Superheroes
New Titles
Monstrous Imaginaries by Call Number: PN6710 .A45 2020xISBN: 9781496825278Publication Date: 2019-11-29Monsters seem inevitably linked to humans and not always as mere opposites. Maaheen Ahmed examines good monsters in comics to show how Romantic themes from the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries persist in today's popular culture. Comics monsters, questioning the distinction between human and monster, self and other, are valuable conduits of Romantic inclinations. Engaging with Romanticism and the many monsters created by Romantic writers and artists such as Mary Shelley, Victor Hugo, and Goya, Ahmed maps the heritage, functions, and effects of monsters in contemporary comics and graphic novels. She highlights the persistence of recurrent Romantic features through monstrous protagonists in English- and French-language comics and draws out their implications. Aspects covered include the dark Romantic predilection for ruins and the sordid, the solitary protagonist and his quest, nostalgia, the prominence of the spectacle as well as excessive emotions, and above all, the monster's ambiguity and rebelliousness. Ahmed highlights each Romantic theme through close readings of well-known but often overlooked comics, including Enki Bilal's Monstre tetralogy, Jim O'Barr's The Crow, and Emil Ferris's My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, as well as the iconic comics series Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and Mike Mignola's Hellboy. In blurring the otherness of the monster, these protagonists retain the exaggeration and uncontrollability of all monsters while incorporating Romantic characteristics.
Heart of Darkness by Call Number: PN6727.K85 J67 2020ISBN: 9780393635645Publication Date: 2019-11-05Acclaimed cartoonist Peter Kuper delivers a powerful interpretation of Joseph Conrad's classic novella. Heart of Darkness has unsettled generations of readers with its haunting portrait of colonialism in Africa. Acclaimed illustrator Peter Kuper delivers a visually immersive and profound interpretation of this controversial classic, evoking the danger and suspense at the heart of this brutal story. Longtime admirers of the novella will appreciate his innovative interpretations, while new readers will discover a brilliant introduction to a canonical work of twentieth-century literature.
The Comics of Alison Bechdel by Call Number: PN6727.B3757 Z63 2020ISBN: 9781496825773Publication Date: 2019-12-30Contributions by Michelle Ann Abate, Leah Anderst, Alissa S. Bourbonnais, Tyler Bradway, Natalja Chestopalova, Margaret Galvan, Judith Kegan Gardiner, Katie Hogan, Jonathan M. Hollister, Yetta Howard, Katherine Kelp-Stebbins, Don L. Latham, Vanessa Lauber, Katherine Parker-Hay, Anne N. Thalheimer, Janine Utell, and Susan R. Van Dyne Alison Bechdel is both a driver and beneficiary of the welcoming of comics into the mainstream. Indeed, the seemingly simple binary of outside/inside seems perpetually troubled throughout the career of this important comics artist, known for Fun Home, Are You My Mother?, and Dykes to Watch Out For. This volume extends the body of scholarship on her work from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. In a definitive collection of original essays, scholars cover the span of Bechdel's career, placing her groundbreaking early work within the context of her more well-known recent projects. The contributors provide new insights on major themes in Bechdel's work, such as gender performativity, masculinity, lesbian politics and representation, trauma, life writing, and queer theory. Situating Bechdel among other comics artists, this book charts possible influences on her work, probes the experimental traits of her comics in their representations of kinship and trauma, combs archival materials to gain insight into Bechdel's creative process, and analyzes her work in community building and space making through the comics form. Ultimately, the volume shows that Bechdel's work consists of performing a series of selves--serializing the self, as it were--each constructed and refracted across and within her chosen artistic modes and genres.
Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide’s parent company.
Marvel started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel’s modern incarnation dates from 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Fourand other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others.
Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Hulk, Deadpool and Ant-Man, such teams as the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, theFantastic Four, the Inhumans and the X-Men, and antagonists such as Doctor Doom, The Enchantress, Green Goblin, Ultron, Doctor Octopus, Thanos, Magneto and Loki. Most of Marvel’s fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locations that mirror real-life cities. Characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Daredevil and Doctor Strange are based in New York City,[1][2]whereas the X-Men have historically been based in Salem Center, New York[3][4][5] and Hulk’s stories often have been set in the American Southwest.
For more information on the history: http://marvelcomicslibrary.com/history-of-marvel-comics/
DC Comics was created by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson under the name Allied Publications. Wheeler-Nicholson then partnered with two magazine distributors, and Detective Comics was founded in 1937. The company was later bought by Warner Bros. in 1969, which gave the company the name DC Comics in 1977. The company is best known superheroes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash.
Dark H
orse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson as an offshoot of his Oregon comic-book retail chain, Things From Another World. Richardson pursued the idea of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals, and thirty years later the company has grown to become the third-largest comics publisher in the United States. Notable comics include Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Sin City, and B.P.R.D.
Selected Reference Books
Comics by Call Number: PN6710 .M33238 2014xISBN: 9780500290965Publication Date: 2014-06-17
Comics As History, Comics As Literature by Call Number: PN6714 .C653 2014ISBN: 9781611475562Publication Date: 2013-12-11This anthology hosts a collection of essays examining the role of comics as portals for historical and academic content, while keeping the approach on an international market versus the American one. Few resources currently exist showing the cross-disciplinary aspects of comics. Some of the chapters examine the use of Wonder Woman during World War II, the development and culture of French comics, and theories of Locke and Hobbs in regards to the state of nature and the bonds of community. More so, the continual use of comics for the retelling of classic tales and current events demonstrates that the genre has long passed the phase of for children's eyes only. Additionally, this anthology also weaves graphic novels into the dialogue with comics.
Girls and Their Comics by Call Number: PN6725 .D196 2013ISBN: 9780810883758Publication Date: 2012-11-21In America, comics and comic books have often been associated with adolescent male fantasy--muscle-bound superheroes and scantily clad women. Nonetheless, comics have also been read and enjoyed by girls. While there have been many strong representations of women throughout their history, the comics of today have evolved and matured, becoming a potent medium in which to explore the female experience, particularly that of girlhood and adolescence. In Girls and Their Comics: Finding a Female Voice in Comic Book Narrative, Jacqueline Danziger-Russell contends that comics have a unique place in the representation of female characters. She discusses the overall history of the comic book, paying special attention to girls' comics, showing how such works relate to a female point of view. While examining the concept of visual literacy, Danziger-Russell asserts that comics are an excellent space in which the marginalized voices of girls may be expressed. This volume also includes a chapter on manga (Japanese comics), which explains the genesis of girls' comics in Japan and their popularity with girls in the United States. Including interviews with librarians, comic creators, and girls who read comics and manga, Girls and Their Comics is an important examination of the growing interest in comic books among young females and will appeal to a wide audience, including literary theorists, teachers, librarians, popular culture and women's studies scholars, and comic book historians.
