play a very central role in the characterization of some of the most important figures of the genre, most prominent of which is the Batman. Fingeroth compares Batman's determined and rationally channeled anger with the uncontrollable rage of the Hulk, which he likens to the primal scream resulting from our daily existence. In contrast, Batman takes this existential anger, combines it with the anger towards a system corrupt to the core, and puts it to a constructive use.

Another important aspect of the superhero character, and hence the subject of the next chapter, is the teenage sidekick. When the likes of Robin the boy wonder, were first introduced,they primarily served the purpose of keeping the hero company and giving him someone to talk to. Also, they were aimed to provide a character to be identified with for the teenage audiences. But with the changing times the role of the teenage sidekick has changed as well and finally with Spider-man, a teenage character has become the superhero, and not just any other one but the one of the most interesting and popular characters ever created.
After his analysis of Spider-man's unique characteristics, Fingeroth argues that Spidey is the apex of the superhero genre.

Finally, Fingeroth considers the values superheroes represent and the villains that they fight against. Although his analysis of this issue is not as deep as some other works like the American Monomyth, he asks some relevant and important questions and, like others, mentions the self-reflective character of the latest movement in the comics. An interesting observation that Fingeroth makes is that the movie adaptations of superhero stories are aimed at non-jaded newcomers that are not bothered by the simplistic morals of the the stories, therefore the movies generally can afford presenting them while the comic books themselves are bought and read by an audience that is learned in these simplistic ways and are ready to question them.

Overall, Superman on the Couch points to a very useful set of issues concerned with superhero comics, some of which are dealt in a more detailed way elsewhere but some unique to Fingeroth's study. Although the analysis accompanying the identified issues are not always dealt with great depth, the inquisitive approach of the author is exemplary and his work can be considered as an excellent entry volume into a better understanding superhero comics and hopefully inspire its readers to further the very interesting research agenda attempted by Fingeroth.

The American Monomyth - Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence (Pt.2 - On Superman)

For a general introduction of The American Monomyth, please refer to the first part of my review.

In their discussion of the development of the American Monomyth, Jewett and Lawrence refer to the period between 1929 and 1939 as the axial decade (185) where the development of the national monomyth has begun to enter into its maturity, where the slowly developing hero becomes a superhuman with extraordinary abilities along with a completely repressed sexuality and a fully hidden identity.

Of course, the most easily recognized figure who feature these characteristics is Superman. Originally dreamed up by Siegel and Shuster in 1933, he became a publishing phenomenon in 1938 and almost single-handedly created the superhero comic genre and defined its core principles for the decades to come.

In tracing the development of the superhero cult, the authors follow the emergence and development of the nameless hero figure who starts out by saving troubled frontier towns from external evils. Jewett and Lawrence argue that such a figure is endemic to the American culture and dates as far as the discovery of the continent. Over time, the feats that the nameless hero accomplishes grow more incredible and his powers become ever greater. At last, in the axial decade, we arrive at Superman. The success of Superman also signified an important transition in the form of Clark Kent. The redemptive God with superhuman strength was now disguised as Everyman, enabling the ordinary masses to share the fantasy.

The love triangle between Louis Lane, Clark Kent and the Superman is very significant in explaining this phenomenon. While Clark is desperately in love with Louis, as Superman, he sees her only as a helpless hostage to be rescued from dire situations and does not care that she is in love with him, and Louis, in turn, despises the dull and clumsy Clark and desires the infinitely powerful Superman.

The authors argue that such a relationship is very appealing to comic book readers, who are mostly boys approaching puberty. They know themselves to be "Clark Kent"s, but the fantasy leads them to believe that they are Superman underneath the glasses and although the girl they are in love does not care about them, they will in turn not care about the girl when they become Superman. Also implied in this triangle is the completion of the sexual renunciation of the superhero, necessitated by the serialization of his adventures. For any true superhero to continue his exploits every week, no single episode can end with a superhero flying off to the sunset with his bride.

Another effect of the serialization, brought by comic books and radio plays, while taking away the blissful union of partners at the end (signifying the restoration of Eden), is to carry the redemption acts into miraculous territories. Comic book pages and radio broadcasts allowed the presentation of spectacular actions of superheroes and blessed them with capabilities that enable the heroes to confront previously unthinkable odds.

A very central element in these superhuman abilities is some form of rapid mobility. The authors state that the ability to transcend space and time, like Superman, is the most characteristic and coveted form of freedom in America. But, beyond all else, the most crucial implication of the superhero myth relates to power, society and democratic institutions.

By destroying evil in magnificent feats, superheroes restore the peace and harmony in heaven, as argued before, in that sense they fulfill the promise of religious redeemers, while secularizing this ideal, superheroes also project their power onto ordinary citizens with their alter egos. In this sense, while they are a display of absolute power, their power remains benign, transforming lawless vigilantism into a perfect embodiment of law enforcement.

The authors argue that with these conventions, the monomyth fails to capture tragic complexities of human life. It forgets that every gain entails a loss, that extraordinary benefits exact requisite costs, and that injury is usually proportionate to the amount of violence employed.
The American monomyth offers vigilantism without lawlessness, sexual repression without resultant perversion, and moral infallibility without the use of intellect. The superhero who delivers this absolute justice by eliminating due process of law constitutes a form of leadership without paying the price of political relations or responding to the preferences of the majority.

In conclusion, the authors argue that the monomyth "betrays deep antagonism toward the creative exercise of reason on the part of the public as well as the individual." (215)
"In the exercise of redemptive power, purity of intention suffice; careful deliberation, knowledge of law, and mastery of book learning are usually presented in monomythic materials as indicator of impotence and corruption.
Heroes are either static, innately possessing all the wisdom they need, or they learn all they require from a single incident.
So hostile is monomythic material to individual intelligence that one of its most durable conventions is to use "brains" as a distinguishing trait of evil persons" (215).

"In summary, the American monomyth rejects democratic values at a number of crucial points. It conveys a pessimism about democratic institutions and public responsibilities, a messianic expectation that society can be redeemed by a single stroke, and an impatience with constitutional process.
In its repeated celebration of the evasion of collective responsibility, the monomyth has become a ritual of the demonic. So skillful, so eloquent and moving are its materials that they are probably the most effective sources of the erosion of democratic credibility today" (216).

As a conclusion, the authors not the ability of the monomythic material to glorify individualism but argue that the form has to incorporate democratic ideals and cooperation instead of redemption by a single and omnipotent purge.

It should be noted however that the subject matter of the study is not limited to comic books and purpose of the work was to survey the popular culture landscape of 20th Century America, which comic books constitute a significant element. Nevertheless, although somewhat dated, most of the arguments presented in the book provide useful insights and present further research opportunities for researching comics.

The American Monomyth - Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence (Pt.1 - An Introduction)

As consumers of popular culture, looking back to the past from 2008, the pattern should be familiar to us now;
An idyllic heaven is threatened by some external force, against which the hard-working, honest townsfolk is helpless. A selfless hero of superhuman capabilities and dedication comes to save the day and restores the harmony by violently dealing with the external threat.

Most recognizable from superhero comics, this pattern has pervaded to every outlet of popular culture and has become a major force in forming our expectations towards problem resolution.
But where does it come from and how does it work?
In their 1977 volume The Amerian Monomyth, Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence aim to decipher this phenomenon, which they call the American Monomyth.

In his introduction to the book, Isaac Asimov states that despite the scientific and technological advances of the past centuries, American society has not moved beyond mythical consciousness, but has replaced the classical monomyth with a distinctively American one. Asimov argues that the central theme of the American monomyth is redemption, whereas the classical pattern was centered around a rite of initiation. The theme of redemption is a secularized adoption from the Judeo-Christian dramas, where a selfless servent impassively gives his life to serving others and zealously destroys evil that threatens them. Asimov further argues that, in such a setting, these supersaviors function as a replacement for the Christ figure and the fan loyalties that these stories invoke should be compared to traditional religious following.
Asimov warns that such a perspective imparts the relaxing feeling that society can actually be redeemed by anti-democratic means.

In order to elaborate the basic premise outlined by Asimov in his introduction, the authors Jewett and Lawrence take up some of the most influential popular culture icons of the 20th century and demonstrate how the monomtyh can be identified in their core messages.

Their examples include Star Trek; the Starship Enterprise as the redeemer figure for troubled people and its crew as the sexually repressed men of dedication and iron will.
And Playboy; whose images of lustful and craving women trying to seduce upright, disinterested and cool men who only seem to accept their invitation to redeem them from the delirium of their lust.
Brilliant these analysis may be, but for the purposes of this blog, I want to concentrate on the authors' analysis of the superhero comics in general and Superman in particular on the second part of my review.

How to Read Superhero Comics and Why - Geoff Klock

Superhero comics constitute an overwhelming majority of the comics market, they are, for most people, the most familiar face of the whole medium. Yet, the burgeoning academic interest in comics mostly seems to pass them by. Although superheros and more specifically their readers have been a subject of analysis from sociological and psychological perspectives, superhero comics themselves are probably perceived as still being a bit vulgar and shallow to merit any literary analysis.
Geoff Klock's How to Read Superhero Comics and Why (2003) aims to counter this perception and offers an interesting look at some of the most important works in the genre through literary perspective.
Klock specifies his object of analysis as the revisionary comics, a trend that started to evolve in the last two decades of the 20th Century. As a mark of maturity that has clearly identifiable beginnings, revisionary comic books have fundamentally recast the way comic book artists and audiences perceive the genre since their appereance.
Although Klock extends his analysis onto many works that follow them, his insights are arguably at their most incisive during his analysis of the two monumental works that has given birth to the revisionist trend in superhero comics. These two works are of course, Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchmen. By carefully identifying the way these seminal works relate themselves to the rest of the comic book history, Klock illustrates his argument that these works are indeed the first examples of a revisionist attitude in comic book artist.
Klock's rich and detailed reading of these important works are very illustrative, both in understanding the depth of Miller and Moore's significance but also in grasping the importance of the revisionist movement within the comic book history.
Although not as comprehensive as some other book I have covered so far, How to Read Superhero Comics is very enlightening and precise where it delivers its analytical perspective on some of the most important comic books ever written and for that measure, it is a work of unique value.

A personal Sandman Paper

The following is a paper I have written about the theory of intertextuality and The Sandman. It also features a short introduction to comics media in general and later discusses their overall compatibility with intertextuality.
This paper was written as a final assignment for the course "Between Media" in Fall 2006 and also been presented in the "8th Annual Graduate Student Conference" of the Department of English at the Southern Connecticut State University on April 21, 2007.

The Sandman Papers - Ed. Joe Sanders

Since its first publication in 1989, The Sandman has been a subject of endless praise and popularity amongst both comic book fans and strangers to the medium. Many has credited Neil Gaiman's masterpiece for drawing fresh crowds into comic book readership with its elaborate plots and complex characters. When the sheer amount of historical and mythological themes that are intertwined within the long arc of the work is considered, it is no surprise that The Sandman is a very popular comic book for academics as well.
The Sandman Papers (2006), edited by Joe Sanders is an attempt to collect a series of essays written about Gaiman's famous work. Even before coming to the quality of the individual essays and the depth of the book, I think it should be acknowledged that publication of an essay collection that is solely devoted to a single comic book title sends out a very optimistic message for the study of the comic books in general and proves how much comics have come their long struggle to be recognized.
The Sandman Papers is organized into two broad categories according to the scope of the issues that are dealt within the articles presented. The first category, "Episodes & Themes", contain articles that take up a specific aspect of Gaiman's work and analyze it from a certain perspective.
Titles of the papers included in this section are as follows;
-"The Origin of The Sandman" by B. Keith Murphy
-"Of Stories and Storytellers in Gaiman and Vess's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'" by Joe Sanders
-"A Game of You-Yes, You" by David Bratman
-"The King is Dead, Long Liv the King: Orientalism, The Sandman, and Humanity" by Renata Sancken
-"Illusory Adversaries?: Images of Female Power in Sandman:The Kindly Ones" by K.A. Laity
-"Prospero Framed in Neil Gaiman's The Wake" by Joan Gordon

It should be noted that a common theme among the essays presented here is the focus on the multi-layered structure Gaiman has composed within the narrative of the Sandman. For all the readers of the comic book who are interested in possible ways of exploring some of the themes Gaiman presents, these essays offer a very interesting starting point and illustration of what can be done.
For those who want to go further, the second section of the book, "Larger Contexts", offers studies of the Sandman narrative within broader literary and theorethical frameworks. The essays presented here are;
-"Aether/Ore: The Dreamworld Descends to Earth" by Alan Levitan
-"Of Parents and Children and Dreams in Mr.Punch and The Sandman" by Joe Sanders
-"Imaginary Places and Fantastic Narratives: Reading Borges Through The Sandman" by Leonara Soledad Sousa e Paula
-"Reinventing the Spiel: Old Stories, New Approaches" by Stacie Hanes and Joe Sanders
-"Omnia Mutantur: The Use of Asian Dress in the Appereance of Dream from The Sandman" by Lyra McMullen
-"Lesbian Language, Queer Imaginings, and in Death: The Time of Your Life" by Joe Sutliff Sanders
As mentioned earlier, these articles provide interesting examples to the possibilities of studying Gaiman's work with relation to larger contexts.

Although some of the texts lack a certain degree of cohesiveness and integrity, what they all succeed in achieving is to prove the overall depth and suitability for academic scrutiny of The Sandman in particular and comics books in general.
It goes without saying that any fan of The Sandman, or Gaiman, would be curious to read the findings of these articles on their beloved works but The Sandman Papers also appeals highly to all who are interested in the academic study of comic books for The Sandman is one of the richest sources for any intellectual inquiry and Sanders' book goes a long way of doing it justice.

The Ten-Cent Plague - David Hajdu

The period between late 40's and early 60's are considered as being in between the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of the Silver Age of American comics. Although some of the key events of the period have been mentioned elsewhere, notably in the relevant chapters of the Comic Book Nation, they have never been subjected to a detailed historical analysis.
David Hajdu's The Ten-Cent Plague (2008) aims to close this gap by focusing on this amazing period.
Hajdu starts his narrative with the boom of comics in the American popular culture scene in the 20's. From this point on, he presents an extremely detailed and rich history of the proliferation of the comics industry both with facts and profiles on important characters. From an early point on the immense care Hajdu has shown over his historical research shows itself in the density and colorfulness of his narrative is really worth the praise.

While tracing the history of the industry over the years, Hajdu also follows the social and economic developments and aims to present the psyche of the general audience of comics.
As the time moves on and the main subject of the book becomes more apparent, the public reaction against the comic books, Hajdu's historical narration reads as exciting as a novel while presenting various sources from his research for validity.
Both during and after the events that lead to the establishment of the Comics Code, a very detailed analysis of the broader social effects are presented while the toll these drastic measures took on the comic book industry reads like a true lament. (Hajdu thoughtfully provides a list at the end of the names of artists who lost their jobs and never returned to comics after the purge of 50's.)

While the Ten-Cent Plague is an indispensable book for understanding the history and evolution of comics in America, it is also a very important example of great comics scholarship, crafted with both love towards the medium and historical objectivity.
In addition, Hajdu's presentation of the greatest public upheaval against a popular culture outlet carries great importance as a demonstration of how wrongly-channeled ignorance of the masses can aggravate into devastating results and it should stand as a warning sign for all discussions in the future concerning popular culture.

Reading Comics - Douglas Wolk

Although the cover jacket proclaims Wolk's 2007 volume as "the first serious, readable, provocative, canon-smashing book of comics theory and criticism", the very existence of this blog proves that Reading Comics is no such thing. But, apart from the rather pompous cover blurb, Wolk, as a veteran comics reader and critic, has succeeded in putting together a very interesting and comprehensive book nevertheless.
Reading Comics is organized in two parts, in the first part that takes up about one third of the book, Wolk discusses various theoretical subjects regarding comics and takes up some of the more general aspects of comics readership. The rest of the book is devoted to reviews and opinions of Wolk on individual artists and their work. Although he has very interesting views on some of the most important artists and his reviews of their work are on the whole very enlightening, for the purposes of this blog, I will focus on the first part of his book and present a summary of how he tackles with the theoretical aspects of comics.

Wolk starts with an insightful discussion of what comics are and what they aren't. He emphasizes the ways comics differ from prose and movies. He then sketches out some of the limitations and possibilities of the unique characteristics of comics' language.
After establishing his understanding of comics, Wolk states his mission as to explore some of the ways it's possible to read comics and he adds that his interest lies more with the way readers interact with comics than anything else.
The comics Wolk is interested in the most are the ones that display an individual and distinctive style, which in most cases exclude long-running series, even though they have considerable cultural significance.
In aiming to more clearly define style, Wolk attempts to describe it by adapting the auteur theory from cinema to comics.

After establishing his interests as such, and why he is interested in them, Wolk goes on to provide a very concise, yet illustrative history of the art comics movement.
This is especially important because the history of this artistically most creative branch of the medium is seldom told by other studies of comics history.
While telling their evolution, Wolk also cites several other literary and aesthetic theories to explain the way arts comics come to diverge from mainstream and how is this divergence significant.

Another very interesting topic Wolk takes up is the naming conventions of various comics. He suggests the terminology used by the comics industry;

• Periodic publications with saddle-stitching are comic books,
• Anything square bound is a graphic novel and
• comics is the abstract notion used to describe the form.

He claims that any value judgments that are inherent in terms like graphic novel and comic book are problematic and non-helpful.

Wolk also turns his attention to the comics culture and presents a very sincere picture of the comics enthusiasts and what he loves and hates about them.

Before finishing the theoretical part of his work, Wolk overviews the superhero genre and while trying to identify a way to constructively analyze them he suggests a deceptively simple question: "What does this character metaphorically stand for?"

Although Wolk covers in his theoretical writings many of the themes discussed brilliantly by both Eisner and McCloud, he manages to bring a personal approach to these issues and while I don't personally agree with some of his arguments, his sincere approach always makes interesting reading.

The rest of the book is taken up by the analyses of various comics artists and their work where Wolk usually provides very insightful and knowledgeable opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of the works discussed.

Overall, Reading Comics might not be the only book you'll ever need to read about comics but it provides a very interesting perspective on all the issues it tackles. Probably what I loved the most about the book though is the apparent love of comics of the author that can be felt in every sentence and at least in this respect, the book sets a great example.

Comic Book Nation - Bradford W. Wright

Although the works I have presented so far have all been theoretical in their focus, a clear understanding of the history and development of comics is also crucial for any comprehensive study of the medium. Bradford W. Wright’s Comic Book Nation (2001) addresses this need by providing a socio-cultural history of the comics from their origins until today. It should be noted from the beginning that Wright focuses almost solely on the mainstream American comics but given the longevity and overall cultural influence of the genre, such a focus is only adequate.
Wright starts by the birth of the Superman and the superhero genre it spawned. Following the burgeoning medium into its first golden age, Wright also presents a very interesting and incisive analysis of the socio-cultural environment that provided such a fertile ground for the proliferation of comics.
Covering the reactionary movement against the comic books in the late 40's and 50's that has almost killed the industry, Wright covers the rejuvenation of the medium, consistently providing a very comprehensive analysis all the way up to the beginning of the twentieth century.
As I mentioned earlier, although it presents a through narrative of the history of mainstream comics in America, the real brilliance of Wright's work is its ability to provide a very solid commentary on this narrative.
With the authority of a historian who has done his research properly, Wright provides much valued insights into the causes and effects of significant events in the comics' history. His insights into the motivations and intentions of some of the great figures, like William Gaines and Jack Kirby, prove to be very useful in understanding what these pioneers really achieved.
It should also be noted that although Wright is an avid comic book fan himself, he achieves in being objective while assessing the merits and harms of the cases he presents. I have never got the impression that he is pushing a personal point of view on some figure or work.
Overall, Comic Book Nation is an immensely helpful book that anyone who is interested in studying comics would benefit from. By combining a through historical overview with an illustrative analysis objectively, Wright's work serves a great need in comic book studies and is certainly a highly recommended read.