What is a superhero? / edited by Robin S. Rosenberg and Peter Coogan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Rosenberg, Robin S., editor.

Coogan, Peter M. (Peter MacFarland), editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Superheroes.

Comic books, strips, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (389 p.)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It's easy to name a superhero--Superman, Batman, Thor, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rorschach, Wolverine--but it's not so easy to define what a superhero is. Buffy has superpowers, but she doesn't have a costume. Batman has a costume, but doesn't have superpowers. What is the role of power and superpower? And what are supervillains and why do we need them? In What is a Superhero?, psychologist Robin Rosenberg and comics scholar Peter Coogan explore this question from a variety of viewpoints, bringing together contributions from nineteen comic book experts--including

Contents:

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Foreword by Michael Uslan; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Section I: Super and Hero: Powers and Mission; One The Hero Defines the Genre, the Genre Defines the Hero; Two We Could Be Heroes; Three What Is a Female Superhero?; Four Straddling a Boundary: The Superhero and the Incorporation of Difference; Five Save the Day; Section II: Context, Culture, and the Problem of Definition; Six Superheroes and the Modern(ist) Age; Seven Heroes of the Superculture; Eight Superheroes by Design

Nine The Experience of the Superhero: A Phenomenological DefinitionTen What Is a Superhero? No One Knows-That's What Makes 'em Great; Section III: Superheroes Need Supervillains; Eleven Why Supervillains?; Twelve Superheroes Need Supervillains; Thirteen Superheroes Need Superior Villains; Fourteen The Subjective Politics of the Supervillain; Fifteen Supervillains Who Need Superheroes (Are the Luckiest Villains in the World); Sixteen Sorting Out Villainy: A Typology of Villains and Their Effects on Superheroes; Section IV: From the Experts: Comic Book Writers Define the Superhero

Seventeen More Than Normal, But BelievableEighteen Making the World a Better Place; Nineteen Power and Responsibility . . . and Other Reflections on Superheroes; Twenty Superheroes and Power; Twenty One The Importance of Context: Robin Hood Is Out and Buffy Is In; Twenty Two Superheroes Are Made; Twenty Three Extraordinary; Twenty Four The Superprotagonist; Twenty Five Superheroes and Supervillains: An Interdependent Relationship; Index; Footnotes; Forewordfn; Ch01Fn; Ch02Fn; Ch03Fn; Ch04Fn; Ch05Fn; Ch06Fn; Ch07Fn; Ch08Fn; Ch09Fn; Ch11Fn; Ch12Fn; Ch14Fn; Ch15Fn; Ch16Fn; Ch17Fn; Ch18Fn; Ch20Fn

Ch21FnCh22Fn; Ch23Fn; Ch24Fn; Ch25Fn

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-979533-9

0-19-933952-X