Tag Archives: Superheroes

Super-History: Comic Book Superheroes and American Society, 1938 to the Present

My new book, Super-History: Comic Book Superheroes and American Society, 1938 to Present, came out last week and I am excited to finally see it in print. It is a social history of the U.S. from 1938 until 2010 using comic book superheroes as lenses through which to view society. It traces the changes in American society by showcasing these social and cultural transformations in superhero stories. There are a lot of books about comic books on the market but I think this is the first that tries to teach U.S. history by connecting real world events to the stories from the comic book pages. I’m very proud of how it turned out and I hope I can sell some copies now.

Too Graphic

Comic books have become popular lately among television and movie creators. Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, and Sin City have propelled many comic book characters into the popular imagination. Although it is wonderful to have comic book characters recognized and appreciated by a wider audience, this also often leads to over simplification. As people begin to learn more about comic book superheroes, they also begin to create shorthand labels that the new viewer accepts as fact. To label something is to pigeon-hole its existence and to deny it room to grow, expand, or change. This happened in the 1960s when the Batman television show briefly kicked off a national fad. Twice a week the television series featured notable Hollywood stars, new action sequences, and campy fun. This became annoying for many comic book fans when people who didn’t read comic books continued to use the Batman television show to define superheroes for decades. Although the fun campy Batman of the 1960s is a part of superhero lore it is only a part. Superheroes are so much more than that but many people did not know this. I remember reading a Time Magazine article in 1986 entitled, “Bang! Pow! Zap! Heroes are Back!” Twenty years after the Batman television series ended, a major American news source writer referred to it in a story about changing comic books. Although the story references Batman: The Knight Returns, the author seems to care little that superheroes are more than campy 1960s fun. For over 20 years, to many people the idea of comic books meant campy dialogue, over the top action scenes, and silly stories.

It seems that comic books and their cousins graphic novels now have a new meaning to some people. Many of the creators and actors of the new Starz television series Spartacus: Blood and Sand, describe the show as a television graphic novel. This point was repeated so often that it was obviously important to someone that the public link the new series with comic books/ graphic novels. This makes sense because comic books/ graphic novels have a certain amount of appeal and popularity at the moment. What it is interesting about the series is what the creators think it means to be a “graphic novel.” I was curious so I watched the first episode of the show on Netflix. My one sentence review is that the show has a lot of graphic and very little novel. The show focuses on violence and sex and the creators seemingly enjoy showing slow motion blood splatter, gruesome battle scenes, and full frontal nudity. I enjoy sex and violence as much as the next guy (made more than some) but here the sex and nudity seemed gratuitous and the violence and gore forced. The plot of Spartacus is plodding and the story seems contrived. It was almost as if the show was created by a 14 year old boy who enjoyed grossing the audiences, showing more blood, and getting to see more people naked. I now understand what Spartacus‘s creators mean by graphic novel though, Frank Miller’s 300. The show is a blatant rip off of the Miller comic book turned movie with more slow motion violence and extra sex to add to the spectacle. The combination doesn’t work at all and once again someone had pigeon holed the idea of comic books. Let’s hope this definition doesn’t take hold among the public at large. Comic books are too diverse and exceptional to be limited by such a label. Let’s also hope that no one had equated Spartacus with graphic novels. There are enough bad television shows out there and we don’t need some one to blame this one on the comic book community.

The Metatextual Hero

I’ve been thinking about metatextuality the last few days. Although there are many types of metatexuality, I’ve been concentrating on fictional narratives in which a character understands that he/ she is a part of a film, television show, or comic book. I watched the Woody Allen movie Whatever Works last night  in which the lead character (played by Larry David) is the only person who knows that he is in a film. That made me think about the old Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd television Moonlighting, in which both actors openly “broke the fourth wall” and talked to the viewing audience. Although these instances certainly exist in film and television, I believe that the comic book is the ultimate metatextual popular culture art form. Although Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man, in which the title superhero gets to meet his creator, is probably the most well-known, the history of comic books is filled with metatextual stories. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby not being allowed into Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s wedding in Fantastic Four Annual #3. Action Comics #554 in which two children have to create Superman so that he can save the world. Fantastic Four #511 where Jack Kirby is God. The Julie Schwartz 70th birthday issue in Superman #411. Or even the latest Superboy/ Superman/ Superboy Prime Stories in Adventure Comics. Not to mention numerous cover in which a lead character speaks directly to the audience. After giving it some thought, I believe that superhero comic books by their very nature are metatextual. Superhero stories are the new American mythology. This hero narrative consists of hundreds of thousands of stories and works to explain American life.  The two leading publishers, Marvel and DC, have crafted intricate universes for over seventy years and all of these stories fit together to create possibly the most detailed mythology ever written. (DC and Marvel’s heroes have interacted many times and from this viewpoint it would be fair to say that the two universes are now one shared mythology.) These comic book mythologies are built on the same things that all mythologies are; belief. The heroes and their stories exist because the readers say they do. Although the writers give create the characters, the readers give them life. Except for promotion events like his “death,” Superman has appeared in multiple stories every month for over seventy years. He, and other heroes, become a part of the fabric of reader’s lives and no longer are just characters but weekly/ monthly friends. A television show or a movie series are periodic and rarely follow a set schedule. They also always end. A comic book can be counted on to appear monthly (or close to it unless the creative team is terribly late.) This creates a relationship with the reader that is metatextual by nature. The reader becomes part of the hero’s universe and the hero becomes part of his/her’s. Although the hero is not always shown to be metatexually aware, the reader often assumes he/she because of the ongoing relationship. This creates a connection that is rare in any other medium. No wonder I can’t stop buying comic books.