Authorizing Superhero Comics: On the Evolution of a Popular Serial Genre: Studies in Comics and Cartoons
Autor Daniel Steinen Limba Engleză Paperback – 30 aug 2021
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780814258026
ISBN-10: 0814258026
Pagini: 306
Ilustrații: 28 b&w illustrations
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 41 mm
Greutate: 0.48 kg
Editura: Ohio State University Press
Colecția Ohio State University Press
Seria Studies in Comics and Cartoons
ISBN-10: 0814258026
Pagini: 306
Ilustrații: 28 b&w illustrations
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 x 41 mm
Greutate: 0.48 kg
Editura: Ohio State University Press
Colecția Ohio State University Press
Seria Studies in Comics and Cartoons
Recenzii
“Stein’s book is a compelling read, perhaps most so for those relatively new to superhero comics and their criticism. For those less familiar with the material history, including letters columns, fanzines, parodies, etc., the book will no doubt shed new light on superhero stories. For those familiar with this history, Stein provides useful background, contextualization and theorization in a clear and readable context. It is a book well worth reading.”—Eric Berlatsky, International Journal of Comic Art
“[Authorizing Superhero Comics] is an ambitious, sprawling examination of the ‘serial agencies of superhero comics as material and aesthetic artifacts’ that deviates from anthropocentric and teleological historiographies. … Stein’s measured, multifaceted approach should inform future scholarship seeking to grapple with the logic of geek culture that has been largely dismissed as pathological and/or unsophisticated.” —Tiffany Hong, Studies in Comics
“As the field of comics studies grows, and the superhero genre seems to persistently dominate it, there’s greater pressure to find new approaches to this potentially overwhelming field. Stein’s Authorizing Superhero Comics moves us forward considerably by returning us with fresh eyes to look back over fundamental ground.” —Corey K. Creekmur, INKS
“[Authorizing Superhero Comics] provides an important addition to the analysis of superhero comics by focusing on the relationship between readers and creators in legitimizing the genre. … A worthwhile addition for those who wish to give superheroes the scholarly attention they deserve.” —Logan Schell, ImageTexT
“Stein’s shift to a collective authorship approach builds on a longstanding project in comics studies … Authorizing Superhero Comics does a wonderful job of revealing how authorship is a tangled and complex issue for serial creations like superhero comics.” —Alex Beringer, American Periodicals
“Daniel Stein has produced a meticulously argued, well-researched, and methodologically sound study, which I believe will resonate with anyone studying superheroes, comics, and popular culture more generally.” —José Alaniz, author of Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond
“Authorizing Superhero Comics is a truly fascinating piece of innovative scholarship that approaches a salient part of comics history and culture from the perspective of actor-network theory, offering important insights into the (para)textual construction of authorship in superhero comics and beyond.” —Jan-Noël Thon, author of Transmedial Narratology and Contemporary Media Culture
“Stein argues his theoretical standpoint cogently and clearly ... Its openness and lucidity of explanation should make this book accessible and intelligible to a wider audience than a purely academic one, a virtue rarely found in academic writing.” —Phyll Smith, Anglia
“[Authorizing Superhero Comics] is an ambitious, sprawling examination of the ‘serial agencies of superhero comics as material and aesthetic artifacts’ that deviates from anthropocentric and teleological historiographies. … Stein’s measured, multifaceted approach should inform future scholarship seeking to grapple with the logic of geek culture that has been largely dismissed as pathological and/or unsophisticated.” —Tiffany Hong, Studies in Comics
“As the field of comics studies grows, and the superhero genre seems to persistently dominate it, there’s greater pressure to find new approaches to this potentially overwhelming field. Stein’s Authorizing Superhero Comics moves us forward considerably by returning us with fresh eyes to look back over fundamental ground.” —Corey K. Creekmur, INKS
“[Authorizing Superhero Comics] provides an important addition to the analysis of superhero comics by focusing on the relationship between readers and creators in legitimizing the genre. … A worthwhile addition for those who wish to give superheroes the scholarly attention they deserve.” —Logan Schell, ImageTexT
“Stein’s shift to a collective authorship approach builds on a longstanding project in comics studies … Authorizing Superhero Comics does a wonderful job of revealing how authorship is a tangled and complex issue for serial creations like superhero comics.” —Alex Beringer, American Periodicals
“Daniel Stein has produced a meticulously argued, well-researched, and methodologically sound study, which I believe will resonate with anyone studying superheroes, comics, and popular culture more generally.” —José Alaniz, author of Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond
“Authorizing Superhero Comics is a truly fascinating piece of innovative scholarship that approaches a salient part of comics history and culture from the perspective of actor-network theory, offering important insights into the (para)textual construction of authorship in superhero comics and beyond.” —Jan-Noël Thon, author of Transmedial Narratology and Contemporary Media Culture
“Stein argues his theoretical standpoint cogently and clearly ... Its openness and lucidity of explanation should make this book accessible and intelligible to a wider audience than a purely academic one, a virtue rarely found in academic writing.” —Phyll Smith, Anglia
Notă biografică
Daniel Stein is Professor of North American Literary and Cultural Studies in the English Department at the University of Siegen.
Extras
Throughout the history of the genre, ongoing and intimate investments in the serial exploits of comic book superheroes have motivated different forms of authorship outside the sphere of professional cultural production. These forms range from fan letters, fanfiction, and fanart to the editing of fanzines, the drawing of amateur comics, and the creation of online commentary. As has been duly noted, the relationship between the nominal producers and consumers of superhero comics has long been characterized by a heightened sense of mutual interdependence, a sense undergirded by much-reported tales of the coveted career path from comics fan to industry professional. Julius Schwartz, Roy Thomas, and Paul Levitz are only three prominent examples of this transformation, and they, like Millar, Miller, and others, continue to play the role of the industry professional who remains a fan at heart.
The first objective of this book, therefore, is to account for the fluidity with which the roles of comic book creator and comic book reader have been performed and how this role-taking has shaped the evolution of the genre. A second goal is to trace the ways in which these roles can overlap in the activities of a single individual while simultaneously gravitating across what Matthew Pustz (1999, 18), Jeffrey Brown (2001, 201), and Bart Beaty (2012, 6) respectively call “comic book culture,” the “world of comics,” or the “comics world” and what I will label, with a Latourian twist, the superhero collective.
Recognizing the triple functions of popular serial narration—the self-promotion of individual series, where each installment seeks to motivate readers to return for the next slice of the action; the product differentiation that follows from competing attempts to cultivate loyal audiences; and their tendency to “promote the medium in which they appear” (Hagedorn 1988, 5)—my approach departs from the questions many superhero studies routinely raise. These questions frequently follow the cultural studies–based “x in y” model of studying popular series (Kelleter and Stein 2012, 259). Such studies may be interested in the depiction of social responsibility in Spider-Man or of racial affiliation in Black Panther, the representation of gender in Wonder Woman or of disability in the X-Men, the negotiation of national myths in Superman or of patriotism in Captain America, or narratives of class or vigilante justice in Batman or Green Lantern or of global politics in The Justice League of America or The Avengers. While I am sympathetic toward such studies, I find it more conducive to examine how popular serial narratives organize such contested terrain by dispersing authorial and readerly functions and how they provide the means to construct, explore, and negotiate multiple identities, including those associated with being a reader, fan, letter writer, critic, expert, hobby historian, fanzine producer, amateur artist, or industry professional, all of which intersect with gendered, sexualized, raced, and classed forms of identification. “Those who try to reduce or deduce the dynamics of serial proliferation to individual agents—be they authors, publishing houses, studios, scenes, readers, or fans—are already lost,” Ruth Mayer rightly observes, because “popular seriality generates itself” (2014, 12).
The first objective of this book, therefore, is to account for the fluidity with which the roles of comic book creator and comic book reader have been performed and how this role-taking has shaped the evolution of the genre. A second goal is to trace the ways in which these roles can overlap in the activities of a single individual while simultaneously gravitating across what Matthew Pustz (1999, 18), Jeffrey Brown (2001, 201), and Bart Beaty (2012, 6) respectively call “comic book culture,” the “world of comics,” or the “comics world” and what I will label, with a Latourian twist, the superhero collective.
Recognizing the triple functions of popular serial narration—the self-promotion of individual series, where each installment seeks to motivate readers to return for the next slice of the action; the product differentiation that follows from competing attempts to cultivate loyal audiences; and their tendency to “promote the medium in which they appear” (Hagedorn 1988, 5)—my approach departs from the questions many superhero studies routinely raise. These questions frequently follow the cultural studies–based “x in y” model of studying popular series (Kelleter and Stein 2012, 259). Such studies may be interested in the depiction of social responsibility in Spider-Man or of racial affiliation in Black Panther, the representation of gender in Wonder Woman or of disability in the X-Men, the negotiation of national myths in Superman or of patriotism in Captain America, or narratives of class or vigilante justice in Batman or Green Lantern or of global politics in The Justice League of America or The Avengers. While I am sympathetic toward such studies, I find it more conducive to examine how popular serial narratives organize such contested terrain by dispersing authorial and readerly functions and how they provide the means to construct, explore, and negotiate multiple identities, including those associated with being a reader, fan, letter writer, critic, expert, hobby historian, fanzine producer, amateur artist, or industry professional, all of which intersect with gendered, sexualized, raced, and classed forms of identification. “Those who try to reduce or deduce the dynamics of serial proliferation to individual agents—be they authors, publishing houses, studios, scenes, readers, or fans—are already lost,” Ruth Mayer rightly observes, because “popular seriality generates itself” (2014, 12).
Cuprins
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction Authorizing Superhero Comics
Chapter 1 Negotiating Paratext: Author Bios, Letter Pages, Fanzines
Chapter 2 Stylizing Storyworlds: The Metaverse as a Collective
Chapter 3 Transmodifying Conventions: Parodies
Chapter 4 Collecting Comics: Mummified Objects vs. Mobile Archives
Coda Authorizing Diversity
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction Authorizing Superhero Comics
Chapter 1 Negotiating Paratext: Author Bios, Letter Pages, Fanzines
Chapter 2 Stylizing Storyworlds: The Metaverse as a Collective
Chapter 3 Transmodifying Conventions: Parodies
Chapter 4 Collecting Comics: Mummified Objects vs. Mobile Archives
Coda Authorizing Diversity
References
Index
Descriere
Analyzes the evolution of the superhero genre by looking not only at the genre but also its reception.