Author: David Tosh
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440248184
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 892

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Book Description
They Could Be Heroes Rise of the Superheroes--Greatest Silver Age Comic Books and Characters is a visual and entertaining adventure exploring one of the most popular and significant eras of comic book history. From 1956 to 1970, the era gave us Spider-Man, The Avengers, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and a flurry of other unforgettable and formidable characters. The Silver Age redefined and immortalized superheroes as the massive pop culture titans they are today. Lavishly illustrated with comic book covers and original art, the book chronicles: • The new frontier of DC Comics, with a revamped Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, and new characters including Hawkman • Marvel's new comics featuring Thor and The Fantastic Four • The pop art years that saw Batman's "new look" and the TV series • Independent characters, including Fat Fury and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents • Spotlights new and re-imagined superheroes, like Wonder Woman, who have become central to modern pop culture • Includes values of these comics, which are popular with collectors Thanks to the Silver Age, superheroes are bigger and badder than ever.

Author: The Editors of LIFE
Publisher: Time Home Entertainment
ISBN: 1547840811
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
Today, superheroes are more popular than ever, with action-packed movies, TV shows, comic books, graphic novels, and other genres celebrating themThe craft has become more sophisticated, the stories more intricate, with the entire art-form now elevated and celebrated. For as long as characters such as Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, etc. have been a part of popular culture, the oldest "modern" superhero is only just over 80 years old, that being Superman. Now, in a new Special Edition from LIFE, Rise of the Superhero, which includes an introduction by the legendary Stan Lee, the editors of LIFE trace the superhero phenomenon from its earliest days, then explores the superheroes of today, through historical and current photographs and entertaining text. Essays place the evolution of various superheroes throughout the context of world events through each decade, antiheroes are explored, and the technology that has been used to create the movies and comic books - and influenced the stories - is explained, giving the reader a complete and concise history of the genre. An exclusive bonus showcases the great Adam West, the original TV Batman, with little-seen photos. Celebrate the history of great superheroes with this keepsake collectible.

Author: Peter Nowak
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
ISBN: 1771622512
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Meanwhile, back in the darkened alleys of a city near you... trouble is brewing. A fight breaks out. A mugger shakes down an innocent tourist. Inequality is on the rise. Enter our heroes. Dark Guardian chases off an angry drug dealer in Manhattan. Mr. Xtreme charges in and breaks up a San Diego bar brawl. T.O. Ronin hugs a homeless man on the snowy streets of Toronto. These aren’t the big-screen or comic-book heroes that have been increasingly dominating pop culture. They’re real-life superheroes: individuals who take on masked personae to fight crime and help the helpless. They don’t have superpowers, but they do try to make the world a better place. Lifelong comic-book fan and veteran journalist Peter Nowak goes to the source of this phenomenon, meeting with real-life superheroes in North America and around the world to get their stories and investigate what the movement means for the future of society. To some people, real-life superheroes may seem like quirky outliers or dangerous vigilantes but, as Nowak shows, they are also archetypes whose job is to remind us of the better part of human nature.

Author: Brian J. Robb
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 1472110706
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
A fascinating written exploration of the superhero phenomenon, from its beginnings in the depths of Great Depression to the blockbuster movies of today. For over 90 years, superheroes have been interrogated, deconstructed, and reinvented. In this wide-ranging study, Robb looks at the diverse characters, their creators, and the ways in which their creations have been reinvented for successive generations. Inevitably, the focus is on the United States, but the context is international, including an examination of characters developed in India and Japan in reaction to the traditional American hero. Sections examine: the birth of the superhero, including Superman, in 1938; the DC family (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Justice Society/League of America), from the 1940s to the 1960s; the superheroes enlistment in the war effort in the 1940s and 50s; their neutering by the Comics Code; the challenge to DC from the Marvel family (The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, and The X-Men), from the 1960s to the 1980s; the superhero as complex anti-hero; superheroes deconstructed in the 1980s (The Watchmen and Frank Miller’s Batman), and their politicization; independent comic book creators and new publishers in the 1980s and 90s; superheroes in retreat, and their rebirth at the movies in blockbusters from Batman to Spider-Man and The Avengers.

Author: Chris Knowles
Publisher: Weiser Books
ISBN: 1609253167
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Was Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on Aleister Crowley? Can Captain Marvel be linked to the Sun gods on antiquity? In Our Gods Wear Spandex, Christopher Knowles answers these questions and brings to light many other intriguing links between superheroes and the enchanted world of estoerica. Occult students and comic-book fans alike will discover countless fascinating connections, from little known facts such as that DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz started his career as H.P. Lovecraft's agent, to the tantalizingly extensive influence of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy on the birth of comics, to the mystic roots of Superman. The book also traces the rise of the comic superheroes and how they relate to several cultural trends in the late 19th century, specifically the occult explosion in Western Europe and America. Knowles reveals the four basic superhero archetypes--the Messiah, the Golem, the Amazon, and the Brotherhood--and shows how the occult Bohemian underground of the early 20th century provided the inspiration for the modern comic book hero. With the popularity of occult comics writers like Invisibles creator Grant Morrison and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, the vast ComiCon audience is poised for someone to seriously introduce them to the esoteric mysteries. Chris Knowles is doing just that in this epic book. Chapters include Ancient of Days, Ascended Masters, God and Gangsters, Mad Scientists and Modern Sorcerers, and many more. From the ghettos of Prague to the halls of Valhalla to the Fortress of Solitude and the aisles of BEA and ComiCon, this is the first book to show the inextricable link between superheroes and the enchanted world of esoterica. * Chris Knowles is associate editor and columnist for the five-time Eisner Award-winning Comic Book Artist magazine, as well as a pop culture writer for UK magazine Classic Rock. * Knowles worked with Robert Smigel on The X Presidents graphic novel, based on the popular Saturday Night Live cartoon, and has created designs and artwork for many of the world's top superheroes and fantasy characters. * Features the art of Joe Linsner, creator of the legendary Dawn series, and more recently a collaborator with comics maestro Stan Lee.

Author: Brian Solomon
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493064525
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Superheroes! is the ultimate reference book about the men and women in tights who fight for what’s right and the comic book phenomenon that conquered the world. From their origins in stories created by barely grown men during an era of global war and printed on cheap paper for consumption by children, superheroes have grown into a popular culture whirlwind that has attracted millions of fans and crossed over into every form of media. Encompassing early coming books, indie outliers, and the mammoth fictional universes managed by DC and Marvel, Superheroes! chronicles the rise of a distinctly American invention, the modern-day evolution of the myths and legends of old. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Captain America, X-Men, the Justice League and the Avengers—they all represent our greatest hopes, and sometimes our darkest fantasies. Pop culture expert Brian Solomon tells a story that goes from the Golden, Silver and Bronze Ages of comic book history right up to the Modern Age of multimillion-dollar Hollywood movies, and beyond. Perhaps no fictional genre has endured and blossomed over the past eighty years the way superheroes have. Learn all about the creators who have brought them to life: artists like Jack Kirby and Jim Lee, writers like Stan Lee and Alan Moore, actors like Christopher Reeve and Robert Downey Jr., and directors like Tim Burton and Joss Whedon. They’re all here, in all their high-flying, eye-zapping, goon-punching glory. Up, up and away!

Author: David Sinclair
Publisher: Magus Books
ISBN:
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Conservatives see Donald Trump as Batman, the mighty crusader cleaning out "Gotham City" – the Swamp, the Deep State, the liberal elite. Liberals previously regarded Trump as the Joker, a psychotic maniac destroying America. However, since "Joker" – Todd Phillips' 2019 movie tour de force – the Joker is now seen as a liberal anti-hero, fighting the good fight against the super-rich elites. Batman, the sleazy playboy billionaire who stands for the military-industrial complex and predatory capitalism is now the psychotic monster who needs to be defeated. American culture is defined by the shifting sands of superheroes – comic book characters who rule a fantasy world – while China gets on with conquering the real world via its relentless progress in science, mathematics, engineering, computing and technology. Who will dominate the 21st century – the lazy illiterates that love superhero movies – or the hard-working strivers using their highly advanced knowledge to transform everything? America's love of fantasy is its doom. China's love of hard work and intelligence will sweep all before it. The Thucydides Trap is finally here – the USA is the declining power, being replaced by the rising power, China. No superheroes are coming to America's aid. They are up against 1.4 billion industrious high achievers, with the highest ambitions, and total certainty that the future is theirs. The dogs in the street know who's going to win this showdown. It's not Captain America, that's for sure.

Author: Lorna Piatti-Farnell
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793624607
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
The Superhero Multiverse focuses on the evolving meanings of the superhero icon in 21st-century film and popular media, with an emphasis on re-adapting, re-imagining, and re-making. With its focus on multimedia and transmedia transformations, The Superhero Multiverse pivots on two important points: firstly, it reflects on the core concerns of the superhero narrative—including the relationship between ‘superhero comics’ and ‘superhero films’, the comics roots of superhero media, matters of canon and hybridity, and issues of recycling and stereotyping in superhero films and media texts. Secondly, it considers how these intersecting textual and cultural preoccupations are intrinsic to the process of remaking and re-adapting superheroes, and brings attention to multiple ways of materializing these iconic figures in our contemporary context.

Author: Tricia Jenkins
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070063276X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Tricia Jenkins and Tom Secker deliver a highly original exploration of how the government-entertainment complex has influenced the world’s most popular movie genre—superhero films. Superheroes, Movies, and the State sets a new standard for exploring the government-Hollywood relationship as it persuasively documents the critical role different government agencies have played in shaping characters, stories, and even the ideas behind the hottest entertainment products. Jenkins and Secker cover a wide range of US government and quasi-governmental agencies who act to influence the content of superhero movies, including the Department of Defense, the National Academy of Sciences’ Science and Entertainment Exchange and, to a lesser extent, the FBI and the CIA. Superheroes, Movies, and the State deploys a thematic framework to analyze how five of the key themes of our time—militarism, political radicalism and subversion, the exploration of space, the role of science and technology, and representation and identity—manifest in the superhero genre, and the role of the government in molding narratives around these topics. The book includes interviews with both producers and influencer insiders and covers a wide range of superhero products, from 1970s TV shows up to the most recent movie and TV releases, including the first major analysis of the hit Amazon show The Boys. In addition, it is the first deep exploration of NASA’s Hollywood office and the first detailed account of the role of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, which has worked on thousands of products since its creation in 2008 but is little known outside of the industry. Superheroes, Movies, and the State offers an innovative blend of research methods and interpretive frameworks, combining both production histories and deep readings of superhero texts to clearly reveal how the government-entertainment complex works in the world of blockbuster cinema to shape public perceptions of the United States, war, science, and much, much more.

Author: Alex S. Romagnoli
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810891727
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Ever since the first appearances of Superman and Batman in comic books of the late 1930s, superheroes have been a staple of the popular culture landscape. Though initially created for younger audiences, superhero characters have evolved over the years, becoming complex figures that appeal to more sophisticated readers. While superhero stories have grown ever more popular within broader society, however, comics and graphic novels have been largely ignored by the world of academia. In Enter the Superheroes:American Values, Culture, and the Canon of Superhero Literature, Alex S. Romagnoli and Gian S. Pagnucci arguethat superheroes merit serious study, both within the academy and beyond. By examining the kinds of graphic novels that are embraced by the academy, this book explains how superhero stories are just as significant. Structured around key themes within superhero literature, the book delves into the features that make superhero stories a unique genre. The book also draws upon examples in comics and other media to illustrate the sociohistorical importance of superheroes—from the interplay of fans and creators to unique narrative elements that are brought to their richest fulfillment within the world of superheroes. A list of noteworthy superhero texts that readers can look to for future study is also provided. In addition to exploring the important roles that superheroes play in children’s learning, the book also offers an excellent starting point for discussions of how literature is evolving and why it is necessary to expand the traditional realms of literary study. Enter the Superheroes will be of particular interest to English and composition teachers but also to scholars of popular culture and fans of superhero and comic book literature.