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(s): Liam Burke
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 336
City: New Brunswick
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Introduction: “Everlasting” Symbols
Part 1: Superheroes, Politics, and Civic Engagement
1. “What Else Can You Do with Them?” Superheroes and the Civic Imagination
2. “America Is a Piece of Trash”: Captain America, Patriotism, Nationalism, and Fascism
3. “This Land Is Mine!” Understanding the Function of Supervillains
4. An Interview with Comics Artist, Writer, and “Herstorian” Trina Robbins
Part 2: The Superhero as Brand
5. The Secret Commercial Identity of Superheroes: Protecting the Superhero Symbol
6. Siegel and Shuster as Brand Name
7. Practicing Superhuman Law: Creative License, Industrial Identity, and Spider-Man’s Homecoming
8. The Sound of the Cinematic Superhero
9. An Interview with Former President of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson
Part 3: Becoming the Superhero
10. Arkham Knave: The Joker in Game Design
11. Being Super, Becoming Heroes: Dialogic Superhero Narratives in Cosplay Collectives
12. From Pages to Pavements: A Criminological Comparison between Depictions of Crime Control in Superhero Narratives and “Real-Life Superhero” Activity
13. An Interview with Dark Night: A True Batman Story Writer Paul Dini
Part 4: Superheroes and National Identity
14. Captain America, National Narratives, and the Queer Subversion of the Retcon
15. Apes, Angels, and Super Patriots: The Irish in Superhero Comics
16. Missing in Action: The Late Development of the German-Speaking Superhero
17. Chinese Milk for Iron Men: Superhero Coproductions and Technological Anxiety
18. Age of the Atoman: Australian Superhero Comics and Cold War Modernity
19. An Interview with Cleverman Creator Ryan Griffen and Star Hunter Page-Lochard
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Index
