tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/comic-books-11271/articles
Comic books – The Conversation
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211934
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
2023-08-30T15:27:34Z
Jewish creators are a fundamental part of comic book history, from Superman to Maus – expert explains
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544021/original/file-20230822-25-qglktb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C8%2C5422%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/8SeJUmfahu0">Erik Mclean/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jewish writers and artists have been <a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/comic-books-are-jewish-literature">a fundamental part of</a> comic book creation since the early days of the industry. </p>
<p>Comic books used to be formatted like books or newspapers, but in 1934 Max Gaines, a Jewish New Yorker, and his colleague Harry Wildenberg, created the first half tabloid-sized comic book – the format that became the standard.</p>
<p>Their Famous Funnies comic book sold 90% of the 200,000 printed copies. This led to numerous imitators, including New Fun Comics from National Allied Publications (<a href="https://culturefly.com/blogs/culture-blog/dc-comics-history">later renamed DC Comics</a>), which published its first issue in 1935.</p>
<p>Gaines was a former schoolteacher and channelled this into his work. He <a href="https://www.jewage.org/wiki/en/Article:Max_Gaines_-_Biography">named his company Educational Comics</a>, with such titles as Picture Stories from the Bible. However, when his son <a href="https://eccomics.fandom.com/wiki/Bill_Gaines">William took over E.C. Comics</a> in the 1940s it became notorious as a publisher of horror comics and <a href="https://library.missouri.edu/news/special-collections/banned-books-week-comics-and-controversy">these were banned</a> in the following decade. </p>
<p>In the 1930s, comic books reprinted comic strips that had previously appeared in newspaper humour sections. Famous Funnies, for example, <a href="https://majorspoilers.com/2020/11/08/retro-review-famous-funnies-1-july-1934/">included the popular serial Mutt and Jeff</a>. But by the end of the decade, they featured entirely new content in a variety of genres, including <a href="https://comicalopinions.com/birth-of-superheroes-golden-age-of-comics/">superheroes</a>. </p>
<p>The first, and most famous, of these was <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/superman-jewish-origins-film-adaptations-curse-jerry-siegel-christopher-reeve-henry-cavill-a8344461.html">Superman</a>. The character was created by <a href="https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.com/2012/06/1933s-reign-of-superman-first-superman.html">Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1933</a> in a self-published comic. They tried to find a professional publisher to take on their character and – <a href="https://www.comicconnect.com/item/1009847?tzf=1">after Gaines took too long to reply to them</a> – found a home for <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/history-legacy-characters-dc-comics-action-comics-first-superman-comic-introduces-zatara-national-comics/">Superman at National in 1938</a>. </p>
<p>Siegel and Shuster were sons of Jewish European immigrants, leading some modern comic book writers to compare Superman’s alien immigrant identity to <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/21/superman-ultimate-immigrant-may-have-been-eligible-daca/688590001/">other émigrés in America</a>. The <a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/superman-refugees-success-story">International Rescue Committee noted</a> the importance of the character for the antisemitic era of the 1930s: “Superman’s story is the ultimate example of an immigrant who makes his new home better.”</p>
<p>Some researchers believe that Siegel and Shuster were specifically inspired by a famous Polish bodybuilder called <a href="https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael.com/the-jewish-muscleman-who-likely-inspired-the-creators-of-superman/">“the Jewish Superman”</a>, who toured America in the 1920s. Writer Roy Schwartz also sees elements of Jewish mythology in the character, as noted in his 2021 book <a href="https://forward.com/culture/470859/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-a-book-about-superman-jewish-history/">Is Superman Circumcised?</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A superman comic and badge." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545524/original/file-20230830-15-et4sy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Superman was created by Jewish comic book writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/QJlg2KSl0fU">Daniel Álvasd/Unsplash</a></span>
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<p>A year later, another iconic DC character, Batman, was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. They were also children of immigrants and were half of a quartet of famous <a href="https://forward.com/culture/483808/batman-jewish-bob-kane-bill-finger-dc-comics-robin-superman/">Jewish comic creators</a> who went to the same school in the south Bronx, including <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/will-eisner">Will Eisner</a> and Marvel’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/100-years-of-stan-lee-how-the-comic-book-king-challenged-prejudice-196761">Stan Lee</a>. </p>
<p>While Batman doesn’t have any obvious Jewish characteristics, Bruce Wayne’s cousin, Kate Kane (aka Batwoman) was later depicted as <a href="https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/dc-comics-batwoman-receives-jewish-funeral-in-latest-episode-663697">a Jewish woman</a>.</p>
<p>Known for working with Stan Lee, another Jewish creator is considered the <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/jack-kirby-comics-greatest-storyteller/">“greatest storyteller”</a> of superhero comics. Artist Jack Kirby was responsible for co-creating not only some of the most memorable Marvel characters – including The Avengers and The X-Men – but also had an acclaimed run as a solo creator in the 1970s, first on <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/10-most-kirby-pages-in-jack-kirby-eternals">Marvel’s Eternals</a> and then on DC Comics’ <a href="https://www.cbr.com/jack-kirby-fourth-world-new-gods-movie-new-chance-dcu/">Fourth World titles</a>.</p>
<h2>Other genres</h2>
<p>Alongside superheroes, Kirby was renowned for his work on comics written by Sandman’s Joe Simon. Together, they brought <a href="https://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/41">romance to the medium in 1947</a> and made <a href="https://www.cbr.com/monsters-unleashed-jack-kirbys-15-craziest-marvel-monsters/#x-the-thing-that-lived">memorable monster comics in the 1960s</a>. Another popular genre was mystery comics. Will Eisner’s <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-spirit/4005-33297">The Spirit</a> (1940) included elements of superheroes and horror. The <a href="https://www.cosmicteams.com/quality/profiles/spirit.html">main character</a> was an undead private detective who wore a mask.</p>
<p>Eisner was also the <a href="https://jmof.fiu.edu/exhibitions-events/exhibitions/will-eisner-comic-creator,-illustrator-and-innovator/">child of Jewish immigrants</a> and towards the end of his career, turned his upbringing into <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/picturethis/2020/03/cartoonists-comment-on-the-lasting-impact-of-will-eisner-1917-2005/">semi-autobiographical comics</a> that depicted the downtrodden existence of people in poor Hassidic communities in New York. </p>
<p>Eisner’s works, including <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/AContractWithGod">A Contract with God</a> (1978) and several <a href="https://libraryguides.mdc.edu/GraphicNovels/WillEisner">follow-ups in the 1980s</a>, not only popularised the term <a href="https://theportalist.com/history-of-graphic-novels">“graphic novel”</a>, but also added to the increasing trend of turning Jewish lives in comics.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, a number of notable female Jewish creators first had their work published in <a href="https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/comics-and-graphic-narratives">Underground Comix</a>, including <a href="https://womenincomics.fandom.com/wiki/Trina_Robbins">Trina Robbins</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/arts/diane-noomin-dead.html">Diane Noomin</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/03/arts/aline-kominsky-crumb-dead.html">Aline Kominsky-Crumb</a>.</p>
<p>The only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer prize – <a href="https://okcomics.co.uk/products/maus-complete-collection-by-art-spiegelman">Maus</a> – tells the story of author <a href="https://libraries.mit.edu/150books/2011/05/12/1986/">Art Spiegelman’s</a> father’s experience in a concentration camp, and started to be serialised in 1980.</p>
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<img alt="The cover of Maus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/545528/original/file-20230830-23-e4sj79.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Maus is the only graphic novel to have won a Pulitzer Prize.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lviv-ukraine-april-11-2023-art-2289174103">marhus/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Modern Jewish comics</h2>
<p>Today, many Jewish creators are making graphic novels and cartoons. Comics editor Corinne Pearlman drew a popular strip <a href="https://jwa.org/blog/graphic-details-opens-in-toronto">Playing the Jewish Card</a> in the 1990s and now <a href="https://www.brokenfrontier.com/corinne-pearlman-myriad-editions-gareth-brookes-jade-sarson-ottilie-hainsworth/">edits graphic novels</a>. She and other creators were featured in the 2011 exhibition and book <a href="https://www.thejc.com/culture/features/is-it-a-bird-is-it-a-plane-no-it-s-the-real-life-superheroine-1.30661">Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women</a>, curated by graphic novelist <a href="https://www.royaldrawingschool.org/artists/faculty/sarah-lightman/">Sarah Lightman</a>. </p>
<p>Lightman is one of the editors of a new follow-up anthology, <a href="https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/5160/jewish-women-in-comics/">Jewish Women in Comics: Borders and Bodies</a>. Other British female creators include <a href="https://positivenegatives.org/artist/karrie-fransman/">Karrie Fransman</a>, who makes comics about refugees and victims of gender-based violence, and musician and cartoonist <a href="https://dannyskagal.wixsite.com/mysite">Danny Noble</a> who has illustrated children’s books by Adrian Edmondson.</p>
<p>Until September 3, <a href="https://www.jw3.org.uk/zoom">The Jewish Community Centre London</a> in Hampstead has a solo exhibition of caricatures of Jewish celebrities such as Nigella Lawson and Daniel Radcliffe by <a href="https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/zoom-meeting">Zoom Rockman</a>. Rockman started his career as one of the youngest published cartoonists in the UK, with his own self-published comic, before going on to draw strips for The Beano and Private Eye.</p>
<p>Other creators have had their autobiographical comics animated, such as cartoonist and musician Carol Isaacs’ <a href="https://www.jpost.com/must/article-713390">The Wolf of Baghdad</a> and the life of Charlotte Saloman, author of proto-graphic novel <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/07/charlotte-review-salomon-keira-knightley-german-jewish-painter-grandfather">Life? or Theatre?</a>.</p>
<p>With attention being brought to the work of numerous Jewish comic creators through film adaptations, books and exhibitions like these, it seems that their contribution to the medium is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/17/art-spiegelman-golden-age-superheroes-were-shaped-by-the-rise-of-fascism">finally being recognised</a>.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211934/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
The history of comics is closely tied to the involvement of Jewish creators, who have had an enormous impact on the medium over the last 90 years.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200142
2023-02-21T10:19:49Z
2023-02-21T10:19:49Z
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Marvel’s Multiverse Saga has changed the franchise’s stakes
<p>A heavy burden rests on Ant-Man’s (Paul Rudd) diminutive shoulders: not only the fate of <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Earth-616">Earth-616</a>, but perhaps the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) itself.</p>
<p>Over the past 15 years, the MCU has redefined the Hollywood franchise blockbuster through their pioneering use of transmedia storytelling, in which a unified narrative unfolds systematically across multiple media forms and platforms. This rich world building has resulted in both cultural ubiquity and immense <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/317408/highest-grossing-film-franchises-series/">financial returns</a>.</p>
<p>But with a release schedule mapped out many years in advance, the limitations of this production line model (in particular a lack of quality control and over reliance on CGI) have become clear, especially in contrast to the impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/top-gun-maverick-is-a-film-obsessed-with-its-former-self-179461">Top Gun: Maverick’s</a> (2022) thrillingly real stunts and the long-gestating CGI hit <a href="https://theconversation.com/avatar-the-way-of-the-water-review-tired-climate-cliches-distract-from-camerons-vision-196522">Avatar: The Way of Water</a> (2022).</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5WfTEZJnv_8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.</span></figcaption>
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<p>So, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finds itself charged with not only kick starting <a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/marvel-2023-preview-mcu-phase-5-disney-plus-comics">Phase 5</a>, but also shaking the MCU’s audience out of their <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/marvel-dc-fandom-study-1235435282/">franchise fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Marvel’s solution? To rewrite time itself. Enter <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Kang_the_Conqueror">Kang the Conqueror</a>, a Marvel comics villain of longstanding and fearsome reputation. Kang is more than another rote super villain. His ability to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvTiZykN63U">shatter timelines</a> plays a key role in bringing the Marvel Multiverse (a potentially infinite series of alternative realities and dimensions) to the fore of the MCU.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Science_Fact_and_Science_Fiction/9ZpsBgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22and+many+science+fiction+fans+prefer+%22alternate+history%22%23&pg=PA18&printsec=frontcover">Dreams of alternative realities</a> have long fuelled imaginations. The question “What if…?” is the starting point for any work of science fiction, facilitating the depiction of altered pasts, transformed presents, or possible futures.</p>
<p>Such realities have long existed in Marvel comics and are now manifesting themselves in the MCU. There are the alternate timelines of Endgame’s (2019) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fnXFRXKTo">“Time Heist”</a>, the <a href="https://www.marvel.com/tv-shows/animation/what-if/1">animated series What If…?</a> (2021) and the many <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/loki-variant-time-variance-authority/">character “variants” in Loki</a> (2021). </p>
<p>This includes “He Who Remains,” creator of the Time Variance Authority (a bureaucratic organisation tasked with protecting the “sacred timeline”), who is himself a variant of Kang and whose death at the hands of a female variant of Loki shatters space and time and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSlyakitG-0">births the multiverse</a>.</p>
<p>If all this sounds confusing, then herein lies both the potential and the problem of the multiverse. With the introduction of Kang (or at least, one Kang of an infinite possibility of Kangs), anything and everything will be possible. Whether the already imposing MCU can keep a grip on its exponential expansion into infinite realms is another matter.</p>
<p>Just as the Time Variance Authority monitors all realities and prunes timelines that threaten universal stability, Marvel will now have inordinate tangled narrative threads and reality-crossing characters to keep in check.</p>
<h2>Disney’s Kang-like desire for dominance</h2>
<p>Much like Kang’s desire to conquer all realities, the multiverse is propelled by Disney’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/1824/disney/#dossier-chapter1">industry dominance</a>. The recent <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/20/18273477/disney-fox-merger-deal-details-marvel-x-men">procurement of 20th Century Fox</a> has offered up many worlds of intellectual property to plunder (though the monetisation of nostalgia is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/03/cycles-sequels-spinoffs-remakes-and-reboots/474411/">hardly new</a> for Hollywood).</p>
<p>Justified by long-established comic ties to Kang’s <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Nathaniel_Richards_(Kang)_(Earth-6311)">intricate web</a> of identities, The Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises will likely be making future MCU appearances. The multiverse helps Marvel to neatly sidestep origin stories and “<a href="https://www.thewrap.com/captain-marvel-where-did-carol-danvers-go-for-25-years-before-avengers-endgame-earth/">where have you been?</a>” continuity issues – we already know these characters, so they’ve been here all along, just in another (cinematic) reality.</p>
<p>Though the team up of iterations of Spider-Man in No Way Home was joyously received, one consequence of the multiverse is a changing of the stakes. Death is now of little consequence. </p>
<p>With an infinite number of character variants waiting in the alternate universe wings (we’ve already seen a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZtqeA7Bcmk">reanimated Gamora</a> in Endgame and a deceased <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szj1iqYanFM">Wolverine will return</a> in 2024’s Deadpool 3), the multiverse may become self-reflexive, rather than a portal to new possibilities.</p>
<p>On this front, Quantumania largely sits on the fence, but in doing so performs some interesting meditations on its own purpose. As objects of mass consumption that resonate with vast audiences, Hollywood blockbusters are indicators of the <a href="https://zizek.uk/the-politics-of-batman/">ideological predicaments</a> of our societies.</p>
<p>In these terms, while the film’s primary selling point is to introduce Kang to the MCU as an omnipotent threat, beneath this lies a fairly mundane melodrama concerning the Pym family finding their place in the world (or indeed, worlds).</p>
<p>The stakes are surprisingly small and personal, despite their universal resonance. At Quantumania’s heart is a melancholic lament for things lost – time, purpose, identity, loved ones. The film’s message is that even in the face of unknowable existential threat, life can be given meaning through collective social justice, accepting responsibility towards our fellow creatures, sticking to one’s word and by (in a repeated refrain) “not being a dick”. </p>
<p>Not to mention the vital lessons that can be learned from socialist ants and the importance of not striking Faustian bargains with villainous despots (time travelling or otherwise).</p>
<p>Of course, as with any MCU offering, in order to court audiences across the political spectrum <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-avengers-seduced-both-liberals-and-conservatives">a careful balance is struck</a> between preaching the power of collective social justice and lionising the figure of the individualistic superhero employing militaristic might to get the job done.</p>
<p>Despite Marvel’s grand proclamations as to Quantumania’s importance and purpose, it is not a definitive statement of intent either in terms of its narrative, or ideologically. It remains unclear whether Phase 5 will put the MCU back on track. But this film is only a first tentative step across an infinite threshold and, with the Multiverse Saga due to stretch way into 2026, there’s still a long way to go.</p>
<p>Whether Kang will lead the MCU – and its fans – into a nostalgic past or an infinite future, only time will tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Starr does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafinds itself charged with not only kick starting Marvel’s Phase 5, but also shaking the MCU’s audience out of their franchise fatigue.
Michael Starr, Associate Professor, Film & Screen Studies, University of Northampton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197330
2023-01-06T13:12:06Z
2023-01-06T13:12:06Z
What if the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol had succeeded? A graphic novel is uniquely placed to answer
<p>“Art is a powerful tool to confront the complex issues we face today,” says author and artist Gan Golan. An uncontroversial statement, perhaps, when discussing great portraits, harrowing films, or triple decker novels. But not one generally associated with comics. </p>
<p>Yet Golan knows the powerful role that <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-graphic-novels-that-creatively-confront-the-climate-crisis-195160">graphic novels</a> can play in galvanising social movements better than most. </p>
<p>In 2010, he coauthored a short comic, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/06/adventures-unemployed-man-origen-golan-review">The Adventures of Unemployed Man,</a> that compared the efforts of the ordinary people challenging Wall Street’s financial elites with comic book heroes facing off against super villains.</p>
<p>Within weeks of its release, <a href="https://comicsalliance.com/unemployed-man-occupy-wall-street/">Unemployed Man himself</a> – Golan in disguise – joined the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zucotti Park in New York, where he stayed in solidarity for more than a month. </p>
<p>One decade on, and Golan has teamed up with a new group of writers and artists to produce another comic book aimed at galvanising social action on America’s streets. Joining Golan is the writer, activist, educator and <a href="https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/alan-jenkins/">Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, Alan Jenkins</a> and the experienced <a href="http://www.williamrosado.com/about">comic artist Will Rosado</a>. </p>
<p>Behind them is a larger team still, of graphic artists, but also of journalists, scholars and activists who have offered information and advice from a broad sweep of perspectives.</p>
<h2>What if the January 6 insurrection had succeeded?</h2>
<p>The title of this collaboratively produced graphic novel is simple: <a href="http://www.onesixcomics.com/">1/6</a>. It refers to 6 January 2021, the day on which a mob of Donald Trump supporters laid siege to the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C., rallied on by the outgoing president.</p>
<p>One civilian was killed and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/us/politics/capitol-riot-police-officer-injuries.html">more than 130 police officers were injured</a> in the attack, while <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/officer-who-responded-us-capitol-attack-is-third-die-by-suicide-2021-08-02/">four took their own lives</a> in the following months. <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/06/remarks-by-president-biden-to-mark-one-year-since-the-january-6th-deadly-assault-on-the-u-s-capitol/">Speaking to mark its first anniversary</a>, President Joe Biden described the event as an “armed insurrection” that sought “to deny the will of the people” and “subvert the Constitution”.</p>
<p>Another year on, and the release of the first volume of 1/6 has been timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.</p>
<p>The project, <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onesixcomics/1-6-the-graphic-novel">initially crowdfunded on Kickstarter</a> where it raised nearly US$10,000 (£8,300), has been released in conjunction with Western States Centre, an organisation that brings together social movements and marginalised communities to advance “<a href="https://www.westernstatescenter.org/our-story">a 21st-century civil rights movement</a>” across the US.</p>
<p>The premise of 1/6 begins with a question: what if the 6 January 2021 insurrection had been successful? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue shows a group of soldiers pushing a flag pole to erect the USA flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=686&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503411/original/file-20230106-26-ft7in4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2018-10-31_15_25_21_The_west_side_of_the_Marine_Corps_War_Memorial_in_Arlington_County,_Virginia.jpg">Wiki Media Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Drawing on <a href="https://www.cbr.com/doomsday-clock-the-15-scariest-dystopian-futures-in-comics/">a rich tradition of comics</a> that depict counterfactual and dystopian futures, this graphic novel breathes horrifying visual life into a world in which there was no peaceful transition of power in 2021. </p>
<p>Instead, groups of armed thugs patrol the streets of Washington, suppressing civilian resistance with brutal violence under the banner of the Confederate flag.</p>
<p>Led by Rosado, the team of pencillers, colourers, and letterers portray an America at once familiar and strange. They blend everyday scenes – in streets, parks, newsrooms and diners – with panels designed to shock readers into action. </p>
<p>In one of the first volume’s most striking images, armed soldiers stand guard beneath a new statue in Washington D.C. that shows a group of insurrectionists led by the QAnon Shaman in the pose of the iconic <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/historyculture/usmcwarmemorial.htm">Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial</a>.</p>
<h2>A promising first volume</h2>
<p>As of 6 January 2022, only the first of four promised volumes of 1/6 has been released. It’s just under 40 pages, but it manages to convey a layered vision and complex plot in that limited space.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the authors’ approach is to centre the plot on a resistant movement that has sprung up against the new authoritarian government. 1/6 may present a dystopian future to lure in its readers, but its broader aim is to restore their agency and hope.</p>
<p>In this first issue, we follow a group of underground activists who have managed to smuggle the <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-passes-legislation-that-will-close-off-presidential-election-mischief-and-help-avoid-another-jan-6-196204">electoral college ballots</a> that decide the presidential election to Washington. With this “last evidence of our democracy”, they plan to mount a civilian challenge to the militaristic takeover of their state.</p>
<p>When the trilogy is complete, we can expect a full length graphic novel. Promotional material for volume two suggests that the comic will return to the historical events that led up to the insurrection. As a form that represents time spatially on the page, comics are well placed to show how the present is always informed by the past, not to mention the ways in which that past is appropriated by those who aim to seize control of the future.</p>
<p>1/6 promises an exciting story line presented in compelling images. But it also aims to pivot its speculative fiction into the very real world of social movements, civil rights and democracy itself – whether in the Capitol or on the streets</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Comic book creators with a history of galvanising social action on America’s streets have created a graphic novel about the US Capitol attacks.
Dominic Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/172572
2022-11-23T17:05:56Z
2022-11-23T17:05:56Z
Black Panther is a step in the right direction and a diverse audience is hungry for more inclusive roles and storylines
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497086/original/file-20221123-14-yey8kp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C13%2C2950%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Letitia Wright as Shuri.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/movies/black-panther-wakanda-forever-shuri-nexus-of-the-movie">Marvel</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9419884/">Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness</a> to the recent <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10857160/">She-Hulk: Attorney at Law</a>, comics and their adaptations or spin-offs are big business. The just-released <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9114286/">Black Panther: Wakanda Forever</a> earned an astonishing <a href="https://www.boxofficepro.com/weekend-box-office-black-panther-wakanda-forever-opens-to-180m-domestic-330m-global/">US$330 million worldwide</a> (£278 million) in its opening weekend. </p>
<p>US comics and graphic novels, meanwhile, made <a href="https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2021.html">US$600 million in 2021</a> – 36% more than the previous year. And <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/">four of the most popular films of 2022</a> are based on comics – with the Black Panther sequel joining the top ten a week after release.</p>
<p>These days more and more comics are featuring a diverse range of performers and roles. In Marvel’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9140554/">Loki</a>, for example, the God of Mischief <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/06/24/director-kate-herron-confirms-marvel-loki-disney-bisexual/7781779002/">is bisexual</a>, while the Black Panther films and the animated Spider-man movies have people of colour <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a25616148/spider-man-into-spider-verse-2-characters-cast-plot-release-date-spin-off/">as their leads</a>.</p>
<p>There’s also been the introduction of new characters to bridge the diversity gap, such as <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)">Ms Marvel, played by Kamala Khan</a> and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/America_Chavez_(Earth-616)">America Chavez</a> played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7961780/">Xochitl Gomez</a>. Ms Marvel’s Muslim faith has been well received and seen as a “<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ms-marvel-muslim-identity-a-changing-hollywood-1234666/">gamechanger</a>” for depictions of the religion on screen. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9EX0f6V11Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Queering characters</h2>
<p>Both Marvel and DC have massively increased LGBTQ+ representation onscreen and in comics in recent times. Though a notable difference is that Marvel’s LGBTQ+ superheroes are mainly new characters, whereas DC has changed the sexuality of older characters. </p>
<p>Marvel’s Young Avengers, for example, has long featured <a href="https://www.pride.com/geek/2020/4/23/will-mcus-young-avengers-characters-all-be-lgbtq">a large number of LGBTQ+ characters</a>. And DC recently created a <a href="https://theconversation.com/supermans-not-the-first-hero-to-be-portrayed-as-bisexual-but-hell-bring-hope-to-lgbtq-fans-169898">bisexual narrative</a> for Superman’s son, Jonathan Kent – though he is still presented as straight in the <a href="https://arrow.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Kent">current TV adaptation</a>.</p>
<p>DC also recently changed another previously straight character, the third male Robin, Tim Drake, to have him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/11/batmans-sidekick-robin-comes-out-as-lgbtq-in-new-comic">attracted to another man</a>. Meanwhile Aquaman’s teen protege, Aqualad, was changed from a <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Garth_(Prime_Earth)">straight white teen</a> to <a href="https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/how-the-new-gay-aquaman-is-being-reintroduced-by-a-black-socal-writer">a gay black teen</a> – first in an animated TV series and then in comics. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Robin, aka Tim Drake, with his boyfriend, Bernard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495685/original/file-20221116-24-bzj1fs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robin, aka Tim Drake, with his boyfriend, Bernard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dc.com/comics/dc-pride-tim-drake-special-2022/dc-pride-tim-drake-special-1">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2012, there was also the marriage of Northstar, a fairly minor member of the X-Men, to his <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/40803/astonishing_x-men_2004_51">non-white husband</a>, which <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/x-men-gay-wedding_b_1536037">led to</a> <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/marvel-comics-hosts-first-gay-wedding-in-astonishing-x-men-235209/">positive reviews</a>. And in the same year, the original Green Lantern <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/green-lantern-comes-out-as-gay-in-earth-two-234596/">came out as gay</a>. </p>
<p>Some fans criticised how this was handled – not only was it suggested he had been <a href="https://screenrant.com/original-green-lantern-alan-scott-gay-infinite-frontier/">in the closet for years</a>, but rather than giving him a life-affirming storyline, the third issue to feature a younger version of the <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Lantern">Green Lantern</a> character saw his boyfriend <a href="https://www.queerty.com/that-was-fast-green-lanterns-boyfriend-killed-off-almost-immediately-20120712">killed in a train crash</a>. </p>
<h2>What readers want</h2>
<p>When it comes to diversity, Marvel has had mixed responses from some employees. In 2017 for example, David Gabriel, Marvel’s senior vice president of print, sales and marketing, said “people didn’t want any more diversity … (or more) female characters,” but later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/03/marvel-executive-says-emphasis-on-diversity-may-have-alienated-readers">dialled back his comments</a>, adding “we are proud and excited to … reflect new voices and new experiences.” </p>
<p>In terms of readers, it seems that while changes to <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/hire-authors-of-color-in-comics/">existing characters</a> are not so welcome,
<a href="https://uncannymagazine.com/article/representation-matters-embracing-change-in-comics/">diversity in newer storylines</a> is seen as a positive thing.
Indeed, as <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74974-3_1#Sec210">academic, Jos van Waterschoot</a>, puts it: “<a href="https://www.popmatters.com/fandom-negative-nostalgia-2648778748.html">fandom gatekeepers may be hostile to newcomers</a>”. Perhaps for some fans, a previously straight character feeling same-sex attraction is a step too far, even if <a href="https://psychcentral.com/health/coming-out-later-in-life#typical-ages">belatedly coming out of the closet</a> is hardly new.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="DC Superheros line up." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496749/original/file-20221122-18-h8xw41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DC Pride is an annual LGBTQ+ comic book anthology first published by DC Comics in June 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.dc.com/sites/default/files/imce/2022/04-APR/DCPRIDE_2022_WRAPAROUND_VARIANT_SWAY_624de10fd31852.69939736.jpg">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But while narrative changes to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315604626-4/superheroes-identity-carol-tilley">comics</a> may lead to <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2017/04/03/marvel-female-diverse-characters-hurting/">unwelcome criticism</a> if long-lasting characters are killed off or have their characterisation changed, when done well it adds to the storyline – and is <a href="https://movieweb.com/marvel-movie-character-deaths/">welcomed by fans</a>.</p>
<p>Writer, Mark Russell, for example, is noted for <a href="https://bookriot.com/nostalgic-comics/">reviving cartoon characters</a> in comics and giving them an <a href="https://www.salon.com/2019/06/10/snagglepuss-lgbt-hero-legendary-hanna-barbera-character-reborn-in-new-comic-series/">LGBTQ+ twist</a>. One of his <a href="https://www.cbr.com/mark-russell-best-comic-book-series-ranked/">celebrated creations</a>, <a href="https://thequeerreview.com/2020/04/13/book-review-exit-stage-left-the-snagglepuss-chronicles/">The Snagglepuss Chronicles</a>, reimagines the <a href="https://www.illustrationhistory.org/artists/hanna-barbera">Hanna-Barbera</a> cartoon character, Snagglepuss, as a gay US playwright in the 1950s being victimised under McCarthyism.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cartoon cat as The Statue of Liberty, draped in US flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495688/original/file-20221116-18-z3eolp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1172&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles is a satirical comic book, published by DC Comics, that features a gay Snagglepuss being victimised under McCarthyism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit,_Stage_Left!:_The_Snagglepuss_Chronicles#/media/File:Exit,_Stage_Left,_The_Snagglepuss_Chronicles_Comic_Issue_1_Cover.jpg">DC.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>But more needed</h2>
<p>At least the inclusion of new <a href="https://www.cbr.com/young-justice-outsiders-aquaman-kaldur-gay/">positive diverse characters</a> seems to be leading to <a href="https://viewsfromabookshop.com/2021/01/09/diverse-comics-graphic-novels/">new readers picking up titles</a> – with Australia’s ABC News noting a “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-14/genre-fiction-comic-books-graphic-novels-diversity-storytelling/101299596">thirst for more inclusive works</a>”.</p>
<p>That said, comics have been accused of being a medium that gives <a href="https://www.peterdavid.net/2012/12/24/the-illusion-of-change/">the illusion of change</a>, when often they are just trying out various combinations of the <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/how-marvel-comics-made-an-art-form-of-the-illusion-of-change/">same characters in different roles</a> – and so ultimately still end up <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/StatusQuoIsGod/ComicBooks">resetting the status quo</a> at the end of storylines.</p>
<p>Either way, even though LGBTQ+ and <a href="https://www.qualitycomix.com/learn/superhero-diversity-in-comic-books">minority</a> representation is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/karltonjahmal/all-the-lgbtq-characters-in-the-mcu-so-far">improving on screen</a> and in comics, there’s still a way to go in <a href="https://www.flowjournal.org/2018/02/comics-%E2%9F%B7-media-bam-pow-comics-arent-just-for-white-men-anymore-benjamin-woo-carleton-university/">the push for diverse characters</a>. Especially so given that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/may/26/marvel-editor-in-chief-axel-alonso-civil-war-x-men">straight, white men</a> still feature strongly <a href="https://www.themarysue.com/run-the-comics/">on the page</a> and <a href="https://www.deseret.com/2016/7/14/20591832/marvel-s-heroes-may-be-diverse-but-their-employees-not-so-much">behind the scenes</a> in terms of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/30/us-publishing-american-dirt-survey-diversity-cultural-appropriation">industry employees</a>. </p>
<p>It’s great that many comics are now more representative of the people who actually read them, but with a recent study noting <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2021/12/06/is-gen-z-too-cool-for-marvel/">13% of Marvel fans are Black and 18% Hispanic</a> – and this not currently depicted on the page – it’s clear there’s room for more diversity when it comes to our superheroes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
Many comics are now more representative of the people who actually read them but it’s clear there’s room for more diversity when it comes to our superheroes.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190110
2022-09-08T17:13:10Z
2022-09-08T17:13:10Z
The Sandman: a masterclass in unfaithful adaptation
<p>Whether it’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Call the Midwife or, more recently, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, most of us will have enjoyed a book-to-TV adaptation. In the process, we might also have had to endure a family member or friend smugly informing us that what we’re watching is, in fact, “nothing like the book”.</p>
<p>Before we get into this, full disclosure: when it comes to comic books, and especially Sandman, I am that guy.</p>
<p>Nothing would give me more pleasure than to catalogue for you every minor way in which the new Netflix series about Morpheus, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sandman-how-representations-of-dreams-and-nightmares-have-changed-over-time-188498">maker of dreams</a>, differs from the original comics, which started in 1989.</p>
<p>Sure, you all loved the episode in the diner, for example, but honestly, it bears only a passing resemblance to the comics version. Think The Corinthian – the bad guy – is scary? Listen with amazement as I authoritatively explain how, in the comics, he really doesn’t matter much at all.</p>
<p>This smug indulgence, however, would require me to overlook one of the show’s central points – and in some ways its purpose. New Sandman may indeed be different to old Sandman, but that difference is an entirely conscious move on the part of the series’ makers, who include Neil Gaiman himself. And the show is all the better for that difference.</p>
<h2>But why does it have to change?</h2>
<p>At one level, change was necessary for practical reasons. Anyone adapting a book for TV has to accept that the constraints and possibilities of the medium are not the same, and this principle applies more in Sandman’s case than most.</p>
<p>Back when I first started reading comics, they were designed to be read, reread, shared with friends and debated over with frenemies until the next issue came out, usually a full month later. TV is clearly not made for that approach. Who in their right mind is going to say, “Hey, I think I’ll watch episode one of Sandman every few days this month, and only then move on to episode two”?</p>
<p>Things have to change when literature moves across to the screen. Take the aforementioned episode, 24/7, perhaps the best episode in the new show. This story, set in a diner, is from what is coincidentally the first great issue of The Sandman comic and was told with incredible efficiency. Gaiman had single panels, for example, depicting the events of specific hours. That approach would become quickly tedious on TV, so the makers of the new series didn’t try.</p>
<p>Instead, they tore the story down to the emotional heart, threw everything else away and wrote something that we know works on television: they turned it into a stage play. It gets the point of the original across without being distracted by the techniques of the original.</p>
<p>Practical considerations aside, however, Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman is also making a statement – about how seasoned veterans like me don’t exercise some sort of imagined authority over culture just because we were there in 1989.</p>
<p>This need to resist cultural gatekeeping is something Gaiman has explicitly mentioned on <a href="https://twitter.com/neilhimself/status/1555391113292382208">Twitter</a>, but it is also what the comics were always about.</p>
<h2>Who gets to read comics</h2>
<p>Back in the 1980s, comics stores were very unfriendly spaces for some people. They were dominated by white guys who revelled in being “in the know” about different characters and artists. Women, queer people and people of colour were made to feel very unwelcome. If you’re familiar with the Android’s Dungeon comics store in The Simpsons, trust me, it’s more a photograph than the caricature you might think it is. These places, places I loved, deserved the bad name they acquired.</p>
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<p>The Sandman challenged that culture from the beginning. Gaiman was especially keen to create a comic that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/30/neil-gaiman-sandman-netflix-interview">women could enjoy</a>. Years later, when I was researching my first piece of academic writing about Sandman – an <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL46919M/St._James_encyclopedia_of_popular_culture">encyclopaedia entry on the comic</a> – I interviewed different comic store owners. Every single one said that Sandman was the book that had got women into their shop, and this has been echoed by <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feminism-Worlds-Neil-Gaiman-Essays/dp/0786466367">subsequent writing on feminism</a> in Gaiman’s work.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sandman-how-representations-of-dreams-and-nightmares-have-changed-over-time-188498">The Sandman: how representations of dreams and nightmares have changed over time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The new show is as intent on inclusion as ever. It’s not just that the stories have been adapted for TV; the colour and gender identity of characters have changed as well. The decision, for instance, to replace the warlock John Constantine with Jenna Coleman’s Joanna Constantine probably wasn’t just made with Gaiman’s approval. I’d be surprised if the change wasn’t his idea.</p>
<p>Faithful adaptations in culture validate fan authority. It feels good, almost flattering, to be able to say, “I know about this; I read the book”. The new version of The Sandman aims squarely at the opposite result.</p>
<p>This strategy of unfaithful adaptation also strives to disempower our tendency to exert ownership over culture, a tendency that threatens to exclude, rather than include, new audiences. In that sense, the television series is exactly like the book.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joe Sutliff Sanders does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Netflix’s Sandman is quite different from the comics and that opens up the story to a whole new fandom.
Joe Sutliff Sanders, Associate Professor in Children's Literature in Education, University of Cambridge
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184613
2022-06-30T18:46:26Z
2022-06-30T18:46:26Z
Why Ms. Marvel matters so much to Muslim, South Asian fans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470859/original/file-20220624-7096-f4dosk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C42%2C4034%2C2017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim participants of different backgrounds who participated in an audience study said they identify with Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel, because she's connected both to her ancestral culture and her American one. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Daniel McFadden/Marvel Studios 2022)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Disney+ TV show featuring Ms. Marvel, also known as Kamala Khan — the first Muslim superheroine of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/streaming/how-to-watch-ms-marvel">launched June 8</a> — and the internet has been alight with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/new-disney-mcu-series-ms-marvel-rotten-tomatoes-imdb-reviews-rcna32889">discussions</a> about the lovable titular character.</p>
<p>The comic book series, <em>Ms. Marvel</em> <a href="https://www.diamondcomics.com/Article/156090-Top-100-Graphic-Novels-October-2014">shot to No. 1 on the comic book charts after its 2014 debut</a>. </p>
<p>The Pakistani American teen Kamala has been <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/1/7/21038179/ms-marvel-kamala-khan-disney-plus">one of the most successful characters Marvel</a> unveiled in the past decade, with a large audience reach. </p>
<p>The show has <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/ms_marvel">received strong reviews</a>, and Kamala’s representation is a breakthrough — particularly to her South Asian, Muslim and racialized fans.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the show has also <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ms-marvel-mcu-disneyplus-review-bombing-racist-white-nonsense-1714538">received some racist and sexist backlash</a> in the form of internet “review bombers,” people who spam a show with negative reviews, who are upset with the new identity of Ms. Marvel.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9EX0f6V11Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer for ‘Ms. Marvel.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Regular Pakistani American teen</h2>
<p>Kamala, played by Iman Vellani, is a regular Pakistani American Muslim teen who transforms into a superhero. In the comics, this happens after she comes into contact with a <a href="https://supernatural-powers.fandom.com/wiki/Terrigenesis">mist that induces genetic mutation</a>. In the show, her powers are unlocked after she puts on her grandmother’s bangle. </p>
<p>Viewers can partly credit <em>Ms. Marvel</em>’s success to the comic series’ <a href="https://elle.in/article/sana-amanat-marvel-first-muslim-superhero">co-creator and editor, Sana Amanat</a>, a Pakistani American Muslim, and its first writer, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/g-willow-wilsons-american-heroes">G. Willow Wilson</a>, a white American convert to Islam.</p>
<p>Wilson wrote Kamala so beautifully that her struggles appealed to a large audience. As <em>The New Yorker</em> reports, Amanat and Wilson knew that as a breakthrough Muslim superhero, Ms. Marvel would face high expectations: “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/g-willow-wilsons-american-heroes">traditional Muslims might want her to be more modest, and secular Muslims might want her to be less so</a>.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-stakes-are-so-high-for-the-black-panther-57612">Why the stakes are so high for the Black Panther</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Their work was also unfolding in the charged <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814707326/arabs-and-muslims-in-the-media">post-9/11 climate when representations of Muslims</a>, while gaining some nuance, have also reiterated long-standing orientalist stereotypes — and Islamophobes framed <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-shows-its-time-to-do-away-with-the-racist-clash-of-civilizations-theory-178297">debates that questioned the compatibility of Islam with the West</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People dressed up and dancing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471681/original/file-20220629-26-ofloxm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kamala’s friends Nakia (Yasmeen Fletcher) and Bruno (Matt Lintz) are seen dancing with her and her Auntie Ruby (Anjali Bhimani) at her brother’s wedding.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>South Asian Muslim culture</h2>
<p>In both the comic and TV series, Kamala’s representation of Islam is primarily a South Asian one. For instance, Kamala wears a South Asian <em>dupatta</em>, when praying in the mosque. And the inter-generational trauma <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">created by Partition</a>, which led to the creation of the South Asian Muslim state, Pakistan, is a driving force in the plot. </p>
<p>Characters speckle their conversations with phrases and words in Urdu. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2022/06/09/ms-marvel-episode-1-recap-and-review-a-charming-imaginative-new-disney-plus-gem/?sh=451423b270d7">Episode 1</a> shows Kamala and her mother shopping for a ceremony that is among the most important events
in South Asian backgrounds: a wedding. The event is later shown in Episode 3.</p>
<p>The audience is treated to a fitting of Kamala’s go-to-South Asian wear in this episode, the <em>shawlaar kameeze</em>. In this scene, another major fixture in South Asian culture debuts: <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/whats-life-without-the-omnipresent-aunties-their-inappropriate-questions-and-spicy-gossip/article6383319.ece">The gossiping aunty</a>. South Asian music is also a regular feature on the show, and Marvel has <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/ms-marvel-every-song-featured-in-episode-1">posted links</a> to the soundtracks which include a mix of pop and desi tracks.</p>
<h2>Supporting cast: Nani and Red Dagger</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471235/original/file-20220627-14-wo7ckh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aramis Knight is cast as the Red Dagger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’m looking forward to the plot lines with two South Asian characters — <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2361843/samina-ahmed-enters-ms-marvel-as-kamala-khans-nani">Kamala’s <em>nani</em> (maternal grandmother), played by Samina Ahmed</a>, and the Pakistani male superhero, the <a href="https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/ms-marvel-trailer-red-dagger-first-look/">Red Dagger, played by Aramis Knight</a>.</p>
<p>Red Dagger currently stars in a <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/105500/love_unlimited_ms_marvel_red_dagger_infinity_comic_2022_1">webcomic with Ms. Marvel</a> and is important mainly because western popular media has often depicted <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814707326/arabs-and-muslims-in-the-media/">Muslim men as oppressors of women</a>, not superheroes.</p>
<h2>Breaking the tired tropes</h2>
<p>I’m excited about Kamala’s screen debut because of what she signifies to her South Asian, Muslim and racialized female fans after a lifetime of seeing <a href="https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/great-south-asian-characters-in-recent-movies-and-television">sparse</a> or <a href="https://www.statepress.com/article/2020/09/specho-insight-western-shows-still-misrepresent-south-asian-characters">orientalist</a> representations of ourselves. </p>
<p>After watching the first two episodes, journalist Unzela Khan said she feels like her “<a href="https://www.ign.com/articles/ms-marvel-episode-2-muslim-representation">day-to-day reality (minus the superpowers) was finally being shared accurately</a> and safely with the whole world.” </p>
<p>In an audience study I conducted on <a href="https://mpcaaca.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Hosein-Ms-Marvel-Final-1.pdf">the Muslim superhero archetype</a> as part of my doctoral research, participants of many different Muslim backgrounds indicated an eagerness to receive Ms. Marvel.</p>
<p>Respondents expressed relief at seeing Kamala as a unique three-dimensional Muslim superhero in American comics, because she is a break from the relentless <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814707326/arabs-and-muslims-in-the-media/">terrorist and oppressed women tropes</a> entwined with representations of Islam that have dominated the western popular culture landscape.</p>
<p>They regard her as “relatable” because she connects both to her ancestral culture and American one. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A superhero is seen extending her hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=195%2C0%2C3638%2C1603&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470857/original/file-20220624-18-8dk62k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Iman Vellani stars as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ ‘Ms. Marvel.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Marvel Studios 2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The South Asian Muslim participants in particular were excited for her because she not only embodies much of their customs, but because she represents a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40338912">break from the “Muslim equals Middle Eastern”</a> portrayals. Black Muslim participants voiced this last point as well.</p>
<h2>Refuge from stereotypes?</h2>
<p>While most participants in my study welcomed Ms. Marvel as a refuge from Islamophobic stereotypes, one stressed that if a Muslim superhero appeared in a story showing something that didn’t reflect Islamic principles, there would be a risk this could negatively affect the Muslim community. </p>
<p>Since the show launched, some Muslim fans were outraged by Episode 3’s revelation <a href="https://in.mashable.com/entertainment/34050/ms-marvel-makers-twisting-kamala-khans-backstory-has-left-muslim-fans-furious-heres-why">that Kamala is a djinn</a>.
According to the <em>Encyclopedia of Islam</em>, a djinn is a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei2glos_SIM_gi_01011">Qurʾānic term applied to bodies composed of vapour and flame</a>. Djinns are <a href="https://theconversation.com/omar-sakrs-epic-stunningly-dirty-debut-novel-challenges-macho-heterosexual-myths-of-arab-australian-culture-175640">popularly understood as supernatural beings</a>. The djinn filtered through a western orientalist lens has been a staple <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-dream-of-jeannie-left-us-with-enduring-stereotypes-119279">of orientalist “genie” depictions</a>. </p>
<p>Many have said that it was a baffling choice to draw <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87qSac_1Ls8&feature=youtu.be">on orientalist tropes while making the first Muslim superhero in the MCU a djinn — and that they can’t cosplay as her now</a>. The plot turn of Kamala-as-djinn isn’t in the comics.</p>
<h2>Turning point of representation?</h2>
<p>In my audience study, a young Indian Muslim woman was excited to see Kamala take over the Ms. Marvel mantle from her blonde and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Carol_Danvers_(Earth-616)">blue-eyed predecessor, Carol Danvers</a>.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-further-faster-marvels-first-female-cinematic-superhero-112678">Higher, further, faster: Marvel's first female cinematic superhero</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>She said Kamala would let young, brown and dark-skinned girls know that they too were special after a lifetime of not seeing themselves represented in western popular media.</p>
<p>The Pakistani American Muslim illustrator, Anoosha Syed, recently tweeted about this in response to questions on Kamala’s identity, writing: “Seeing a lot of people online … angrily commenting ‘who is this show even for??’ Hi! Hello! It’s for me!!! ME!!!! A Pakistani Muslim girl who has literally never seen herself represented in media like this before!!”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1534566804206637057"}"></div></p>
<p>With the <em>Ms. Marvel</em> series currently clocking in at a <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/ms_marvel">96 per cent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes</a>,
I question whether we are on the cusp of a turning point for Muslim representation in the West — especially for South Asian and Muslim girls. </p>
<p>In the past, some dressed up as <a href="https://browngirlmagazine.com/disney-aladdin-american-orientalism/">the orientalist Disney character</a>, Princess Jasmine, for Halloween. With Ms. Marvel and other superheroines, girls are gaining heroines to choose from.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184613/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Safiyya Hosein received funding from the RBC Immigrant, Diversity, and Inclusion Project Award at Toronto Metropolitan University to conduct her audience study. </span></em></p>
Ms. Marvel represents a break from the ‘Muslim equals Middle Eastern’ portrayals popular in western media.
Safiyya Hosein, Part-time lecturer, Communication and Culture, Toronto Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/180634
2022-04-07T14:10:52Z
2022-04-07T14:10:52Z
Five exciting additions to Marvel’s cinematic universes – according to a comics expert
<p>Two new Marvel heroes have been brought to the big and small screens that may be quite new to many people. The first is the titular character in the Disney+ series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10234724/">Moon Knight, starring Oscar Isaac</a>, which is set in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe. The other is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5108870/">Morbius</a>, an unlucky vampiric doctor, played by Jared Leto, who is the newest villain-turned-good-ish guy in <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a39583017/sony-spider-man-universe-timeline-venom-morbius/">the Sony Spider-Man Universe</a> to get a film, after Venom. </p>
<p>These are stories featuring violent male anti-heroes – who are also characters fairly unknown to the general public. When the first Venom was released, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/why-venom-is-dividing-movie-audiences-1149713/">The Hollywood Reporter</a> noted: “The MCU makes it easy to be a Marvel fan without having ever read the source material”.</p>
<p>Morbius has not fared so well, bringing in the lowest box office numbers compared to its Spider-Man counterparts. Critics suggest that this might be due to the character’s “<a href="https://qz.com/2150556/morbius-logged-the-lowest-box-office-in-the-spider-man-universe/">relative obscurity</a>”. On the other hand, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/30/moon-knight-review-oscar-isaac-is-a-crime-fighting-frank-spencer">Moon Knight has garnered good reviews</a>.</p>
<p>Like it or not, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is expanding and there are a whole host of new heroes making their way from the more obscure corners of the comic universe onto the screen. Here are five such characters who will be headlining new films and TV series as part of numerous forthcoming Marvel projects, from <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a834277/marvel-phase-4-mcu-movies-tv-shows/">Disney’s Marvel Studios</a>, and <a href="https://spiderman-films.fandom.com/wiki/Sony%27s_Spider-Man_Universe">Sony</a>.</p>
<h2>1. Ms Marvel</h2>
<p>The world’s first female, teen, Muslim superhero, Ms Marvel received a lot of praise when she made her debut in 2013 in a <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Kamala_Khan_(Earth-616)">Captain marvel comic</a>. Critics praised the character as a <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/16/ms-marvel-trailer-muslim-women-crying-over-superhero-representation-16287152/">positive representation of a young Pakistani American woman who is also Muslim</a>. This outing was so successful, the teen got her own comic the following year. She will also officially be joining Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in June 2022 with her own series on Disney+. </p>
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<p>The series revolves around a young woman called Kamala Khan, who is a huge fan of superheroes. When she mysteriously gets powers, Khan is inspired by Captain Marvel to become a hero herself. Ms Marvel will be appearing alongside Captain Marvel and <a href="https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Monica_Rambeau">Photon</a> in the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10676048">2023 film The Marvels</a>.</p>
<h2>2. She-Hulk</h2>
<p>In the comics, lawyer Jennifer Walters receives a blood transfusion from her cousin Bruce Banner after she’s shot by a mobster. Afterwards, <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/she-hulk-jennifer-walters/in-comics">she also turns green when angry</a>. First appearing in 1980, and <a href="https://therealstanlee.com/comics/stan-lee-trivia-the-savage-she-hulk/">one of the last characters created by Marvel impresario Stan Lee</a>, She-Hulk comics often lean towards <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/ComicBook/SensationalSheHulk">comedy, with characters breaking the fourth wall</a>. </p>
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<p>While the Guardians of the Galaxy films are <a href="https://screenrant.com/guardians-galaxy-most-hilarious-moments-mcu/">more comedic than their stablemates</a>, and the two Deadpool movies were <a href="https://www.cbr.com/deadpool-most-hilariously-raunchy-jokes-fans-missed/">black comedies</a>, this is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to overtly use this genre. So, like <a href="https://collider.com/wandavision-tv-tropes-sitcom-references-explained/">WandaVision which used the sitcom format</a> as a jumping off point, this is an interesting experiment for the Marvel brand. The She-Hulk show, set for release in late 2022, is expected to <a href="https://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/1210891-she-hulk-director-comedy-mcu">have audiences laughing more than any hero before her</a>. </p>
<h2>3. Werewolf by Night</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Comic cover of a man standing in front of a werewolf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456856/original/file-20220407-11-cuzh19.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Werewolf by Night will be MCU’s first horror outing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marvel</span></span>
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<p>Following the cinema release of <a href="https://www.distractify.com/p/is-doctor-strange-2-a-horror-movie">Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness</a>, this will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first horror themed TV show. Featuring the somewhat prosaically named <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Jack_Russell_(Earth-616)">Jack Russell</a>, Werewolf by Night ran for four years in the 1970s, following a relaxation on <a href="http://cbldf.org/comics-code-revision-of-1971/">censorship of horror comics</a>, which allowed for the creation of Marvel’s vampire characters <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Eric_Brooks_(Earth-616)">Blade</a> and <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Morbius_(Earth-616)">Morbius</a> in the first half of the decade. </p>
<p>A sometimes-friendly lycanthrope, Russell joined up with other Marvel horror characters to form <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Legion_of_Monsters_(Earth-616)">the Legion of Monsters</a> appearing in <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/legion-of-monsters/4060-46227/">various comics on and off since 1976</a> to fight evil. The TV version, set for release in October 2022, will also feature this helpful werewolf, played by <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/gael-garcia-bernal-to-lead-marvels-halloween-special-werewolf-by-night/">Gael Garcia Bernal</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Kraven the Hunter</h2>
<p>Kraven is the orphaned son of Russian aristocrats with a penchant for hunting big game. While hunting in Africa, he ends up drinking a potion that gives him superhuman strength, speed and the instincts of a jungle cat. Bored of hunting animals he sets his sights on larger prey, Spider-Man.</p>
<p>Kraven first appeared in comics as <a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/who-is-kraven-the-hunter">Spider-Man’s foe in 1964</a>. The maniacal hunter will be the <a href="https://variety.com/2021/film/news/aaron-taylor-johnson-kraven-the-hunter-1234982555/">third villain to lead a live-action Spider-Verse film</a>. However, unlike Venom and Morbius before him, Kraven is not known in the comics for performing good deeds, so it will be an interesting challenge for Marvel to make an anti-hero of the artistocrat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cartoon of a hunter." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456858/original/file-20220407-21-vtn8z2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kraven The Hunter is not a nice guy in the comics but is set to be an anti-hero in his first outing in the Spider-Man Sony universe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marvel</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kraven rarely appears without Spider-Man in the comics so Sony have set themselves a challenge to flesh out the hunter in a film where his nemesis doesn’t appear. Kraven will be played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8790086/">Aaron-Taylor Johnson</a>, who is no stranger to a tight suit, having previously played the low-rent superhero <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1250777/">Kick Ass</a> in two films.</p>
<h2>5. Silk</h2>
<p>The first Spider-Man Sony universe TV show will feature Cindy Moon, a female student bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Spider-Man his abilities. However, unlike Peter Parker who was left to swing around New York and discover his new powers, Moon was <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Cindy_Moon_(Earth-616)">kidnapped and held in a bunker for 13 years</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A woman suspended in a spider's web." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456859/original/file-20220407-26-t014q3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Silk was turned by the same spider as Spider-Man.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_(comics)#/media/File:Silk-comic_cover.jpg">Marvel/Wikimedia</a></span>
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<p>With Sony’s films only apparently allowing for Spider-Man to be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/venom-post-credit-scene-spiderman-marvel-b1939566.html">shown</a> or <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/04/morbius-post-credits-scenes-what-they-are-1234712844">discussed</a> in their end credit scenes, it will be interesting to see how Silk deals with the heroine’s creation without any mention of Spidey – unless given permission by Disney to do so. There has been speculation that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2022/01/11/how-sony-rehabilitated-their-spider-man-franchise-at-marvel-and-disney-expense">Sony may revive Andrew Garfield’s incarnation of the character</a> in the future, so time will tell how Silk proceeds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
The Marvel universe is expanding with new heroes in new films and shows that break new boundaries and tackle new genres.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/178481
2022-03-07T15:18:09Z
2022-03-07T15:18:09Z
The Batman: the Dark Knight on screen has always reflected contemporary tastes
<p>A billionaire who dresses up as a bat to <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/blog/2020/08/20/matt-reeves-gives-fan-a-glimpse-of-the-batman-logo">strike fear into the hearts of evildoers</a> is back on the streets of Gotham. This time Robert Pattinson is in the batsuit in the sixth film featuring the caped crusader in the last decade alone. </p>
<p>Batman has been on screen in numerous iterations since the 1940s but audiences seem to not have had enough quite yet. The Batman <a href="https://www.cbr.com/the-batman-marvel-eternals-ticket-presales-double/">sold US$8 million (£6 million) worth of tickets</a> worldwide on the first day of sale and earned US$<a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/the-batman-opening-weekend-second-biggest-pandemic-1235197193/">128.5 million</a> on its opening weekend. </p>
<p>From the campy 60s Batman to the darker later versions, each Batman film is a curious cultural artefact reflecting the time in which it was made. It is maybe how they have changed with the times, allowing for <a href="https://collider.com/batman-returns-not-blockbuster-reasons-why-explained/">an idiosyncratic vision of the Dark Knight</a> by each director, that offers plenty of variety within a single franchise and keeps audiences interested.</p>
<p>The two Batman serials released in 1940s cinemas followed in the filmed tradition of other comic book heroes of the time, such as Flash Gordon and The Phantom. They were <a href="https://www.filmsite.org/serialfilms2.html">episodic adventures</a> that spoke to contemporary <a href="https://13thdimension.com/1943s-batman-serial-the-highs-and-lows-of-the-dynamic-duos-screen-debut/">second world war paranoia about Japanese spies and new technology</a>. </p>
<p>Equally episodic were the big and small screen adventures of Batman in the 60s. The Batman series was closely tied to <a href="https://medium.com/@ChrisXMorgan/the-pop-culture-obsessions-of-batman-66-26315be94a33">its era, featuring references to pop culture, and appearances by pop stars</a>. It also had the <a href="https://numberonebatfan.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/in-defense-of-a-goofy-batman/">camp sensibilities that were developed in 1950s comics</a>. </p>
<p>While the more tongue-in-cheek TV series is lambasted by fans who prefer a more serious Batman, this was in keeping with a comic where <a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/the-real-comic-book-origins-of-the-batman-66-tv-series/">the caped crusader fought oversized gorillas, found himself turned into a giant or covered in zebra stripes</a>. This is when the superhero received his <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060153/">first feature length film</a>. Released in 1966 between the end of the first series of Batman on TV and before the start of the second, the film shared <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Batman_(TV_series)_episodes">the same cast, writer and director as many of the episodes</a>.</p>
<h2>Back on the big screen</h2>
<p>Batman returned on screen in the 80s and 90s shaped by the distinct visions of different directors. </p>
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<p>Tim Burton was the first director to show Batman (this time Michael Keaton) as a brooding, dark millionaire with a tragic origin story that spurs him on to seek justice and vengeance. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096895/">Batman (1989)</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103776/">Batman Returns (1992)</a> showcase the director’s interest in the “<a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/stories-and-ideas/tim-burtons-fairytale-worlds/">violent and graphic nature of certain fairy tales</a>”. Audiences would find out the origin of the Penguin in the sequel, which was like something out of the German children’s story <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-english-struwwelpeter-by-heinrich-hoffmann"><em>Struwwelpeter</em></a> – an orphan thrown into the sewers, to be raised by <a href="https://www.filmobjective.reviews/batman-returns-action-fairytale/">escapees from an abandoned zoo</a>.</p>
<p>Burton’s films also reflect a generation when <a href="http://comicartcommunity.com/comicart_news/art-of-batman/">Batman comics were drawn by idiosyncratic creators</a> such as <a href="https://13thdimension.com/sam-hamm-the-comic-books-that-inspired-batman-89/">Frank Miller and Marshall Rogers, who the film’s writer credits as influences</a>. And Batman’s production design in turn influenced contemporary <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/stic/2017/00000008/00000002/art00006;jsessionid=4ighh2ij173r.x-ic-live-02">Detective Comics</a>. </p>
<p>The late 80s and early 90s were also a period where cinema adopted the <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-debut-films-music-video-directors">chiaroscuro (high contrast lighting) and fashion of pop videos</a>, which is reflected somewhat in the Bat-films of this period. The <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/issues/2001/june.aspx">writer Kay Dickinson noted the “MTV aesthetic” in Batman Forever</a>. </p>
<p>You can see this influence on Burton’s films with prominent sequences scored by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(album)">Prince</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_to_Face_(Siouxsie_and_the_Banshees_song)">Siouxsie and the Banshees</a>. One song by Prince is used in full in Batman for <a href="https://decider.com/2019/06/23/batman-30-anniversary-joker-prince-partyman-museum-scene/">a pseudo musical number featuring the Joker</a>.</p>
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<p>In contrast, Burton’s successor leaned back towards the camp and bright colour scheme of 1966. Joel Schumacher’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112462/">Batman Forever (1995)</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118688/">Batman and Robin (1997)</a> starring Val Kilmer and George Clooney respectively, were considerably more “<a href="https://observer.com/2020/06/batman-forever-anniversary-campy/">garish, neon-coloured, in your face</a>” than the previous two films. This perhaps goes hand in hand with greater <a href="https://ew.com/article/1995/09/08/special-report-gay-90s/">LGBTQ+ visibility in 90s cinema</a> and, before the more po-faced Batfilms of the 21st century, gave Batman and Robin a <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2016/04/the-history-of-the-gay-subtext-of-batman-and-robin.html">“defiantly queer victory lap”</a>. </p>
<p>However, many fans consider the 1997 sequel as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/03/batman-robin-worst-film-ever">“the worst film of all time”</a>. One critic called it “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/3/7965963/batman-and-robin-netflix-defense-superhero-movies">so bad as to be utterly incoherent</a>”. Because of this, the franchise would follow a similar pattern to contemporary Bond movies, in which <a href="https://tilt.goombastomp.com/culture/the-world-is-not-enough-is-silly-but-entertaining/">a “silly but entertaining” film</a> was followed by <a href="https://www.avclub.com/casino-royale-thrillingly-rebooted-james-bond-for-the-g-1798264696">a gritty reboot</a> as Christopher Nolan seized the reigns. </p>
<h2>A grittier 21st century Bat</h2>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_in_film#The_Dark_Knight_Trilogy_(2005%E2%80%932012)">Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy (2005-2012)</a> brought <a href="https://screenrant.com/batman-movies-realistic-grounded-problem-hurt-dark-knight/">a degree of realism</a> to his vision of The Dark Knight, while still being somewhat “<a href="http://www.mtv.com/news/1591147/the-dark-knight-ledgerdemain-by-kurt-loder/">demented</a>” when portraying familiar villains. This was a period when superhero films would reflect contemporary concerns about the “<a href="https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/are-audiences-tiring-of-gritty-realism-in-superhero-movies/">threat of terrorism or the financial crisis</a>”.</p>
<p>Not wishing to lose this quality, the first <a href="https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Batman_(Snyderverse)">three films featuring Ben Affleck’s Batman</a> kept <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/broken-filling-hole-soul-batmans-darkness-engulfed-ben-affleck/">a hint of darkness</a> while also interacting with more colourful DC Comics characters in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2975590/">Batman v Superman</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/fullcredits/">Suicide Squad</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12361974">Justice League</a>. However, the overall look and tone of these films were designed to contrast with the “<a href="https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/512021/zack-snyders-justice-league-proves-lore-is-no-substitute-for-craft/">broadly appealing pop sensibility</a>” of contemporary Marvel films, with director Zach Snyder’s vision suggesting “<a href="https://www.popmatters.com/181397-the-gritty-and-the-real-2495664058.html">negative, bleak, or cynical outcomes (make) more authentic fiction</a>”.</p>
<p>The Batman director Matt Reeves has a reputation for juggling <a href="https://fandomwire.com/the-batman-grounded-approach-change-comic-book-movie/">a sense of realism</a> with a comic book aesthetic. All the gadgets and gear is there but, as <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-batman-movie-review-2022">one critic</a> notes, Reeve’s take is more of a “70s crime drama than a soaring and transporting blockbuster”. </p>
<p>So it seems this iteration is <a href="https://archrival.com/insights/trends/the-roaring-2020s">a contemporary remix</a>, which sits somewhere <a href="https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/the-batman-noir">between the pop sensibilities of certain instalments, and the neo-noir of others</a>. Pattinson has also been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/mar/05/the-batman-review-robert-pattinson-zoe-kravitz-matt-reeves">praised for playing a Batman</a> “with an appealing vulnerability, a well-meaning philanthropist buckling under the weight of white guilt” – a Batman for our times.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Fitch receives funding from UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training, Design Star. </span></em></p>
The caped crusader is back in another dark outing that speaks to this cultural moment.
Alex Fitch, Lecturer and PhD Candidate in Comics and Architecture, University of Brighton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/175999
2022-02-08T21:01:26Z
2022-02-08T21:01:26Z
Banning ‘Maus’ only exposes the significance of this searing graphic novel about the Holocaust
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444654/original/file-20220206-501-192bz3e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C202%2C2035%2C1560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Art Spiegelman's 'Maus' won a 1992 Pulitzer Prize.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Bill Smith/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/27/us/tennessee-school-board-removes-maus/index.html">school board in Tennessee voted unanimously in favour of removing the graphic novel <em>Maus</em> by Art Spiegelman from its Grade 8 language arts curriculum</a> in January. <em>Maus</em> is based on interviews with Spiegelman’s father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew and Auschwitz survivor, and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for its searing and innovative visual and narrative exploration of the darkest period of German history.</p>
<p>The McMinn County’s Board of Education cited “<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-tennessee-school-board-bans-holocaust-book-rough-objectionable-language-20220127-bzgjikaz5jflrf7jlpkwlc2aoa-story.html">rough, objectionable language</a>” and the cartoon drawing of a nude woman as their primary objections. </p>
<p>However, with editions flying off the shelves and <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanHigginsRyan/status/1486484761648328704">comic book stores giving away copies</a>, the McMinn County school board has, in fact, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/01/31/1076970866/maus-banned-tennessee-school-board">improved Maus’s distribution, getting it into the hands of more readers</a>.</p>
<h2>Graphic novel and historical representation</h2>
<p><em>Maus</em> explores Spiegelman’s parents’ life in Poland and their internment at Auschwitz. Vladek Spiegelman’s experience of the Holocaust and its aftermath — including the <a href="https://twitter.com/gwenckatz/status/1487546960580022275">1968 suicide</a> of Art Spiegleman’s <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/spiegelman-maus2.html">mother, Vladek’s wife, Anja</a> — is filtered through cartoonist’s narrative and visual account. He portrays the Holocaust as a conflict between cats, mice, and pigs where <a href="http://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-maus">Jews are drawn as mice, Germans as cats and Poles as pigs</a>. </p>
<p>Spiegelman’s use of animals met some controversy <a href="http://cbldf.org/banned-challenged-comics/case-study-maus">including among some Polish readers</a>, as well as some in the Jewish community who <a href="http://knopfdoubleday.com/2011/09/21/metamaus-a-look-inside-a-modern-classic-maus-art-spiegelman/">saw in mice the stereotpye of Jews as pathetic and defenseless creatures</a>. Yet Spiegelman noted that his anthropomorphized mice intentionally <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/image/when-vermin-are-dead-der-st-rmer-antisemitic-cartoon">challenged Nazi propaganda</a> that likened Jews to rats. For example, a teaching guide characterizes Spiegelman’s Jewish mice as “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171058/maus-i-a-survivors-tale-by-art-spiegelman/9780394747231/teachers-guide/">a barbed response to</a> Hitler’s statement ‘The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.’” His mice, Spiegelman wrote, “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2927540">stand upright and affirm their humanity</a>.”</p>
<p><em>Maus</em> was first published in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Raw">Françoise Mouly and Spiegelman’s comics anthology RAW from 1980</a> onward, before the <a href="https://www.abc-clio.com/product/A4908C/">first six chapters</a> were published in 1986 as <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/171058/maus-i-a-survivors-tale-by-art-spiegelman/9780394747231"><em>Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale</em></a> and the latter five chapters were published in 1991 as <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171059/maus-ii-a-survivors-tale-by-art-spiegelman/"><em>Maus II: A Survivor’s Tale: And Here My Troubles</em></a>. </p>
<p>The graphic novel’s <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/1992">1992 Pulitzer Prize win</a> (in the “Special Citations and Awards” category) <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/comics-as-literature-reading-graphic-narrative/AD1F1E381FFA899FF04E37BCA6A19BF2">drew academics’ attention to the comics medium for the first time</a>. </p>
<p>Now heralded as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/">one of the greatest graphic novels of all time</a>, <em>Maus</em> successfully established comics as an important feature of contemporary culture and historical representation. It opened the floodgates to comics addressing serious subject matter and <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/C/Comic-Books-as-History">changed the medium’s relationship with history</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1490073425024479232"}"></div></p>
<h2>Ethics of representing the Holocaust</h2>
<p>While some may be encountering <em>Maus</em> for the first time in their newsfeeds, comics fans, teachers and literary and cultural studies scholars have known the importance of <em>Maus</em> in teaching and learning for decades. </p>
<p><em>Maus</em> made comic books visible and legitimate <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/A/Alternative-Comics">in ways that had been previously inconceivable</a>. As my research has explored, <em>Maus</em> also redefined the medium’s potential <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=y4WhCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA143&dq=spiegelman+maus+Vergangenheitsbew%C3%A4ltigung&ots=EmWMZYR5Z1&sig=K9drQDLMboxB_96FD6KjzWpFPf8#v=onepage&q=spiegelman%20maus%20Vergangenheitsbew%C3%A4ltigung&f=false">through its engagement with what is known in Germany</a> as <em>Vergangenheitsbewältigung</em>, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/vergangenheitsbew%C3%A4ltigung/a-6614103">overcoming the past or coming to terms with</a> the history of Nazism. At the same time, <em>Maus</em> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/seminar.56.3-4.en">prompted important popular and scholarly debates on the ethics of representing the Holocaust</a>. </p>
<p>For example, literature professor Marianne Hirsch <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41389264">examined the role of photography in <em>Maus</em></a> in a 1992 essay, providing the scholarly foundation for her subsequent work on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-2007-019">transgenerational trauma</a>. </p>
<p>German and comparative literature professor Andreas Huyssen examined the ethics and esthetics of remembering the Holocaust <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/488546">by looking at <em>Maus’s</em> narrative strategies</a>. In particular, Huyssen turned to <em>Maus</em> as an important example of how to move debates on representing the Holocaust beyond a focus on the “proper” depiction of historical trauma. Instead, Huyssen analyzed <em>Maus’s</em> ability to shock and jar its reader “through ruptures in narrative.” As Huyssen notes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[T]he telling of this traumatic past … is interrupted time and again by banal everyday events in the New York present. This cross-cutting of past and present, by which the frame keeps intruding into the narrative … points in a variety of ways to how this past holds the present captive, independently of whether this knotting of past into present is being talked about or repressed.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Huyssen found that <em>Maus</em> demonstrated the power of modernist Holocaust commemorations that steer clear of “official Holocaust memory” and its rituals while incorporating a critique of representation itself.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=yFGKn-rXAFQC&pg=PA27&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">historian Hayden White</a> looked to <em>Maus</em> as a case study in his discussion on the relationship between history and narrative. </p>
<p>White questioned the belief that the uniqueness of Nazism and <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview">the Nazi “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” — the mass genocide of Jews —</a> might set limits on its portrayal, insisting that there are no unacceptable modes of historical narrative. White argued that the destabilizing of the division between fact and fiction as seen in <em>Maus</em> is well-suited to representing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jan/11/poetry-after-auschwitz">what may otherwise seem “unrepresentable,”</a> namely, the Holocaust as well as the experience of it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white illustrated panels, including of a mouse surrounded by flames screaming." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444667/original/file-20220206-66930-1w3qlo6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panels seen at ‘Art Spiegelman’s CO-MIX: A Retrospective’ at The Jewish Museum, New York, 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Jmm/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multi-layered process of ‘witnessing’</h2>
<p>Maus’s multi-generational memoir laid the groundwork for comics, and graphic memoir in particular, to become <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cmjs20/17/1?nav=tocList">an essential form for remembering the Holocaust</a> and communicating its legacy of transgenerational trauma. Even today, 30 years after <em>Maus’s</em> Pulitzer award, graphic novelists are turning to comics to explore these issues. For example, German-American illustrator Nora Krug’s 2018 <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Belonging/Nora-Krug/9781476796635"><em>Belonging</em></a> offers new perspectives on German guilt through her graphic novel that is both memoir and scrapbook.</p>
<p>Recently, researchers are looking again to comic art to educate on the Holocaust and genocide more generally. <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/humanities/germanicslavic/people/home/advisors/profiles/schallie-charlotte.php">Germanic and Slavic studies professor Charlotte Schallié from the University of Victoria</a> is leading a SSHRC-funded project called <a href="http://www.holocaustgraphicnovels.org/">Narrative Art and Visual Storytelling in Holocaust and Human Rights Education</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/educators-must-challenge-the-politics-of-evil-105928">Educators must challenge the politics of evil</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In an interview, Schallié said this focus was inspired by her son’s discovery of <em>Maus</em> as a reluctant reader at age 11. She explained how comics are foundational in Holocaust education and that <em>Maus</em> is an essential piece of graphic literature for both middle- and high-school curricula. According to Schallié, Spiegelman’s complex esthetic modes of representation complicate the genre of survivor testimony to draw attention to the multi-layered process of witnessing. “To ban <em>Maus</em> in the middle-school curriculum,” she said, “does a great disservice to students.”</p>
<p>However, with the media attention that the recent ban of <em>Maus</em> is receiving, it’s likely that more readers than ever are going to come to regard Spiegelman’s graphic art as <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315762364">an essential text in Holocaust education</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175999/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Biz Nijdam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The multigenerational memoir laid the groundwork for graphic memoirs to become an essential form for remembering the Holocaust and communicating its legacy of trans-generational trauma.
Biz Nijdam, Lecturer, Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies, University of British Columbia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/133002
2022-02-06T14:51:37Z
2022-02-06T14:51:37Z
When teachers in comic books get more than a thought bubble, watch out for an identity crisis
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443268/original/file-20220129-17-apbj3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C49%2C808%2C479&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Strong feelings and hidden identities seem to be part of the teaching life in comics. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Batman and the Outsiders'/DC Comics/ 6 January 1984) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teacher characters in comics are almost as ubiquitous as flowing capes and tights — but they’re often relegated to the background of stories about the lives of students, like a piece of furniture or a potted plant.</p>
<p>As a familiar example, <a href="https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/School_building?file=19750115.gif">the teachers in <em>Peanuts</em> never appear in the panels but are only implied as distant voices</a>, while even Snoopy is given <a href="https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/School_building?file=Pe211205.jpg">the odd thought bubble</a>. Teachers in comics therefore rarely have much of an inner world. </p>
<p>Even if certain figures — such as <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/ms-grundy/4005-1741/">Ms. Grundy</a> of Riverdale High <a href="https://archiecomics.com/">in the <em>Archie</em> comics</a> — are immediately recognizable, you would be forgiven for thinking she has no life outside of her job. Only rarely do readers see Ms. Grundy doing something out of the ordinary, such as <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13603468-betty-111">taking a skydiving class on the weekend</a> or preparing <a href="https://www.comics.org/issue/222294/">a lecture for her students on women’s rights</a>.</p>
<p>As a professor who educates teachers-to-be about learning to build a sustainable teaching life, both in and out of the classroom, and a researcher who has examined teachers in comics, I read comics set in school with an inquiring eye about what readers are led to implicitly accept about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2012.00605.x">the emotional lives of those who teach</a>. </p>
<p>While as noted, some comics artists have rendered teachers as background filler, that’s not always the case. Through examining some depictions of teachers in comics, we can gain insight into real-life challenges of teachers related to negotiating their identities and feelings in the classroom. </p>
<h2>Black Lightning / Mr. Pierce</h2>
<p><a href="https://theundefeated.com/features/the-cover-of-1970s-black-lightning-comic-book-no-1/">Black Lightning</a>, a member of the DC superhero team, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/outsiders/4060-5704/">The Outsiders</a>, distinguishes himself by carrying on a day job as an English teacher <a href="https://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2013/12/black-lightning-always-strikes-twice-double-consciousness-as-a-super-power/">simultaneous to his work as a costumed hero</a>. </p>
<p>In the classroom, as Mr. Pierce, he is committed to making a difference in his students’ lives, despite the obstacles they may face: “I came here to teach,” he once exclaimed, “and <a href="https://view-comic.com/black-lightning-1995-issue-2/">I can do that whether I’m in a classroom or a locker room — or out on the street</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=922&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443586/original/file-20220131-139881-1l3ze0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s hard for Mr. Pierce to grade papers in the morning after a night as superhero Black Lightning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Black Lightning', Issue 6, July 1995/DC Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This double life, however, takes its toll, and leaves Pierce with hardly a moment to rest. In one story, after spending the night out as Black Lightning, he remarks, visibly exhausted: “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Lightning_Vol_1_3">Schoolteacher Jefferson Pierce still has some English papers to grade before morning</a>.”</p>
<p>For such characters, the stress of a double life reveals the impediments that teachers may encounter when trying to maintain out-of-school interests and identities. To greater or lesser degress, these may be at odds with mainstream western cultural expectations and cultural myths about teachers — such as the view that teachers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.56.4.mv28227614l44u66">rugged individualists and self-made experts</a>, as noted by education researcher Deborah P. Britzman. </p>
<h2>Johnny Thunder / Mr. Tane</h2>
<p>First appearing in 1940s western comics, much of cowboy superhero <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/John_Tane_(New_Earth)">Johnny Thunder’s</a> story line involves a struggle between his desire to enact vengeance and justice at gunpoint, and his wish to teach children about civic duty in the classroom as Mr. John Tane. </p>
<p>The comics’ narrating voice describes this confusion of identities as a “dual post as fighter with books and bullets for justice” in a 1951 issue of <em>All American Western</em> (Issue 120). Tane’s father is also the local sheriff, and <a href="https://babblingsaboutdccomics3.wordpress.com/tag/john-tane/">often humiliates his son for working as a teacher</a>: “Teachin’s for womenfolk!” he says, “<a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/All-American_Western_Vol_1_112">An fightin’ for justice a man’s job</a>.” </p>
<p>Education researchers Shannon D. M. Moore and Melanie D. Janzen have examined how campaigns by governments that criticize teachers or the teaching profession, and seek to justify underfunding education, rely on <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-largely-female-teaching-force-is-standing-up-for-public-education-130633">gendered projections that suggest patriarchal surveillance over teaching devalued as “women’s work.”</a></p>
<p>Though he has his suspicions, Sheriff Tane never does discover his son’s secret identity, nor does he come around to respect his work in the classroom, a fact that leads his son to feel understandably confused about who he actually is. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1186&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443580/original/file-20220131-125257-leszm5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tane and Thunder.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('All-American Western' Issue 120, June-July 1951/National Comics Publications, Inc.)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in one image from <em>All-American Western</em>, violent reverberations of Tane’s face, rendered by multiplying its outline more than 15 times, indicate the degree to which his own identity lacks coherence. Indeed, after reading through every single issue of this character’s run, I’m left unsure about whether to consider Johnny Thunder or Mr. Tane as the character’s true identity. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1224&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443585/original/file-20220131-141004-wt0hok.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Johnny Thunder’s students could be impressed by his superhero status, but his father disapproves of his daytime teaching career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('All-Star Western' Issue 116, Dec. 1960-Jan. 1961/National Comics Publications, Inc.)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The split identity struggles of Black Lightning and Johnny Thunder resonate with themes that education scholars <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1495065">Dennis Sumara and Rebecca Luce-Kapler</a> have noticed in beginning teachers, who often join the profession experiencing a sense of “dissonance between their pre-teaching lives and their lives as experienced teachers.” Unsurprisingly, they find, this is especially true for teachers from marginalized groups, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1495065">including racialized teachers, immigrant teachers and gay and lesbian teachers</a>. (Other research notes <a href="https://www.glsen.org/blog/lgbtq-educators-what-we-know-and-what-they-need">LGBTQ+ teachers struggle to find safe space in schools to be themselves</a>.) </p>
<p>Just as Pierce has trouble fitting both his lives into the larger frame of “teacher,” and we aren’t sure who Tane really is, so may novice teachers be forced to negotiate between what Sumara and Luce-Kapler name as “conflicting remembered, lived and projected senses of identity.” </p>
<h2>Barbie</h2>
<p>A surprising example of a character able to balance her life in and out of the classroom is Barbie. (Yes, that Barbie!) <a href="https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Barbie_Fashion_Vol_1_23">In a 1990s storyline</a>, Barbie decides to pursue a career as a teacher, even though she is already well-known as a model. </p>
<p>Her sentiments may be a little saccharine and naïve — “I hope I’ll be a good teacher,” she thinks to herself, “and that the students learn a lot from me.” Yet, it’s also refreshing to see her able to express such inner thoughts, and to admit emotional concerns as an important component of who she is as a teacher. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443582/original/file-20220131-142511-2rlat0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=771&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Already well-known as a model, Barbie also pursues a teaching career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">('Barbie Fashion' Issue 23, 1992/Marvel Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/957">As education scholar Debbie Sonu and colleagues</a> indicate, it is only by admitting “the elusive qualities of emotional life” into the classroom that teachers may also grapple with challenging topics, like social justice and social inequity, as “part and parcel of education, and not the opposite.” </p>
<p>If teachers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1977982">are able to encounter themselves as emotional beings</a>, they will be more readily able <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211051991">to encourage such moves among their students as well</a>. </p>
<h2>Comics help imagine, examine unconscious life</h2>
<p><a href="https://journal.jctonline.org/index.php/jct/article/view/959">In my own work with those who are learning to teach</a>, I have explored making comics with students to allow them to represent and read their own dreams of life in the classroom. Doing this is one means of side-stepping what could otherwise entail imposing a predictable and prescriptive script of expected outcomes and methods in teacher education.</p>
<p>Such imagining can help ensure new teachers’ versions of teaching may be grounded in their broader lives and identities, and that their knowledge and personal appropriation of professional methods don’t work to render such identities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0142569940150106">invisible and silent</a>. </p>
<p>Since comics seem to offer a valuable lens into the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0533316407076114">social unconscious</a> <a href="http://files.partnership-academy.net/200002623-049ce0690e/Unconscious%20Bias_Educational%20Leadership.pdf">of educational life</a>, perhaps counter-intuitively, we should also learn to trust <a href="https://doi.org/10.14288/tci.v16i2.192294">what comics imply</a> about the everyday life of teaching and learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133002/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lewkowich receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>
Comic characters like Ms. Grundy of Riverdale High, and Johnny Thunder (alias Mr. Tane), offer a valuable look at how teachers navigate mainstream cultural assumptions about teaching.
David Lewkowich, Associate Professor, Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169730
2021-10-13T19:11:36Z
2021-10-13T19:11:36Z
The queer subtext of Superman comics has long been suppressed. Here’s to the original justice defender coming out
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426093/original/file-20211013-17-14auczr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2056%2C1492&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Superman is bisexual. </p>
<p>Not the <a href="https://screenrant.com/richard-donner-superman-still-best-all-movies-tv-why/">movie-starring</a>, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/dccomics-superman-lois-lane-most-romantic-moments/">Lois Lane-loving</a> , <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/superman-smashes-the-klan-periodical-2019/superman-smashes-the-klan">Klan-fighting</a>, <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/graphic-novels/superman-vs-muhammad-ali-deluxe-edition">Muhammad Ali-boxing</a>, <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2017/11/14/16585682/superman-death-explained-comeback-resurrection">returned-from-the-dead</a> , mild-mannered man of steel Clark Kent (aka Kal-El, last son of Krypton). But rather his son, Jonathan Kent, named after Clark’s adoptive father and <a href="https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Samuel_Kent_(Prime_Earth)">current bearer</a> of the Superman moniker.</p>
<p>Issue #5 of Superman: Son of Kal-El (authored by Melbourne-based writer Tom Taylor) will be out this November, and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-12/superman-jon-kent-bisexual-dc-comics/100531496">will feature</a> Jon sharing a kiss with friend and online journalist Jay Nakamura. </p>
<p>Apart from proving Superman has always had a thing for reporters, Jon expressing his sexuality is a watershed moment in the venerable franchise. </p>
<h2>Queering the comics</h2>
<p>Queer representation has always been read into superhero comics. This may not be surprising: they are a genre composed of essentially-nude-figures-in-action, with same-sex sidekicks and sapphic suggestiveness. </p>
<p>German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham believed comics were a corrupting influence. His book, <a href="http://cbldf.org/resources/history-of-comics-censorship/history-of-comics-censorship-part-1/">Seduction of the Innocent</a>, argued Batman and Robin’s relationship was inherently sexual, which therefore made comics inappropriate for children.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Vintage photo of a boy reading Superman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426104/original/file-20211013-13-1buztl1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=724&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comic books faced increased censorship after 1954, over concerns on what was appropriate for children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library of Congress</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His lobbying resulted in the creation of the <a href="http://cbldf.org/comics-code-history-the-seal-of-approval/">Comics Code Authority</a>, a censorship body that forbade any mention of homosexuality from 1954 until 1989.</p>
<p>This left secondary characters, like X-Men villains Mystique and Destiny, to be <a href="https://gayleague.com/destiny-mystique/">heavily coded</a> as queer – even if their sexual preferences could never actually be stated. </p>
<p>When the code was relaxed in the 1990s, characters who came out as queer were invariably third-tier superheroes (like Alpha Flight’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-canadian-superhero-brought-queer-representation-to-marvel-comics-128597">Northstar</a>, caricatures (like the insultingly effeminate <a href="https://bleedingcool.com/comics/what-were-they-thinking-extrano/">Extraño</a>) or characters in “mature-age” titles (like John Constantine or the Doom Patrol’s non-binary Rebis). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-canadian-superhero-brought-queer-representation-to-marvel-comics-128597">How a Canadian superhero brought queer representation to Marvel Comics</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Only in recent years have “top-tier” characters like the X-Men’s Iceman, supervillain Loki, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, the Kate Kane Batwoman and, <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/why-tim-drake-robin-coming-out-as-bisexual-matters-dc-comics/">in August of this year</a>, the Tim Drake Robin have also come out. </p>
<p>I call these characters “top-tier” because they are known to audiences not only from their comic appearances, but also film, television and cartoon adaptations.</p>
<p>Superman is the most high-profile and visible superhero to express their sexuality in this way. </p>
<h2>A social justice superhero</h2>
<p>Superman is often assumed to be an unambiguously benign character, particularly in contrast with the more psychologically complex Batman.</p>
<p>But Superman began his career as <a href="https://www.dcuniverseinfinite.com/news/champion-oppressed-supermans-social-justice-roots/">a crusader for social justice</a>. </p>
<p>In his first issue, he rescues a prisoner from a lynch mob (condemning capital punishment), takes on a wife beater (condemning domestic violence) and takes down a corrupt senator (speaking out against political corruption). </p>
<p>Superman was conceived as a Champion of the Oppressed that millions affected by the Great Depression were crying out for.</p>
<p>Many Superman writers and artists over the years have tried to remain true to these social justice roots. </p>
<p>Look magazine commissioned his creators to produce <a href="https://annotated-dc.tumblr.com/post/178358269902/in-1940-look-magazine-featured-a-two-page-story">a two page feature</a> on “how Superman would end the war” on 22 February 1940, nearly two years before Pearl Harbor. </p>
<p>The frequently outlandish Superman comics of the 1950s regularly warned against unbridled scientific experimentation. </p>
<p>John Byrne’s <a href="https://whatculture.com/comics/why-john-byrnes-superman-run-is-still-the-best">1980s reboot</a> saw Superman tackle the corporate greed, the power of the mass media and gun violence of the Reagan era. </p>
<p>But in sharp distinction to these portrayals, Superman’s role as the first superhero – and therefore elder statesman of the comics world – frequently saw him presented as a tool of government, rather than a reformer. </p>
<p>In the 1960s’ Justice League of America, he was portrayed as a conservative voice in contrast to more liberal, socially-minded characters like Green Arrow. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superman-at-80-how-two-high-school-friends-concocted-the-original-comic-book-hero-94718">Superman at 80: How two high school friends concocted the original comic book hero</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Darwyn Coke’s 1950s-set <a href="https://whatculture.com/comics/10-reasons-why-39-the-new-frontier-39-will-always-be-dc-39-s-greatest-graphic-novel">DC: The New Frontier</a> (2004), it is Superman who acts as Senator Joseph McCarthy’s agent in the field, bringing in “rogue” superheroes who refuse to resign. </p>
<p>Perhaps most famously, in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), Superman appears on behalf of the totalitarian Reaganite government of this parallel 1980s to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11323132/frank-miller-best-batman">bring in Batman</a>.</p>
<p>This has created an identity crisis at the heart of Superman, as great as his dual identities of Kal-El and Clark Kent. Is Superman a social justice reformer or conservative Government supporter? </p>
<p>Jon Kent helps to resolve these tensions. Suddenly, we have a Superman who can be truly representative of the 2021 audience, while insulating the elder Superman as a more conservative and paternal figure.</p>
<h2>Times of transition</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Superman and a man lean in to kiss" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426097/original/file-20211013-19-6jd75h.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Son of Kal El Cover by Travis Moore and Tamra Bonvillain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With Superman’s coming out, queer representation has moved from the periphery to become just another component of a superhero’s identity. </p>
<p>Of course, for every reader that celebrates now being able to see themselves in Superman in a way they haven’t before, there will be another bemoaning “bisexual Superman”. </p>
<p>Perhaps it’s worth remembering comic book superheroes were born and enjoy their greatest popularity during times of transition and uncertainty: economic crisis, armed conflict or political precarity. There’s no reason why expressing one’s sexual identity cannot similarly be understood as one of these moments of transition and uncertainty. </p>
<p>In this way, Jon Kent expressing his bisexuality is just as true to the legacy of Superman as Clark Kent’s social justice crusade 82 years ago.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Bainbridge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Comics have always had queer elements; and Superman has always been on the edge of social justice. This new comic book, featuring a bisexual Jonathan Kent, brings those factors together.
Jason Bainbridge, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/164789
2021-08-10T20:12:22Z
2021-08-10T20:12:22Z
‘Graphic medicine’: how autobiographical comics artists are changing our understanding of illness
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415348/original/file-20210810-21-1mr0ede.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C355%2C872%2C761&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Julia Wertz' The Infinite Wait and Other Stories looks at the author's diagnosis with lupus.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Julia Wertz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Images have acted as crucial diagnostic tools since <a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/show-me-where-it-hurts-part-1/">the late 20th century</a>. Sophisticated technologies, such as X-Rays and MRIs, offer doctors a precise “picture” of illness. </p>
<p>But autobiographical comics about illness, known as “<a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/why-graphic-medicine/">graphic medicine</a>”, provide a different picture.</p>
<p>These comics capture what it’s like to be sick, undergo treatment or take on caring responsibilities. They visualise physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms that are difficult to communicate. They inject a human element into medicalised spaces, pushing back against data-driven, objective notions of the human condition. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two celled cartoon: 'What if the entire future is only filled with horrible boring things? That would be too many.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415339/original/file-20210810-15-18torch.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hyperbole and a Half found legions of followers for the honest way it discussed living with depression.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html">Allie Brosh/Hyperbole and a Half</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These comics are found in print, online and on social media. One of the most famous examples is Allie Brosh’s <a href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/">Hyperbole and a Half</a>. Beginning as a daily blog in 2009, it has since become <a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/229201/laf.html">a phenomenon</a>. </p>
<p>Brosh’s early posts — featuring hilarious anecdotes of early childhood misadventures — quickly attracted a dedicated readership. But in 2013, the two-part series revealing her ongoing struggle with severe depression went viral: Depression Part Two received <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/10/allie-brosh-hyperbole-half-book-depression/">over 1.5 million</a> views in a single day.</p>
<h2>An underground movement</h2>
<p>The phrase “graphic medicine” was coined by <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203079614-14/graphic-medicine-portrayal-illness-underground-autobiographical-comics-ian-williams">comics artist and physician Ian Williams in 2007</a>. Broadly referring to the intersection of comics and healthcare, the beginnings of the movement date back almost 50 years.</p>
<p>Across America between 1963 and 1975, artists and publishers of the <a href="http://www.tcj.com/the-50th-anniversary-of-underground-comix/">Underground Comix movement</a> produced small-press comics challenging contemporary taboos. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Comic cover" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415340/original/file-20210810-13-20921w.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary is recognised as both the first autobiographical comic, and a pioneer in graphic medicine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first autobiographical comic from the underground, Justin Green’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binky_Brown_Meets_the_Holy_Virgin_Mary">Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary</a> (1972) , was also a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22282425/">formative work</a> of graphic medicine. </p>
<p>Following a young man living with undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder, Binky Brown’s symptoms manifest as religious hallucinations and psycho-sexual fixations. Green revealed deep, shameful moments through a semi-autobiographical narrator.</p>
<p>His ability to visualise a private, interior illness had a profound effect on the future of comics as literature. </p>
<p>One artist <a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/justin-greens-binky-brown-sampler/">inspired by Green</a> was Art Spiegelman, who would go on to write the Pulitzer prize winning memoir <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/">Maus</a> (1986).</p>
<h2>Art and health</h2>
<p>Today, graphic medicine continues the underground tradition by exposing the silence around certain illnesses and sparking a new wave of publications both in print and online.</p>
<p>Brian Fies’ <a href="https://www.momscancer.com/">Mom’s Cancer</a> (2004) chronicled his mother’s metastatic lung cancer in serial instalments: a poignant glimpse into the course of cancer treatment and its effect on both patients and their families. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Comic cell: 'Now we wait and let the poisons work.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415342/original/file-20210810-19-ss2l4d.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mom’s Cancer was published online in 2004, and found a readership of other carers supporting their loved ones through cancer treatment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Brian Fies</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mom’s Cancer resonated with readers who saw themselves reflected in its images, anticipating the growing interest in stories about illness, disability and suffering — and a growing number of artists who wanted to share these stories.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://marblesbyellenforney.com/">Marbles: Mania, Depression, and Michelangelo, and Me</a> (2012), Ellen Forney explores her bipolar diagnosis by analysing the lives of other “tortured artists”. Julia Wertz’s <a href="http://www.juliawertz.com/2012/09/18/the-infinite-wait/">The Infinite Wait and Other Stories</a> (2012) looks at systemic lupus through a series of black-and-white graphic novellas. </p>
<p>Sarah Leavitt’s <a href="https://sarahleavitt.com/tangles/">Tangles: A Story of Alzheimer’s, My Mother, and Me</a> (2010) contemplates the uneasy role-reversal of caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s through a collection of notes and sketches spanning six years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Comic cell: a woman and a man decide to call it 'poopus'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415345/original/file-20210810-23-4xu3zw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Julia Wertz used simple black and white graphics to tell the story of her lupus diagnosis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Julia Wertz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The experiences of medical professionals are also part of this genre. </p>
<p>Williams’ own graphic novel, <a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/the-bad-doctor/">The Bad Doctor</a> (2014), depicts obstacles experienced by a general practitioner working in a small, rural town. In <a href="https://comicnurse.com/book/taking-turns/">Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371</a> (2017), M.K. Czerwiec combines her memories of working in a HIV/AIDS unit at the height of the AIDS crisis with oral histories from patients, families, staff and volunteers.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.on-culture.org/journal/issue-11/you-cant-combat-nothing/">my research</a>, I have found graphic medicine points to intense cultural demand for stories of illness that are embodied, visual and subjective. New trends suggest these stories appear increasingly within the fluid and interconnected spaces of the internet, mapping new engagements with illness by collapsing the boundaries between authors and readers. </p>
<p>Far from the underground, these personal narratives traverse digital platforms and broadcast to vast communities.</p>
<p>They bring us even closer to the realities of living with illness.</p>
<h2>Laying emotions bare</h2>
<p>The inclination to draw one’s self online has shifted from blogs like Hyperbole and Mom’s Cancer onto social media, where illness is embedded into <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3290605.3300495?casa_token=FNuVsAD3TdMAAAAA:kq9y7zYywnx8cBPHajOaA0e02GDZ17fXb8KvegVuyCXExo2EyGeoDdoRV00ur5S_ocGVyibIIIJ5Zw">how we represent our daily lives</a>.</p>
<p>Alec MacDonald’s Instagram account, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alecwithpen/?hl=en">@alecwithpen</a> emerged from a desire to regain control from chronic anxiety and depression. Like Brosh, MacDonald’s self-deprecating humour communicates an underlying struggle with mental health to over 270,000 followers. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CPET4XlDBSi","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In a cartoonish style, MacDonald uses metaphors to make his imaginings visible: childhood anxiety takes the shape of a giant, purple amorphous blob prone to swallowing him up; his black eye stands for parts of himself that shut down from mental illness and trauma. </p>
<p>The immediacy and accessibility of the internet – with its relatively low threshold to publication – means stories of illness circulate as never before.</p>
<p>Throughout 2020 and into 2021, we have been routinely confronted with images of the pandemic: infographics of infection hot spots, photographs of mask wearing, medical illustrations, government advertisements and <a href="https://theconversation.com/vaccine-selfies-may-seem-trivial-but-they-show-people-doing-their-civic-duty-and-probably-encourage-others-too-164950">vaccine selfies</a>. Throughout it all, <a href="https://www.graphicmedicine.org/covid-19-comics/">COVID-19 comics</a> from doctors, caregivers, patients and artists online gave voice to the humans in the story.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CIZATXfs2cS","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>These works lay bare the vulnerabilities associated with experiencing, treating and witnessing illness, proving the power of drawing in capturing events that might not otherwise be possible to describe or understand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shannon Sandford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From the blog ‘Mom’s Cancer’ to novellas about lupus to moving Instagram posts, comic artists are humanising illnesses.
Shannon Sandford, PhD Candidate, Flinders University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/160455
2021-06-10T04:06:11Z
2021-06-10T04:06:11Z
Kapow! Zap! Splat! How comics make sound on the page
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404737/original/file-20210607-21-1xsoanf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C29%2C6563%2C4378&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/BVNmFNShq6U">Unsplash/Joe Ciciarelli</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Typically, comics are considered a silent medium. But while they don’t come with an aural soundtrack, comics have a unique grammar for sound. </p>
<p>From Wolverine’s <em>SNIKT!</em> when unsheathing his claws, to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Stalin-Fabien-Nury/dp/1785863401">The Death of Stalin</a> (later made into a film) the use of “textual audio” invites comics readers to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt14bthzd">hear with their eyes</a>.</p>
<p>Fundamental elements such as symbols, font styles and onomatopoeia (where words imitate sounds) mean reading comics is a cross-sensory experience. New and old examples show the endless potential of the artform. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic book pages" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404734/original/file-20210607-23-1jm9kme.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kaboom! and splosh! on every page.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/nUL9aPgGvgM">Unsplash/Miika Laaksonen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><strong>Holy onomatopoeia Batman!</strong></h2>
<p><a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/onomatopoeia">Onomatopoeia</a> — isn’t unique to comics but comic artists have certainly <a href="https://www.cbr.com/the-15-most-iconic-comic-book-sound-effects/">perfected this figurative form of language</a>. <em>POW! BAM! BANG!</em> appear on the page when Batman and Robin land a punch. <em>BLAM!</em> is the sound made by the Penguin’s umbrella when it shoots from a distance. </p>
<p>The list of sounds represented by onomatopoeia is limitless in terms of creative potential. There are words that mimic sounds directly, such as SPLOSH! (the sound made by an object falling into water) and made-up sounds like that of Wolverine’s adamantium claws (as we will see further below).</p>
<p>The language of comics offers creative freedom to expand the aural lexicon. One <a href="http://www.comicbookfx.com/fxlist.php">online database</a> lists over 2500 comic book sounds with links to comics images in which they’ve been used.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cowboy comic" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=257&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404751/original/file-20210607-27-10nnnms.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=323&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Lee’s Gunsmoke Western (1955) #68, with lettering and pencilling by Dick Ayers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.comicbookfx.com/result.php?exact=1&FX=BLAM!">The Comic Book Sound Effect Database</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can also present special <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317022280_Approach_to_the_translation_of_sound_in_comic_books">challenges for translators</a>. Sounds represented in comics can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317022280_Approach_to_the_translation_of_sound_in_comic_books">range</a> from speech sounds (subject to language rules including <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/phonotactics-phonology-term-4071087#:%7E:text=Phonotactic%20constraints%20are%20rules%20and,predictable%20part%20of%20its%20structure.%22">those</a> governing how syllables can be formed) to human-made non-verbal sounds like sneezes, to sounds made by objects and environments. </p>
<p>Visual context is important too. We only recognise the warning of Wolverine’s violent retribution in <em>SNIKT!</em> when the word is drawn and displayed next to the hairy mutant. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comics image of man with claws" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400199/original/file-20210512-19-1yhzdkk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wolverine extends his claws.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Likewise, the <a href="https://gizmodo.com/boom-how-comic-book-sounds-become-movie-sounds-5656616">word <em>THWIP!</em></a> by itself may not mean much. But when positioned in context it can imbue a comic page with excitement and adventure. </p>
<p>Imagine a young man dressed in a tight red-and-blue bodysuit diving at high speed from the top of the Empire State building. Suddenly, just before hitting the ground, <em>THWIP!</em> he shoots spider webs from his wrists, using them to swing from building to building. Both readers and the crowd of enthusiastic fans on the page react: “Here comes Spidey!” </p>
<h2>The way they say it</h2>
<p>Comic creators also use <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/02/comic-sound-effects-comic-artists-lee-marrs-ryan-north-and-ben-towle-talk-how-they-write-down-unusual-sounds.html">font style and size</a> and different speech bubble shapes and effects to shout, whisper or scream language. </p>
<p>Bold, italics, punctuation, faded or irregular letters are used to emphasise different features of the written words: fear, courage, loudness or quietness. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12959045-my-friend-dahmer">My Friend Dahmer</a>, created by a school friend of the infamous serial killer, the protagonist is seen carrying a dead cat on his way home by a group of kids. Comics creator John “Derf” Backderf applies bigger-bold words in one of the kids’ speech balloon to emphasise the shouting and surprise of onlookers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic book page" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404781/original/file-20210607-27-q4l865.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=619&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">My Friend Dahmer (2012) by Derf Backderf.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heroes-villains-biology-3-reasons-comic-books-are-great-science-teachers-143251">Heroes, villains ... biology: 3 reasons comic books are great science teachers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Music to my eyes</h2>
<p>The 1973 manga <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/116223.Barefoot_Gen_Volume_One">Barefoot Gen</a>, written by Keiji Nakazawa, explores his firsthand experience of the bombing of Hiroshima and its aftermath. </p>
<p>Gen, the main character, sings through several pages of the story. The author uses a musical note symbol (<strong>♪</strong>) to indicate where speech bubbles are sung. By the final pages of the fourth volume, Gen sings to celebrate that his hair is beginning to grow again after being affected by radiation poisoning. </p>
<p>When preceded by the easily recognisable musical symbol, it’s virtually impossible to read the dialogue without “hearing” a melody: </p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>♪</strong> “Red roof on a green hilltop … </p>
<p>A bell tower shaped like a pixie hat… </p>
<p>The bell rings, ding-dong-ding … </p>
<p>The baby goats sing along, baa-baa-baa …” <strong>♪</strong> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Expanding on this concept, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13378509-how-to-talk-to-girls-at-parties">How to Talk to Girls at Parties</a> by Neil Gaiman contains musical panels where the combination of drawings, words and signs present a soundtrack. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comic page" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400200/original/file-20210512-21-136heh6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The How to Talk to Girls at Parties party scene (created by Neil Gaiman, Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá) gives us a sense of how the scene sounds to the characters in it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In film terminology, this is <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/diegetic-sound-and-non-diegetic-sound-whats-the-difference#3-examples-of-diegetic-sound">diegetic sound</a> — noises or tunes from within the storyworld — as opposed to a narrative voiceover or a musical soundtrack the characters can’t hear within the story. </p>
<p>In Gaiman’s comic a combination of illustrations, musical notes and words (including the onomatopoeic <em>TUM</em> for a base drum beat) convey the sense that music fills every room of the house where a party is taking place.</p>
<p>In the political satire comic that inspired a <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">movie</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Stalin-Fabien-Nury/dp/1785863401">The Death of Stalin</a> creator Fabien Nury and illustrator Thierry Robin show lines from Mozart’s orchestral score for his Piano Concerto No. 23 at the bottom of two pages. This adds drama to a climactic scene where Russian leader suffers a stroke. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="comics frames of stalin dying" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400201/original/file-20210512-17-rh2fcf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The musical score can add pace and drama to an already dramatic scene.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author'</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Next time you read a comic book, make sure you listen carefully. <em>KABOOM!</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Araneda Jure does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When we read comics, we ‘hear’ sound on the page. Creators are experts at this cross-sensory form of storytelling - indeed one database lists over 2500 comic book sounds.
Victor Araneda Jure, Teaching Associate / Filmmaker, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/143251
2021-04-18T20:08:15Z
2021-04-18T20:08:15Z
Heroes, villains … biology: 3 reasons comic books are great science teachers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395600/original/file-20210418-15-iyppmx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rostovondon-russia-august-1-2019-hand-1467882188">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People may think of comics and science as worlds apart, but they have been cross-pollinating each other in more than ways than one. </p>
<p>Many classic comic book characters are inspired by biology such as Spider-Man, Ant-Man and Poison Ivy. And they can act as educational tools to gain some fun facts about the natural world. </p>
<p>Some superheroes have scientific careers alongside their alter egos. For example, Marvel’s <a href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/61755/the_unstoppable_wasp_2017_1">The Unstoppable Wasp</a> is a teenage scientist. And DC Comics’ super-villain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Ivy_(character)">Poison Ivy</a> is a botanist who saved honey bees from colony collapse.</p>
<p>Superheroes have also crept into the world of taxonomy, with animals being named after famous comic book characters. These include a <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2020/Deadpool-fly-among-new-species-named-by-CSIRO%22%22">robber fly</a> named after the Marvel character Deadpool (whose mask looks like the markings on the fly’s back) and a <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/07/12/a-fish-called-wakanda-a-new-species-of-fairy-wrasse.html">fish</a> after Marvel hero Black Panther. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-superheroes-to-the-clitoris-5-scientists-tell-the-stories-behind-these-species-names-142922">From superheroes to the clitoris: 5 scientists tell the stories behind these species names</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>I am a PhD student researching bee behaviour and I have spent most of my university life working at a comic book store. Here’s how superheroes could be used to make biology, and other types of science, more intriguing to school students. </p>
<h2>1. They’re engaging</h2>
<p>Reading has a range of benefits, <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-can-only-do-one-thing-for-your-children-it-should-be-shared-reading-95146">from improved vocabulary</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/read-aloud-to-your-children-to-boost-their-vocabulary-111427">comprehension and mathematics skills, to increased empathy and creativity</a>. </p>
<p>While it’s hard to directly prove the advantages of comics over other forms of reading, they <a href="https://jcom.sissa.it/archive/17/01/JCOM_1701_2018_Y01#:%7E:text=Combining%20the%20benefits%20of%20visualization,engaging%20for%20a%20wider%20audience.">can be engaging</a>, easy to understand learning tools. </p>
<p>Comics <a href="https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.10-07-0090">have similar benefits</a> to classic textbooks in terms of understanding course content. But they can be more captivating.</p>
<p>A study of 114 business students showed they <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1080569913482574">preferred</a> graphic novels over classic textbooks for learning course content.</p>
<p>In another <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3164570/">study in the United States</a>, college biology students were given either a textbook or a graphic novel — <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3151324-optical-allusions">Optical Allusions</a> by scientist Jay Hosler, that follows a character discovering the science of vision — as supplementary reading for their biology course.</p>
<p>Both groups of students showed similar increases in course knowledge, but students who were given the graphic novel showed an increased interest in the course.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Front cover of the Unstoppable Wasp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392175/original/file-20210329-19-gob8ew.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Unstoppable Wasp is a teenage scientist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/61755/the_unstoppable_wasp_2017_1">Marvel</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, comics can be used to engage students, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-013-9358-x">especially those who aren’t very interested in science</a>. </p>
<p>Educational comics such as the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/series/sciencecomics/">Science Comics series</a>, Jay Hosler’s <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780063007376/the-way-of-the-hive/">The Way of the Hive</a> and Abby Howard’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/257878-earth-before-us">Earth Before Us</a> series frequently have a narrative structure with a story consisting of a beginning, middle and resolution. </p>
<p>Students often find information inside storytelling easier to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09523987.2017.1324361">comprehend</a> than when it’s provided matter-of-factly, such as in textbooks. As readers follow a story, they can use key information they have learnt along the way to understand and interpret the resolution.</p>
<h2>2. They teach important concepts</h2>
<p>In science-related comic books, as the story unfolds, scientific concepts are often sprinkled in along the way. For example, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29102867-science-comics">Science Comics: Bats</a>, follows a bat going through a rehabilitation clinic while suffering from a broken wing. The reader learns about different bat species and their ecology on this journey. </p>
<p>Comics also have the advantage of <a href="https://blog.heinemann.com/author-gene-yang-graphic-novels-classroom">permanance</a>, meaning students can read, revisit and understand panels at their own pace.</p>
<p>Many science comics, including Optical Allusions, are written by scientists, allowing for reliable facts. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1367457735734751234"}"></div></p>
<p>Using storytelling can also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00094056.2018.1540189">humanise scientists</a> by creating relatable characters throughout comics. Some graphic novels showcase <a href="http://www.amnh.org/ology/features/wonderfulworldofwasps/comic/">scientific</a> careers and can be a great tool for removing stereotypes of the lab coat wearing scientist. For example, Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wick’s graphic novels <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250062932">Primates</a> and <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/astronauts-jim-ottaviani/book/9781626728776.html">Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier</a> showcase female scientists in labs, the field and even space. </p>
<p>The Marvel series’ Unstoppable Wasp also includes interviews with female scientists at the end of each issue.</p>
<h2>3. They can give a visual insight into strange worlds</h2>
<p>Imagery combined with an easy to follow narrative structure can also give a look into worlds that may otherwise be hard to visualise. For example, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31144997-science-comics">Science Comics: Plagues</a>, and the Manga series, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29844802-cells-at-work-vol-1">Cells at Work!</a>, are told from the point of view of microbes and cells in the body. </p>
<p>Imagery can also show life cycles of animals that are potentially dangerous, or difficult to encounter, such as a honeybee colony, which was visualised through <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/506636.Clan_Apis">Clan Apis</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TR5OXhBjbVk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge neuroscientist and cartoonist <a href="https://matteofarinella.com/">Matteo Farinella</a>, whose advice helped shape this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caitlyn Forster receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
Science and comic books have been cross-pollinating each other for some time (think Spider-Man). But kids can learn a lot of valuable science information from comics books too.
Caitlyn Forster, PhD Candidate, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/134971
2020-03-30T21:02:22Z
2020-03-30T21:02:22Z
Comics vs. coronavirus: Comics industry shut down for the first time in almost a century
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323775/original/file-20200329-146689-1pttwrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C19%2C744%2C536&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An extended pause by the biggest publishers could spur comic creators to pursue new projects and accelerate a shift away from comic book stores. Here, the cover of Batman Giant #4, which was expected in stores this April 1, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(DC Comics)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, the producers behind a number of comic book-derived movies and TV shows announced delays for their franchises: <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/wonder-woman-1984-postpone-release-date-coronavirus-972458/">release dates for <em>Wonder Woman</em></a> and <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/box-office/black-widow-release-coronavirus-1203532996/"><em>Black Widow</em> were pushed</a> ahead, while <a href="https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/walking-dead-season-10-finale-delayed-coronavirus-1203543878/"><em>The Walking Dead</em> announced that COVID-19</a> had made it impossible for the show to complete work on the current season and that the finale was being delayed.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/wonder-woman">what of</a> the <a href="https://www.marvel.com/characters/black-widow-natasha-romanova/in-comics/profile">comic books</a> <a href="https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/the-walking-dead-1">that spawned</a> these blockbuster franchises? </p>
<p>On March 23, Steve Geppi, CEO of Diamond Comic Distributors, announced the closing of the distribution system that holds a near-monopoly on the circulation of comic books in North America. He cited a number of problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic: <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/49538-diamond-comics-distributors-ceases-receiving-products-for-distribution-due-to-coronavirus-report.html">comic retailers can’t service customers, publishing partners are having supply chain issues and shipping is delayed</a>. He wrote his “only logical conclusion is to cease the distribution of new weekly product until there is greater clarity on the progress made toward stemming the spread of this disease.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/doi/full/10.1080/21504857.2011.602699">New Comics Day has occurred every Wednesday</a> since the creation of the direct market in the 1970s, as die-hard fans rush to buy new books before spoilers pop up online. </p>
<p>But no longer: This week, for the first time in more than 80 years, no new comic books will ship to shops, and production is on hold into the foreseeable future. No previous global event — not the Second World War, <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks">not 9/11</a> — has previously shuttered the comic book industry.</p>
<p>To understand how this single decision could transform the operations of comic book publishers owned by Disney (Marvel Comics) and AT&T (DC Comics), among dozens of others, as well as comic production, consumption and culture, one needs to understand how the status of the comic book has shifted over the past century. </p>
<h2>Bygone newsstand days</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://mississippi.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.14325/mississippi/9781604732672.001.0001/upso-9781604732672">Jean-Paul Gabilliet</a>, professor of North American studies at Université Bordeaux demonstrates, the comic book form emerged in the 1930s as a promotional giveaway for department stores and gas stations before it migrated to the newsstand as a part of the larger magazine industry.</p>
<p>Despite some fits and starts, the format took off based the success of <em>Superman</em>, created in spring 1938, and the many imitation superheroes his popularity spawned as comic books became a staple of the newsstand. Circulation grew during the war, and exploded shortly after as new publishers initiated new genres like crime, romance and horror comic books. </p>
<p>By 1952, the peak year for comic book sales in the United States, comic books were a formidable cultural presence. But the rise of television, changes to the magazine distribution system and <a href="https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/S/Seal-of-Approval">criticisms of the industry by public figures</a> led to an industry-wide collapse of sales. Comic books limped through the 1960s as a cheap disposable form of entertainment for children, found on magazine racks that catered to parents. </p>
<p>By the 1970s, the American comic book had lost its status as a mass medium. At the same time, a rapidly growing network of used comic-book dealers began to spring up at flea markets, conventions, bookstores and eventually specialty stores that catered to a devoted set of comic collectors. The growing fan network presented a life raft to the industry.</p>
<h2>1970s turning point</h2>
<p>The turning point, as American writer and reporter Dan Gearino points out in his <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Comic+Shop">history of comic book stores</a>, came in 1972 when a convention organizer named Phil Seuling convinced the major publishers to wholesale new issues to him on a non-returnable basis. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323766/original/file-20200329-146724-v1fotj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=935&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stan Lee, standing, publisher of Marvel Comics, discusses a ‘Spiderman’ comic book cover with artist John Romita at Marvel headquarters in New York in January 1976.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This appealed to the publishers, who were accustomed to routinely over-printing comic books by the hundreds of thousands to supply the inefficient system of mom-and-pop corner stores that retailed their work. Seuling’s model shifted risk from the publisher to the retailer, who ordered product on a non-returnable basis, but it facilitated the growth of a network of thousands of comic book shops across North America.</p>
<p>For more than two decades, comic book shops were supplied by a network of regional wholesale distributors that served specific geographic regions based on the location of their warehouses. This changed at the end of 1994 when Marvel Comics bought Heroes World, the third largest distributor. </p>
<h2>Marvel meets Diamond</h2>
<p>American writer Sean Howe’s <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780061992117/marvel-comics/">history of Marvel Comics</a> details how, in July 1995, <a href="https://www.harpercollins.ca/9780061992117/marvel-comics/">the company made their new subsidiary the exclusive supplier of their market-leading product</a>, reducing income at the other distributors by a third. A scramble ensued, with Geppi’s Diamond securing the rights to DC Comics and Image Comics, the next two largest publishers after Marvel. Other publishers quickly fell in line, signing exclusive deals with Diamond and bankrupting the regional distributors. </p>
<p>When Heroes World proved incapable of supporting Marvel’s needs, the company folded in 1996 and Marvel joined forces with Diamond, the only other distributor still standing. That same year, the Bill Clinton government began investigating Diamond as a monopoly. But <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/how-marvel-set-stage-weeks-comics-shutdown-1286239">the government dismissed the case in 2000</a>, finding that the new company <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060322213439/http://www.comicbookresources.com/comicbrief/archives.cgi?category=1&view=11-00">was not monopolistic</a> because comic books were only a small part of the overall publishing industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323770/original/file-20200329-146689-1ta6fz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marvel comics impresario Stan Lee, centre, poses with Lou Ferrigno, right, and Eric Kramer, left, who portray The Incredible Hulk and Thor, respectively, in ‘The Incredible Hulk Returns.’ They’re pictured here in Los Angeles, Calif., in May 1998.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Nick Ut</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The situation remained largely unchanged for more than 20 years. Diamond is the exclusive dealer of comic books to the a network of thousands of comic book stores who have continued to order on a non-returnable basis. Until now. </p>
<h2>‘Pencils down’</h2>
<p>The consequences of Diamond’s decision are immediate and wide-reaching. In closing their warehouses to new product, publishers have alerted printers to stop. Comic book freelancers recently began tweeting they’d received <a href="https://cosmicbook.news/comic-book-market-collapses-pencils-down">“pencils down” messages</a> from publishers curtailing production. </p>
<p>Communication to comic book retailers, creative personnel and fans has been haphazard as the large publishers scramble to plan for an uncertain future. Many are concerned about the growing digital footprint of comic book publishers. </p>
<p>Since 2011, most comic books have been released to comic book stores and in electronic format to consumers through platforms like Comixology (a subsidiary of Amazon) on the same day. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/323769/original/file-20200329-146689-uuipdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Archie Comics has announced the company will release some April titles digitally. Here, the front cover of an edition of ‘Archie vs. Predator II.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Archie Comics)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With a protracted closure of the distribution system, publishers like Marvel and DC could continue to move forward with electronic sales, which would inevitably bolster that end of their business at the expense of their retail partners. Archie Comics <a href="https://www.newsarama.com/49594-archie-going-ahead-with-some-april-titles-digitally-in-print-others-postponed.html">has announced</a> that they will release some April titles digitally. </p>
<p>If several months passed with electronic sales but no physical comic book sales, it’s uncertain that those printed books would ever find an audience. An extended pause by the biggest publishers, on the other hand, would undoubtedly spur comics creators to pursue new projects either online or through the book trade. </p>
<p>This could accelerate a shift away from <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/getting-a-life-products-9780773552845.php">comic collectors’ habitual buying that take place comic shops as establishments that foster unique social relations</a>, as described by Benjamin Woo, associate professor of communication and media studies at Carleton University.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2010.493421">comic books sales proved remarkably resilient</a> during the 2008 financial crisis, if the current situation breaks readers’ buying habits for a few months, they might never return in the same way.</p>
<p><em>This is a corrected version of a story originally published on March 30, 2020. The earlier story said Diamond Comic Distributors made an announcement March 24 instead of March 23.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bart Beaty receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>
Neither the Second World War nor 9/11 stopped weekly comic book distribution to comic stores. But COVID-19 means production and distribution is now on hold, and the future of comics is up in the air.
Bart Beaty, Professor of English, University of Calgary
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/123009
2019-09-11T04:15:25Z
2019-09-11T04:15:25Z
The Joker’s origin story comes at a perfect moment: clowns define our times
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291712/original/file-20190910-109952-1fzv6iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C1488%2C997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joaquin Phoenix in Joker (2019): the Joker's humour-filled rebellion has typically contrasted with Batman’s dour moral self-righteousness.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Warner Bros</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The joker, the trickster, the jester, the provocateur - there is a rich cultural history of these roles going back at least as far as Greek mythology’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes">Hermes</a>. </p>
<p>One of the most famous jester figures of the modern age is the Joker, who made his debut in the first issue of Batman comics in 1940. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291704/original/file-20190910-109919-1suext7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first comic book appearance of The Joker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Batman’s arch-nemesis, the Joker offers a reprieve from the less interesting narcissistic, angst-ridden histrionics of the hero. The Joker’s punishment of society is often comical, and his relentlessly ironic spirit of rebellion contrasts with Batman’s dour moral self-righteousness. </p>
<p>The Joker is funny, cool, and refreshingly intelligent. He is also back in theatres next month in the aptly named <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7286456/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Joker</a>, which this week <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/07/entertainment/joker-venice-film-festival-trnd/index.html">won Best Film</a> at the Venice Film Festival. </p>
<h2>The cultural provocateur</h2>
<p>In a deck of cards the joker is (most of the time) formally useless. The two joker cards are omitted from most games, yet the deck is incomplete without them. </p>
<p>The joker is a necessary non-card, the exception that glues together the rest of the pack. A card of shifting rank and use, the joker offers a spark of improvisation within a rigidly hierarchical order. </p>
<p>Culturally, the joker reaffirms the social order through his lampooning of it, turning socially significant places into spaces of carnival and clowning, revealing the comical and absurd cracks in a spirit of anarchic play. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291694/original/file-20190910-109923-eqcy8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1038&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The card offers ‘a spark of improvisation’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet this role has always been intimately tied up with the institutions it appears to subvert. The court jester, for example, functioned in part to legitimise the social order. He maintained a performative relationship with the people, but his acts of subversion of power reaffirmed its very boundaries in the first place. </p>
<p>There are many of these self-styled “maverick” figures in global politics today, who strategically position themselves as somehow outside of the power structures they in fact serve to reproduce. </p>
<p>The words and actions of such provocateurs flirting with the boundaries of social good taste and etiquette should always be taken with a grain of salt. Power can reproduce itself in multiple ways -including through its apparent critique. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/prime-minister-boris-johnson-the-jester-has-taken-the-throne-120532">Prime Minister Boris Johnson: the jester has taken the throne</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1989: Wackiness with a nasty edge</h2>
<p>Within the Batman franchise, the most effective characterisations of the Joker have him tottering dangerously between comedic whimsy and psychopathic sadism – that liminal space in which, arguably, all great comedy occurs.</p>
<p>Perhaps the greatest actor to portray the role is Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096895/?ref_=ttmi_tt">Batman</a> (1989). Nicholson’s Joker embraces the wackiness of Cesar Romero’s earlier interpretation in the 1960s TV series but adds a genuinely nasty edge, and this combination of colourful zaniness with lethal brutality makes for a disturbing experience for the viewer. </p>
<p>“I make art until someone dies,” Nicholson’s Joker says to journalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) in an art museum after he and his goons have defaced several pieces whilst bopping along to Prince. </p>
<p>“See, I am the world’s first fully functioning homicidal artist.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1oi_3qy1si4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>By the late 1980s, Nicholson, appearing as the perfect sleazeball in films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094332/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Witches of Eastwick</a> (1987), was the man behind some of the most hated characters in cinema. He was, thus, perfectly cast as the Joker – it helps that the Joker’s demonically twisted face isn’t that far from his own. </p>
<p>Nicholson received first billing in Batman and, as Roger Ebert commented, the viewer’s tendency is to root for the Joker over Batman. It is this ambiguity that makes Burton’s film so compelling.</p>
<h2>2008: Why so serious?</h2>
<p>Heath Ledger’s Joker from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Dark Knight</a> (2008), for which he received a posthumous Best Suporting Actor Oscar, was virtuosically full-bodied. Ledger is eerily, vitally intense. Yet the famous question he asks in the film – “Why so serious?” – could easily be turned back on Ledger’s own performance. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g3dl32LaOls?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Ledger endows the role with a psychological realism that, paradoxically, makes for a less interesting (and less complex) experience for the viewer than more ambiguous portrayals.</p>
<p>The uncomfortable mixture of the comical and the sadistic is what makes the character perennially appealing – we never know which Joker we will be getting at any time. Ledger, by making the character “real”, turns him into, merely, a rather humourless creep.</p>
<h2>2017: Caught in a bad bromance</h2>
<p>The symbiotic nature of the relationship between Batman and the Joker usually remains unexplored. Wonderfully, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4116284/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Lego Batman Movie</a> (2017) makes this relationship centre stage. </p>
<p>The film follows the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) as he tries to get Batman (Will Arnett) to admit that he needs the Joker as much as the Joker needs him. Batman refuses to acknowledge the bond the two share throughout most of the film; when he finally does, their bromance can fully mature.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/291706/original/file-20190910-109947-1h4wsfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Joker and Batman – the original couple.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2019: A mental deterioration</h2>
<p>The latest version of the Joker is played by Joaquin Phoenix, an actor whose career has oscillated between the absurdly intense (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358273/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Walk the Line</a>) and the disarmingly clownish (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1356864/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">I’m Still Here</a>). Todd Phillips’ film promises to revitalise the character in an origin story following down-on-his-luck comedian/clown Arthur Fleck who transforms into the Joker as his mental health deteriorates. </p>
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<p>Early reviews have praised the film’s representation of the current political landscape. <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/film/joker-1">Time Out</a> calls it a “nightmarish vision of late-era capitalism”, and <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/08/joker-review-joaquin-phoenix-1202170236/?fbclid=IwAR3hq0W9cqSkr4Lc_DaE1jqwlW5odbYL-b_9K_XQG4AV2riKIpFveCsZ6V8">IndieWire</a> suggests it is “about the dehumanising effects of a capitalistic system that greases the economic ladder”. </p>
<p>In the context of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-masculine-culture-that-favors-sexual-conquests-gave-us-todays-incels-97221">incel movement</a> - in which men rally around the perception of their own unjust victimhood - a narrative of a violent folk hero forming through the failure of his dreams of celebrity glory seems strikingly poignant. </p>
<p>The frequency with which mass shootings now occur in America (in 2012 James Holmes <a href="https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/remembering-the-12-victims-of-the-aurora-theater-shooting-7-years-later">killed 12 people</a> at a screening of The Dark Night in Aurora, Colorado) has also lead to concerns about how the story will be read. The same Indiewire review criticised the film as “a toxic rallying cry for self-pitying incels”. </p>
<p>Given the necessity for a law and order stalwart against which the Joker can launch his antics, it is notable that there is no Batman in this film. Will the Joker be able to sustain a feature-length narrative on his own?</p>
<h2>Send in the clowns</h2>
<p>Clownish figures seem to be becoming the new normal in professional politics. In April, comedian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487">Volodymyr Zelensky</a> was elected president of the Ukraine. The UK’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been dubbed “Bojo” by the press – and they’re not just alluding to his name. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1169636282059907072"}"></div></p>
<p>Much of the popularity of Trump has emerged from his presentation of himself as an outsider to the elite willing to lampoon and ridicule power - never mind that, as a rich New York City businessman, he is power personified.</p>
<p>The broader significance of this phenomenon is a little trickier to diagnose. It makes sense that, in an age when everything is valued in terms of its entertainment function (and when most people are aware of the common sleights of hand of the mainstream media they consume), clownish reality TV stars, provocateur comedians and gregariously sleazy entrepreneurs would amass unprecedented levels of power in the public domain.</p>
<p>Politicians entertain us by donning the outfit of the jester and making fun of politicians. </p>
<p>Perhaps this reflects a more widespread public cynicism regarding professional politics, or perhaps it is simply a reflection of a desire to be perpetually distracted by entertaining clowns. </p>
<p>At any rate, the film should be a hoot to watch. </p>
<p><em>Joker will be released in Australia October 3.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ari Mattes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Culturally, the joker turns socially significant places into spaces of carnival, revealing cracks within the social order. He is an enduring character – and a common figure in 2019.
Ari Mattes, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of Notre Dame Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121330
2019-08-20T09:13:05Z
2019-08-20T09:13:05Z
How Beano and Dandy artist Dudley D. Watkins made generations of comic fans roar with laughter
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/287888/original/file-20190813-9389-12kijtz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You may not be familiar with the name Dudley Dexter Watkins, but chances are you will recognise his art. Half a century after his death, the work of the talented British comic strip artist and illustrator is as well known, and as much loved, as it has ever been. Characters such as Desperate Dan, who Watkins illustrated <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-dandy/4050-26867/?sortBy=asc">for The Dandy comic</a>, and Lord Snooty <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-beano/4050-26847/?sortBy=asc">for The Beano</a>, have remained favourites for many years, their silly antics and predicaments now kept alive by other artists.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.oorwullie.com/the-big-bucket-trail/">This summer</a>, a trail of outdoor statues has been placed across Scotland featuring one of Watkins’ most popular creations, Oor Wullie, who appeared alongside The Broons <a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/broons-and-oor-wullie/oor-wullie-80-years/">in The Sunday Post newspaper</a> from 1936 until Watkins’ death in 1969.</p>
<p>Born the son of a lithograph artist in Greater Manchester in 1907, Watkins was just a few months old when his <a href="https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/history/schoolboy-genius-nottingham-who-created-1840980">family moved to Nottingham</a>. It was there that his artistic talents were first recognised. Encouraged by his father, Watkins took up a place at Nottingham School of Art. His first opportunity to see his drawings in print came soon after. The chemist Boots, where Watkins worked in the window display department, published his cartoons and illustrations in staff magazine The Beacon.</p>
<p>By 1925, Watkins had moved to Scotland where his work caught the eye of publishing house D.C. Thomson. Aged just 18, he joined the Dundee-based company, an employment that would last more than 40 years. During this time, Watkins created some of Britain’s most iconic comic characters.</p>
<p>In his first decade with Thomson, Watkins worked on a group of boys’ weekly action papers known as “<a href="https://downthetubes.net/?p=37987">The Big Five</a>” – Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Skipper and The Hotspur. These publications experimented with the comic strip format and focused on sport, school and war adventure stories. Watkins produced many of the front covers for The Big Five, and contributed comic strips to small format supplements that accompanied The Rover and The Skipper. </p>
<p>In 1936, when Thomson produced a supplement to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sunday-post-how-scotlands-sleepiest-newspaper-silenced-the-detractors-95890">The Sunday Post</a> named <a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results?newspapertitle=Sunday%20Post&basicsearch=Fun%20Section">The Fun Section</a>, the spikey-haired, dungaree-clad Oor Wullie and the close-knit working-class Broons family were born. Written in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-twitter-is-helping-the-scots-language-thrive-in-the-21st-century-121783">Scots dialect</a>, the capers of these characters, drawn weekly by Watkins for more than three decades, still feature in the newspaper today.</p>
<p>The look of these characters has changed little since their first appearance. It is this sense of regularity and reassurance that still arouses nostalgia in generations of readers, fuelled by an inexhaustible range of associated books, clothing and other merchandise. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-sunday-post-how-scotlands-sleepiest-newspaper-silenced-the-detractors-95890">The Sunday Post: how Scotland's sleepiest newspaper silenced the detractors</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Spurred on by the success of The Fun Section, Thomson released two new comics for boys and girls: The Dandy in December 1937 and The Beano in July 1938. These launches brought into being some of Watkins’ most recognisable characters including Desperate Dan, Lord Snooty and Biffo the Bear. </p>
<p>Based on an idea by editor Albert Barnes, cow-pie-eating Desperate Dan, one of Watkins’ most enduring creations, debuted in the first issue of The Dandy. In the black-and-white half-page strip, Dan is seen purchasing a horse that promptly collapses under the cowboy’s considerable weight. Watkins apparently based Dan’s super-sized square-jaw on Barnes’s own chin, and Dan’s exaggerated toughness – he shaves with a blowtorch and shoots a bullet through his hair to part it – personified the robust humour of The Dandy. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B0QsiLHDH65","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Watkins’ peers acknowledged his rare talent. He was said to draw at lightning speed, effortlessly encapsulating the wit and wonder of his distinctive comic characters. Such was the importance of Watkins’ work, he was exempted from active military service during World War II and instead served as a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7180672.stm">war reserve constable</a> in Fife. In 1946, Watkins began signing and initialling his published work, a privilege afforded to only a few comic strip artists in those days (it also ensured his loyalty to Thomson following attempts by a rival publisher to lure him away from Dundee). </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-beano-survived-war-and-the-web-to-reach-its-80th-birthday-98022">How The Beano survived war and the web to reach its 80th birthday</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Wartime paper shortages forced The Dandy and The Beano into a fortnightly publishing schedule, but by the 1950s not only had Thomson returned to weekly editions of these comics, it had launched two other, tabloid-style, publications – <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-topper/4050-35066/?sortBy=asc">The Topper</a> and <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-beezer/4050-27927/?sortBy=asc">The Beezer</a>. Watkins was tasked with illustrating the front cover characters, introducing <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-topper-1/4000-231269/">Mickey the Monkey</a> and <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/the-beezer-1/4000-171258/">Ginger</a> to a new generation of humour comic fans.</p>
<p>A prolific artist, Watkins’ output extended beyond his Thomson portfolio. Inspired by his Christian faith, he often led Bible discussions and delivered illustrated talks on religious themes to children at the <a href="http://www.christiancomicsinternational.org/watkins_pioneer.html">Church of Christ in Dundee</a>. In his spare time, he also drew strip cartoons for Young Warrior, a children’s paper published by the Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade.</p>
<p>Watkins died at his drawing desk in 1969, aged 62. His artwork, particularly his early strips in comics and annuals, have become increasingly collectable, connecting with current trends <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-comic-books-help-us-to-relive-our-childhood-52716">for childhood nostalgia</a>. While many fans still display the same affection for Watkins’ characters that they felt as children, the way in which we experience comic strip art alters as we grow up. While as children we simply loved how the drawings captured tongue-in-cheek humour, as adults we are able to view with a more mature appreciation the creative endeavour gone into producing them. </p>
<p>Watkins’ work, and his dedication to it, is still highly impressive. Considered a quiet, pious man during his lifetime, Watkins’ lasting fame rests on the high-quality comic artwork and illustrations to which he devoted so much of his life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A Scotland-wide statue trail is celebrating the work of Dudley D. Watkins, a quiet man who became one of Britain’s most important comic book artists.
David Anderson, Senior Lecturer in Political and Cultural Studies, Swansea University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112678
2019-03-05T22:13:07Z
2019-03-05T22:13:07Z
Higher, further, faster: Marvel’s first female cinematic superhero
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261997/original/file-20190304-92289-17hg44b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Introducing Captain Marvel: she's a smartass fighting intergalactic evil. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Reid and Marvel</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>“Being a woman in a male-dominated industry sort of sucks, but it doesn’t suck any more than being a woman in the world. My advice? Be terrifying.” — Kelly Sue DeConnick, Captain Marvel comic book writer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When the <em>Captain Marvel</em> movie opens on March 8, coinciding with International Women’s Day, it will be Marvel Studios’s first female-superhero led film and many people will be lined up to see this much anticipated flick and to enjoy one of Captain Marvel’s trademark specialties: fighting galactic evil. </p>
<p>But more than just fighting aliens, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/547000/The-Spectacular-Sisterhood-of-Superwomen/9781594749483">Captain Marvel represents a strong female superhero</a> with an intricate and complicated past. She struggles with anger issues as well as a sense of purpose. She’s also a sparkle-fisted smartass.</p>
<p>In the last decade, Captain Marvel has become a prominent character in Marvel comics. She’s a member of the Avengers, was the face of one side of the second superhero Civil War, and is a mentor to the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. In the hands of writers DeConnick, Margaret Stohl, Michele Fazkas, Tara Butters and Kelly Thompson, Captain Marvel has a rich context for cinematic success.</p>
<h2>A new hero for a new era</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>“Let’s rewrite some history, shall we?” — Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Carol Danvers character was originally created by Thomas and Gene Colan in 1968 as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Almost a decade later, she gained her powers through an accident and turned into Ms. Marvel. But the Captain Marvel we’ll be seeing on the screen is highly indebted to comic book writer Kelly Sue DeConnick’s narrative. There are even rumours that DeConnick has a cameo in the film.</p>
<p>In 2012, DeConnick created something of a masterpiece when she breathed new life into Captain Marvel. The <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061992100/marvel-comics/">female superhero first appeared in 1977</a>, and originally named Ms. Marvel as a nod to the iconic feminist magazine, <em>Ms.</em>. She was a minor character but with DeConnick’s writing, Captain Marvel was re-developed to become one of the central characters in the Marvel Universe.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Captain Marvel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>DeConnick’s reboot was also accompanied by a new look — leaving behind thigh-high boots, a swim suit and a mask for shorter hair, a Chuck Yeager jumpsuit and sensible footwear.</p>
<p>DeConnick’s comic book narrative begins with a touching tribute to Carol Danvers’s mentor and fellow air force pilot Helen Cobb — stressing the importance of inspiring female role models. Readers find out that Captain Marvel has tremendous powers drawn from her half human, half Kree DNA. Soon, Danvers is transported back in time and joins the Banshee Squadron, an all-female fighting unit in the Second World War doing battle and using Kree technology to advance the fight.</p>
<p>Carol Danvers also winds up being present at the moment of her superhero origin. Instead of following the 1977 narrative, where she was the victim in an explosion that would give her powers, DeConnick re-writes the narrative as a choice. </p>
<p>Danvers has the opportunity to prevent the explosion but chooses to let the past unfold in alignment with her current desire to be a superhero. This gives Captain Marvel’s reboot a compelling edge. She’s chosen her own destiny to become “the stars we were always meant to be.”</p>
<h2>A poignant and hilarious character</h2>
<p>Captain Marvel was part of the Ultimates, a mini-series about superheroes preventing cosmic threats (they transform the planet-eating Galactus into a golden fertility god), and became the “boss of space,” taking up residence with Canadian supergroup Alpha Flight on the Alpha Flight Space Station. Captain Marvel also joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and was part of A-Force, an all-female Avengers. </p>
<p>DeConnick’s run was poignant and hilarious and if the movie can keep pace, audiences will be in for a treat. We may also see something special from her cat Goose. (In the comics, Goose is known as Chewie — Captain Marvel is a huge <em>Star Wars</em> fan.) In the movie, Goose will likely steal a scene or two.</p>
<p>As the trailers for the film have shown, <em>Captain Marvel</em> will be punching aliens and blowing stuff up and we’ll definitely see why she has the moniker “Earth’s mightiest hero.” The movie is set in 1995, borrowing elements from Roy Thomas’s comic, “Kree-Skrull War” (originally published as Avengers #89–97 in 1971), and follows Danvers as she becomes Captain Marvel. </p>
<p><em>Captain Marvel</em> is Marvel Studios’s 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first with a female-led superhero. Captain Marvel will also make a highly anticipated appearance in <em>Avengers: Endgame</em>, to be released in April, where she will no doubt square off against cosmic threats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112678/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenneth MacKendrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When the ‘Captain Marvel’ movie opens on March 8, coinciding with International Women’s Day, it will be Marvel Studios’ first female-superhero led film.
Kenneth MacKendrick, Associate Professor of Religion, University of Manitoba
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110179
2019-02-04T19:12:37Z
2019-02-04T19:12:37Z
Hidden women of history: Tarpe Mills, 1940s comic writer, and her feisty superhero Miss Fury
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257117/original/file-20190204-193209-9yt4ya.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">MIss Fury had cat claws, stiletto heels and a killer make-up compact.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In this <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/hidden-women-of-history-64072">series</a>, we look at under-acknowledged women through the ages.</em></p>
<p>In April 1941, just a few short years after Superman came swooping out of the Manhattan skies, Miss Fury – originally known as Black Fury – became the first major female superhero to go to print. She beat Charles Moulton Marsden’s Wonder Woman to the page by more than six months. More significantly, Miss Fury was the first female superhero to be written and drawn by a woman, <a href="http://www.tarpemills.com/welcome.html">Tarpé Mills</a>. </p>
<p>Miss Fury’s creator – whose real name was June – shared much of the gritty ingenuity of her superheroine. Like other female artists of the Golden Age, Mills was obliged to make her name in comics by disguising her gender. As she later told the New York Post, “It would have been a major let-down to the kids if they found out that the author of such virile and awesome characters was a gal.”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256023/original/file-20190129-108358-nredpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Yet, this trailblazing illustrator, squeezed out of the comic world amid a post-WW2 backlash against unconventional images of femininity and a 1950s climate of heightened censorship, has been largely excluded from the pantheon of comic greats – until now. </p>
<p>Comics then and now tend to feature weak-kneed female characters who seem to exist for the sole purpose of being saved by a male hero – or, worse still, are “fridged”, a contemporary comic book colloquialism that refers to the gruesome slaying of an undeveloped female character to deepen the hero’s motivation and propel him on his journey. </p>
<p>But Mills believed there was room in comics for a different kind of female character, one who was able, level-headed and capable, mingling tough-minded complexity with Mills’ own taste for risqué behaviour and haute couture gowns.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256211/original/file-20190129-108370-16drm9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tarpe Mills was obliged to make her name in comics during the 1940s by disguising her gender.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Where Wonder Woman’s powers are “marvellous” – that is, not real or attainable – Miss Fury and her alter ego Marla Drake use their collective brains, resourcefulness and the odd stiletto heel in the face to bring the villains to justice.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256212/original/file-20190129-108355-q08ais.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A WW2 plane featuring an image of Miss Fury.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">http://www.tarpemills.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And for a time they were wildly successful.</p>
<p>Miss Fury <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=M_YJnQEACAAJ&dq=Sensational+Sundays&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiszrvnhaHgAhXbfysKHbDOCYMQ6AEIKDAA">ran a full decade</a> from <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=LKrSYgEACAAJ&dq=Sensational+Sundays&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiszrvnhaHgAhXbfysKHbDOCYMQ6AEILDAB">April 1941 to December 1951</a>, was syndicated in 100 different newspapers at the height of her wartime fame, and sold a million copies an issue in reprints released by Timely (now Marvel) comics. </p>
<p>Pilots flew bomber planes with Miss Fury painted on the fuselage. Young girls played with paper doll cut outs featuring her extensive high fashion wardrobe.</p>
<h2>An anarchic, ‘gender flipped’ universe</h2>
<p>Miss Fury’s “origin story” offers its own coolly ironic commentary on the masculine conventions of the comic genre.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=847&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256032/original/file-20190129-108370-12f46ta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1064&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One night a girl called Marla Drake finds out that her friend Carol is wearing an identical gown to a masquerade party. So, at the behest of her maid Francine, she dons a skin tight black cat suit that – in an imperial twist, typical of the period – was once worn as a ceremonial robe by a witch doctor in Africa. </p>
<p>On the way to the ball, Marla takes on a gun-toting killer, using her cat claws, stiletto heels, and – hilariously – a puff of powder blown from her makeup compact to disarm the villain. She leaves him trussed up with a hapless and unconscious police detective by the side of the road.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256206/original/file-20190129-108342-1qbyg3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tarpe Mills with her beloved Persian cat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Miss Fury could fly a fighter plane when she had to, jumping out in a parachute dressed in a red satin ball gown and matching shoes. She was also a crack shot.</p>
<p>This was an anarchic, gender flipped, comic book universe in which the protagonist and principle antagonists were women, and in which the supposed tools of patriarchy – high heels, makeup and mermaid bottom ball gowns – were turned against the system. Arch nemesis Erica Von Kampf – a sultry vamp who hides a swastika-branded forehead behind a v-shaped blond fringe – also displayed amazing enterprise in her criminal antics.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256217/original/file-20190129-108355-1804tzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Invariably the male characters required saving from the crime gangs, the Nazis or merely from themselves. Among the most ingenious panels in the strip were the ones devoted to hapless lovelorn men, endowed with the kind of “thought bubbles” commonly found hovering above the heads of angsty heroines in romance comics.</p>
<p>By contrast, the female characters possessed a gritty ingenuity inspired by Noir as much as by the changed reality of women’s wartime lives. Half way through the series, Marla got a job, and – astonishingly, for a Sunday comic supplement – became a single mother, adopting the son of her arch nemesis, wrestling with snarling dogs and chains to save the toddler from a deadly experiment.</p>
<p>Mills claims to have modelled Miss Fury on herself. She even named Marla’s cat Peri-Purr after her own beloved Persian pet. Born in Brooklyn in 1918, Mills grew up in a house headed by a single widowed mother, who supported the family by working in a beauty parlour. Mills worked her way through New York’s Pratt Institute by working as a model and fashion illustrator.</p>
<h2>Censorship</h2>
<p>In the end, ironically, it was Miss Fury’s high fashion wardrobe that became a major source of controversy.</p>
<p>In 1947, no less than 37 newspapers declined to run a panel that featured one of Mills’ tough-minded heroines, Era – a South American Nazi-Fighter who became a post-war nightclub entertainer – dressed as Eve, replete with snake and apple, in a spangled, two-piece costume. </p>
<p>This was not the only time the comic strip was censored. Earlier in the decade, Timely comics had refused to run a picture of the villainess Erica resplendent in her bath – surrounded by pink flamingo wallpaper.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256213/original/file-20190129-108338-1wz1auh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Erica in the bath, surrounded by pink flamingo wallpaper.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But so many frilly negligées, cat fights, and shower scenes had escaped the censor’s eye. It’s not a leap to speculate that behind the ban lay the post-war backlash against powerful and unconventional women.</p>
<p>In wartime, nations had relied on women to fill the production jobs that men had left behind. Just as “Rosie the Riveter” encouraged women to get to work with the slogan “We Can Do It!”, so too the comparative absence of men opened up room for less conventional images of women in the comics.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=867&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256554/original/file-20190131-110834-1llokeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1089&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Miss Fury paper doll cut out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once the war was over, women lost their jobs to returning servicemen. Comic creators were no longer encouraged to show women as independent or decisive. Politicians and psychologists attributed juvenile delinquency to the rise of unconventional comic book heroines and by 1954 the Comics Code Authority was policing the representation of women in comics, in line with increasingly conservative ideologies. In the 1950s, female action comics gave way to romance ones, featuring heroines who once again placed men at the centre of their existence.</p>
<p>Miss Fury was dropped from circulation in December 1951, and despite a handful of attempted comebacks, Mills and her anarchic creation slipped from public view. </p>
<p>Mills continued to work as a commercial illustrator on the fringes of a booming advertising industry. In 1971, she turned a hand to romance comics, penning a seven-page story that was published by Marvel, but it wasn’t her forte. In 1979, she began work on a graphic novel Albino Jo, which remains unfinished.</p>
<p>Despite her chronic asthma, Mills – like the reckless Noir heroine she so resembled – chain-smoked to the bitter end. She died of emphysema on December 12, 1988, and is buried in New Jersey under the simple inscription, “Creator of Miss Fury”.</p>
<p>This year Mills’ work will be belatedly recognised. As a recipient of the 2019 Eisner Award, she will finally take her place in the <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/hall-of-fame-2019-nominees">Comics Hall of Fame</a>, alongside the male creators of the Golden Age who have too long dominated the history of the genre. Hopefully this will bring her comic creation the kind of notoriety, readership and big screen adventures she thoroughly deserves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Camilla Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Miss Fury was the first female superhero written and drawn by a woman. The comic in which she featured was syndicated in 100 newspapers but her creator has largely been excluded from the pantheon of comic greats.
Camilla Nelson, Associate Professor in Media, University of Notre Dame Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98022
2018-07-26T12:19:46Z
2018-07-26T12:19:46Z
How The Beano survived war and the web to reach its 80th birthday
<p>The British economy was in a volatile state 80 years ago, as the world teetered on the brink of war. Business was tough for all, and yet printing and publishing was expanding with Dundee-based DC Thomson & Co, publisher of newspapers, magazines and comics, especially prominent. </p>
<p>Spurred on by the success of weekly newspaper comic strips <a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/broons-and-oor-wullie/oor-wullie-80-years/">Oor Wullie and The Broons</a>, and its “<a href="https://downthetubes.net/?p=37987">big five</a>” action story papers for boys, Thomson decided in 1937 to create another quintet of comics for boys and girls, this time focused on humour. </p>
<p><a href="http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2012/08/art-and-history-of-dandy-first-look.html">The Dandy</a> became the first of these comics to launch in December 1937, featuring characters Korky the Cat, Keyhole Kate, Hungry Horace and the enduring Desperate Dan. Under the editorship of the indomitable Albert Barnes (whom the square-jawed <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/387517.stm">Desperate Dan</a> is said to be modelled on), The Dandy introduced a new style of comic drawing to generations of schoolchildren. Taking inspiration from existing British and American styles, such as the use of hand drawn speech bubbles, The Dandy’s team of experienced scriptwriters and talented artists developed a humour that celebrated slapstick and derided authority figures. </p>
<p>The following summer, a “great new fun paper” arrived – The Beano. Now close to publishing its 4,000th edition, the very first issue of The Beano came complete with a free whoopee mask when it was released on July 30, 1938. Deriving its name from a 19th century colloquialism for celebration, party, or other merry occasion, The Beano was intended to be a feast of fun. </p>
<p>The 28-page publication was a mixture of mostly black and white comic stories, short comic strips, and text stories. With characters such as Big Eggo (an inquisitive ostrich), Lord Snooty (and his pals), and Pansy Potter (the strong man’s daughter), The Beano enjoyed an immediate readership, with 442,963 copies of the first issue sold.</p>
<h2>V for victory, B for Beano</h2>
<p>It wasn’t just about the laughs. During World War II, The Dandy and The Beano became <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3756475/The-Beano-war-Fascinating-collection-wartime-comics-propaganda-persuaded-Britain-s-children-need-not-fear-Nazis.html">important propaganda tools</a> in the fight against Nazism and Fascism. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göering, and Benito Mussolini were lampooned in each comic, and copies of The Beano were sent to soldiers serving overseas to boost morale.</p>
<p>Scripts and advertisements followed patriotic themes, too, urging readers to aid the war effort on the home front by gathering waste paper for recycling. <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/539623/Hitler-Beano-Comic-Auction">Lord Snooty’s storylines</a> often reminded children of the importance of gas masks for protection against chemical attack during air raids. Thrilling adventure stories, such as Tom Thumb, and Jimmy and His Magic Patch, enthralled war-weary readers with fantastic escapist tales in far flung, fairytale locations. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BArgZaPojt9/?taken-by=beano_official","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The war scattered Beano artists and writers far and wide, while paper rationing and ink shortages forced a smaller page count. Yet publication continued, albeit fortnightly, alternating with The Dandy. </p>
<p>A third pre-war Thomson comic, <a href="http://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/uk_comic.php?tc=magic1">The Magic</a>, which launched a few weeks before the outbreak of hostilities, ceased publication in 1941 because of paper scarcities. Thomson’s ambition to create another big five was never fully realised. </p>
<h2>Dennis, the world’s wildest boy</h2>
<p>After the war, The Beano staff returned with renewed energy and enthusiasm, successfully taking on new comics such as <a href="http://www.dandare.com/eagle-comic.htm">The Eagle</a> (1950), also published in Britain, and the competing medium of TV. Circulation increased dramatically – in April 1950, The Beano reached the peak of its popularity, recording a weekly sale of 1,974,072, the highest to date, for issue 405. </p>
<p>In 1948, <a href="https://www.beano.com/posts/throwback-thursday-biffo-the-bear-on-bonfire-night">Biffo the Bear</a> ousted <a href="https://www.beano.com/posts/see-big-eggos-first-beano-appearance">Big Eggo</a> from the front cover after market research indicated children preferred their cartoon strip characters to more closely resemble people. It was an important moment in the comic’s history, when many of The Beano’s longest running stories, focused on child characters, full of tricks and tomfooleries, began to appear for the first time in all their mischievous, madcap magnificence. One such character was the “world’s wildest boy”, <a href="https://www.beano.com/posts/from-the-archives-dennis-the-menace-no-1">Dennis the Menace</a>, who burst onto the pages of The Beano in 1951. </p>
<p>In 1953, artist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/30/leo-baxendale-obituary">Leo Baxendale</a> brought to life The Bash Street Kids, Little Plum, and Minnie the Minx, with Roger the Dodger, by <a href="https://comiccreatorsuk.wordpress.com/2017/11/16/spotlight-on-the-great-ken-reid-1919-1987/">Ken Reid</a>, also debuting that year. In the 1960s and 70s, further new characters were introduced, including Billy Whizz (“the world’s fastest boy”) and Baby-Face Finlayson (“the cutest bandit in the west”). </p>
<p>Since the 1980s, Beano storylines have increasingly reflected shifting social trends, and adjustments have been made to the language and look of characters. Dennis, for example, is no longer known as a menace and his nemesis, Walter, is no longer a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dennis-the-menace-rebrand-beano-cbbc-cartoon-a8130436.html">softy</a>”. </p>
<p>While the digital age has undoubtedly impacted sales, The Beano has, for the most part, embraced the challenges, and is now available <a href="https://www.beano.com/">online</a> as well as in print. Now the world’s longest running weekly comic (following the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9480264/End-for-childrens-comic-The-Dandy.html">demise of The Dandy</a> in 2012), The Beano has endured because it celebrates its past, while evolving to survive the future. </p>
<p>The comic has entertained children and adults for more than three generations, a riotous celebration of comic art, anarchy and absurdity. It is part of Britain’s individual and collective memory, part of the fabric of its social and cultural history. Happy Birthday, Beano!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98022/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
For 80 years, The Beano has had the UK in stitches.
David Anderson, Senior Lecturer in American History, Swansea University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/94718
2018-04-18T10:43:36Z
2018-04-18T10:43:36Z
Superman at 80: How two high school friends concocted the original comic book hero
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215252/original/file-20180417-163962-1qfn9di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In 1938, a cultural icon was born.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gold-coast-aus-nov-20-2014supermanhes-234349990?src=xU4qxCGZ4iqLtwA4oaZbqg-2-3">ChameleonsEye/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Superman – the first, most famous American superhero – turns 80 this year.</p>
<p>The comics, toys, costumes and <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/box-office-milestone-black-panther-joins-billion-dollar-club-1093586">billion-dollar Hollywood blockbusters</a> can all trace their ancestry to the first issue of “Action Comics,” which hit newsstands in April 1938.</p>
<p>Most casual comic book fans can recite the character’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PMYsjzigENIC&lpg=PP1&dq=Superman%3A%20The%20Complete%20History&pg=PA169#v=snippet&q=kal-el&f=false">fictional origin story</a>: As the planet Krypton approaches destruction, Jor-El and his wife, Lara, put their infant son, Kal-El, into a spaceship to save him. He rockets to Earth and is taken in by the kindly Kents. As he grows up, Kal-El – now known as Clark – develops strange powers, and he vows to use them for good. </p>
<p>But the story of the real-life origins of Superman – a character created out of friendship, persistence and personal tragedy – is just as dramatic. </p>
<h2>From villain to hero</h2>
<p>When I was a kid growing up in Cleveland, my dad would regale my brother and me with stories of Superman’s local origins: The two men who had concocted the comic book hero had grown up in the area. </p>
<p>As I became older, I realized I wanted to understand not only how, but <em>why</em> Superman was created. A 10-year research project ensued, and it culminated in my book “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Super_Boys.html?id=DbieMQEACAAJ">Super Boys</a>.” </p>
<p>In the mid-1930s, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were two nerds with glasses who attended Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio. They worked on the school newspaper, wrote stories, drew cartoons, and dreamed of being famous. Jerry was the writer; Joe was the artist. When they finally turned to making comics, a publisher named <a href="http://majormalcolmwheelernicholson.com/">Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgZ-ngEACAAJ&dq=Super+Boys:+The+Amazing+Adventures+of+Jerry+Siegel+and+Joe+Shuster&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPtsK_zMHaAhVpQt8KHco0A0sQ6AEIJzAA">gave them their first break</a>, commissioning them to create spy and adventure comics in his magazines “New Fun” and “Detective Comics.”</p>
<p>But Jerry and Joe had been working on something else: <a href="https://archive.org/details/ReignOfTheSuperman">a story</a> about a “Superman” – a villain with special mental powers – that Jerry had stolen from a different magazine. They self-published it in a pamphlet titled “Science Fiction.”</p>
<p>While “Science Fiction” only lasted for five issues, they liked the name of the character and continued to work on it. Before long, their new Superman was a good guy. Joe dressed him in a cape and trunks <a href="https://medium.com/re-form/no-capes-79c3e27fc441">like those of the era’s popular bodybuilders</a>, modeled the character’s speedy running abilities after Olympic sprinter Jesse Owens, and gave him <a href="https://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/articles/superman's-influences">the bouncy spit-curl</a> of Johnny Weissmuller, the actor who played Tarzan. It was a mishmash of 1930s pop culture in gladiator boots.</p>
<p>When they were finally ready, they started pitching Superman to every newspaper syndicate and publisher they could find.</p>
<p>All of them rejected it, some of them several times. This continued for several years, but the duo never gave up. </p>
<p>When Superman finally saw print, it was through a process that is still not wholly clear. But the general consensus is that a publisher named Harry Donenfeld, who had acquired the major’s company, National Allied Publications (the predecessor to DC Comics), bought the first Superman story – and all the rights therein – for US$130. </p>
<h2>Was Jerry trying to create a Superdad?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=828&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215239/original/file-20180417-163978-7hos5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1041&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first issue of Action Comics featured Superman on the cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philippl/449712941">Philipp Lenssen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The world was introduced to Superman in “Action Comics” No. 1, on April 18, 1938, with the Man of Steel appearing on the cover smashing a Hudson roadster. The inaugural issue cost 10 cents; in 2014, a copy in good condition <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/supermans-action-comics-no-1-sells-for-record-3-2-million-on-ebay/">sold for $3.2 million dollars</a>. </p>
<p>When the comic became a runaway hit, Jerry and Joe regretted selling their rights to the character; they ended up leaving millions on the table. Though they worked on Superman comics for the next 10 years, they would never own the character they created, and for the rest of their lives repeatedly filed lawsuits in an effort to get him back.</p>
<p>But there is another more personal piece to the puzzle of Superman’s origins.</p>
<p>On June 2, 1932, Jerry’s father, Michel, was about to close his secondhand clothing store in Cleveland when some men walked in. Michel caught them trying to steal a suit, and ended up <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/truth-justice-stickup-article-1.314622">dying on the spot</a> – not in a hail of gunfire, <a href="https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-08-25-superman-creators_N.htm">but from a heart attack</a>. </p>
<p>Jerry was 17.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215256/original/file-20180417-163971-1oypsl6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=611&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jerry Siegel pictured while serving in the U.S. Army.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Jerry_Siegel_1943.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/2628733/The-tragic-real-story-behind-Supermans-birth.html">Some believe</a> Jerry may have created Superman as a fantasy version of his own father – as someone who could instantly transform from a mild-mannered man into a hero capable of easily overpowering petty thieves. Indeed, some of the early Superman stories feature Jor-El out of breath (as Michel often was from heart disease) and show criminals who faint dead when confronted by Superman. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2664732">As many victims of childhood trauma often do</a>, Jerry may have used Superman to re-enact his father’s tragic death over and over in an attempt to somehow fix it. </p>
<p>In Superman’s never-ending battle of good versus evil, this same story is repeated again and again on the page, in cartoons and in movies. It’s seen in kids who pretend to be Superman, tucking towels in at their neck and playing out battles in their backyards.</p>
<p>Why is Superman’s 80th birthday important? It isn’t just about celebrating a “funny book” about a guy who has heat vision and can fly. It’s about using fantasy to make sense of the world, plumbing personal tragedy to tell a story, and using art to envision a more just and safe society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Ricca does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Pop culture, personal tragedy and heroic persistence all played a role.
Brad Ricca, Lecturer of English, Case Western Reserve University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/95176
2018-04-18T09:48:43Z
2018-04-18T09:48:43Z
Superman at 80 – here’s the secret to his long life
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215204/original/file-20180417-163975-vqhr4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/zagreb-croatia-november-22-2014-dc-232398376?src=ABVMDgCxwV8IfJublXC6yA-1-0">Shutterstock/DeanBertoncelj</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/superman">Superman</a> is 80 years old this year and <a href="http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=superman.htm">he is a character that is still popular with mass audiences</a>. There are many reasons behind the character’s longevity but chief among them is the myth of the messiah, the hero who sacrifices himself in order to return and bring new hope.</p>
<p>Visually, he is striking in a primary coloured costume bearing a red “S” insignia. As the model for many superheroes after him, Superman is the man-god come to earth to save humanity with super strength, speed, X-Ray vision and flight. The character is often mocked or <a href="http://www.fanfilmfollies.com/featured/is-superman-still-relevant/">deemed old-fashioned</a> compared with darker heroes such as <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/batman">Batman</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vN6DHB6bJc">Deadpool</a> and <a href="http://marvel.com/characters/66/wolverine">Wolverine</a>. Yet <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superman-Persistence-American-Comics-Culture/dp/0813587514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523983121&sr=1-1&keywords=ian+gordon+superman">Superman is a character who persists</a> and it is not just because of his visual appeal. </p>
<p>Superman’s first appearance was on the cover of Action Comics #1, in June 1938, holding a car above his head. The four-colour printing press had just been developed and the primary colours of Superman’s costume, modelled on a circus strongman’s outfit, looked visually stunning on the newsstands. </p>
<p>As this was also the height of <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression">the Great Depression</a>, the character addressed the cultural need for optimism. Even in his early appearances, he symbolised the immigrant in a land of opportunity. He fought for the weak and oppressed, such as battered wives and miners, and he upheld the social liberties of ordinary people against corruption. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"986046625289265152"}"></div></p>
<h2>A ‘nerdy’ secret identity</h2>
<p>Superman was created by Cleveland high school students, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/2628733/The-tragic-real-story-behind-Supermans-birth.html">Jerry Siegal and Joe Shuster</a> who invented the character out of the wish fulfilment of every nerdish teenage boy – the desire to have great powers and attract girls. Shuster’s dynamic drawings gave the character instant identification on the comic’s page. Superman’s story and powers were similar to <a href="http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/p/pulphero.htm">heroes in pulp fiction</a> but Siegal and Shuster added their own twist – a secret identity. </p>
<p>The first Superman story in Action Comics contained the model for later superheroes including a special birth, an unrequited love interest and villains whose values and powers were often the opposite of the hero’s. Superman was born on Krypton, a planet that exploded – but not before his parents sent him to Earth in a rocket. He was raised in Smallville by Martha and Jonathan Kent. As quiet, meek and cowardly Clark Kent, he moved to Metropolis and became a reporter at the Daily Planet.</p>
<p>But Clark Kent was the key to the character’s success. Kent experienced life as an ordinary person, including unrequited love. Superman and Kent were part of an extraordinary love triangle. Kent was in love with fellow reporter – the sassy Lois Lane. But she yearned for the Man of Steel – a man who was not interested in her. </p>
<h2>An adaptable hero</h2>
<p>The secret of Superman’s consistent popularity also lies in his adaptability. He has been adapted in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls070278444/">films</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/list/ls039703271/">animations</a>, <a href="http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a493049/superman-on-tv-best-and-worst-of-the-man-of-steel-on-the-small-screen/">television</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Batman-Superman-Dramas-blockbuster-adventures/dp/1785292722">radio</a>. His image has been used in advertising, toys, collectables and, more recently, in <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-cosplay-20759">cosplay</a> and <a href="http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Superman_video_games">video games</a>.</p>
<p>Superman has been read in many contexts, as a <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Oy-Vey-History-Superhero/dp/1569804001/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523981925&sr=1-1&keywords=jewish+superheroes+in+comics">Jewish hero</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/21/superman-ultimate-immigrant-may-have-been-eligible-daca/688590001/">an immigrant</a>, <a href="http://www2.gsu.edu/%7Ejougms/SecretId.pdf">a corporate man</a> and <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/Default.aspx?bookid=2573">the epitome of the American monomyth</a>. The American monomyth is described by cultural critic and historian <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gunfighter-Nation-Frontier-Twentieth-century-America/dp/0806130318">Richard Slotkin</a> as a hero who comes into civilisation and regenerates a morally corrupt society with violence. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XWHyvubVdPA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>The myth of the Messiah</h2>
<p>But as the model for the man-god hero, Superman’s story is one that predates the American monomyth. The stories of Moses, Krishna, King Arthur and Christ follow a similar pattern: their birth is significant, they are raised in obscurity and then come to power in adulthood. The Messiah aspect of Superman has been recognised in the past 40 years. Richard Donner’s 1978 film Superman, starring <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001659/">Christopher Reeve</a>, and the 1980s <a href="http://www.byrnerobotics.com/">comics of John Byrne</a> mythologised his birth and upbringing.</p>
<p>The connection with classical messiahs was underlined with the <a href="http://www.denofgeek.com/books-comics/superman/29757/the-death-of-superman-a-comic-that-should-be-a-movie">comic book death of Superman in 1992</a>, created to coordinate with the wedding of Superman and Lois Lane in comics and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJuoQmjT3YE">Lois and Clark television series</a>.</p>
<p>In this story, Superman was killed by <a href="https://www.dccomics.com/characters/doomsday">Doomsday</a> then resurrected. The story formed the basis for several adaptations in the television series <a href="https://io9.gizmodo.com/5539863/clark-kent-is-jesus-christ-superman">Smallville</a>, animated films, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It reflects myths of the dying and reviving god described by religion expert <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Bough-James-George-Frazer/dp/0486424928">James George Frazer</a> as the sacrifice of the god or king at harvest time so they can be reincarnated in spring.</p>
<p>As such, a messiah figure like Superman is an icon that inspires renewal, optimism and hope. In an age of fake news, violence and cynicism, this is surely a significant reason for his persistence as a symbol of heroism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95176/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joan Ormrod does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Superman character has endured and continues to be popular because he is a symbol of renewal and hope.
Joan Ormrod, Senior Lecturer BA (Hons) Film and Media Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82795
2017-09-01T07:05:30Z
2017-09-01T07:05:30Z
Growing old disgracefully: DC comics’ Harley Quinn turns 25
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184325/original/file-20170901-26026-d729gk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The joke’s on Batman this year. Fans of the Caped Crusader usually celebrate Batman Day on September 23, but this year his thunder has been stolen by a young woman wielding a giant mallet and wearing a broad grin. On September 11, Harley Quinn turns 25 years old – and the former psychiatrist who turned to the dark side in 1992 as a sidekick to The Joker celebrates her silver anniversary as a fully rounded DC Comics multi-platform villainess. </p>
<p>But who is Harley Quinn – and why is a relative newcomer being granted a privilege usually afforded to the most celebrated of DC’s comic book stable? Simply put, she is a phenomenon who, since beginning life as a background stooge, has routinely matched, and occasionally <a href="http://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/237?articleID=184037">outsold</a>, the publisher’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15806872-the-golden-age-of-dc-comics">Golden Age</a> trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to become the <a href="http://www.cbr.com/jim-lee-dubs-harley-quinn-fourth-pillar-of-dc-comics-line/">official fourth pillar of DC</a>. </p>
<p>But the character’s significance reaches far beyond the printed page. Harley Quinn’s success highlights that agile consumer content is not necessarily based upon genre or legacy – but upon fluidity of content. For her audience, Harley Quinn combines the pleasures of narrative with those of participation – in other words, she is not merely a comic book character to consume passively. She is an experience.</p>
<h2>Quinn begins</h2>
<p>The story begins with a party. It is 1992 and <a href="http://www.dccomics.com/talent/paul-dini">Paul Dini</a> – a screenwriter for <a href="http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Batman:_The_Animated_Series">Batman the Animated Series</a> – is devising a scene in which a villain needs to deliver a giant cake to Commissioner Gordon in which lurks The Joker. He invents an exotic accomplice to perform the act: Harley Quinn. And so, a star is born.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3BEeBSom2CA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>A baby-voiced moll in a black and red jester’s costume, Harley Quinn may look like a clown – but she kicks like a mule and, when cornered by Batman, pulls a knife when the hero’s back is turned. More vicious than femme fatales Catwoman and Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn is also revealed in time to be something that they are not – a victim who wants out.</p>
<p><a href="http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Mad_Love">Mad Love</a>, a non canonical spin-off comic from the animated series, was the first to relate the story of how infatuated psychiatrist Harleen Quinzel became seduced by the incarcerated Joker into helping him escape, only to find herself trapped in the prison of an abusive relationship ever since. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183981/original/file-20170830-23681-1jgxua5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Warner Bros</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A unique example of a key Batman storyline which originated outside the comic book canon, Mad Love’s controversial influence spread so widely across multiple platforms (the animated series, comic books, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2009/aug/25/batman-arkham-asylum-ps3-xbox360">Arkham Asylum videogames</a>, the hit film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/07/suicide-squad-review-bad-film-margot-robbie-jared-leto">Suicide Squad</a>) that it quickly became embedded into the fabric of the DC multiverse.</p>
<p>But while containing the root of Harley Quinn’s appeal, Mad Love also exposes her key difference: Harley Quinn is not a comic book character at all, she is a television one – and her relationship with the Joker is not one defined by the dramatic tensions of crime fiction but a twisted version of the “Will they? Won’t they?” plot line seen across soap opera and romantic comedies. </p>
<p>Her unusual origin on screen therefore meant that when Harley Quinn and her backstory became eventually absorbed by the main comic book series, tropes of TV melodrama and sitcom flowed into the DC canon – and with them entirely different audience methods of consuming content.</p>
<h2>Comic book chameleon</h2>
<p>My research investigates the construction of media narratives as vehicles for fulfilling audience need – and when examining the Harley Quinn story experience I was struck by how multivalent the character actually is. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=920&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183971/original/file-20170830-23681-1v9k10r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1156&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harley Quinn takes over on Batman day.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the values of stable mates Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were codified within a few appearances, Harley Quinn can appear to be in flux 25 years on. Pick up a Batman comic in the 1940s and one from the 1980s and the values of the character remain the same with only the cultural prism through which the author views those values having changed. But over the last year alone, there have been at least six different versions of the Harley Quinn character presented to the audience across comic books, video games and film with almost no continuity of tone, content or genre between them.</p>
<p>This could be an indicator of trouble for a property – how can an audience make sense of the various texts if they all clamour for attention with different signals simultaneously? But it appears that mutability for Harley Quinn is the essence of her popularity. While the rest of the DC canon remain shackled to their comic book roots, and therefore can only appear as either straightlaced or parodic, Harley Quinn is a transferable property created beyond the page and able to be moulded to whatever genre or tone the creators and the audience desire.</p>
<h2>Best friend gone bad</h2>
<p>In the most telling storyline of recent times, Harley Quinn happens upon the amnesiac super-heroine Power Girl and <a href="http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Harley_Quinn_and_Power_Girl_Vol_1">pretends to be her sidekick</a> for no other apparent reward than the opportunity for a fresh start. And, although from her very first appearances in the animated series, Harley Quinn is someone who has always been trying to escape her past, the Power Girl storyline illustrates that the character also has the self awareness to understand that this task is Sisyphean. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183993/original/file-20170830-23718-oe22yb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sisters are doing it for themselves.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DC Comics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Super heroes such as Power Girl may deliver a vicarious thrill of empowerment to the audience but they are also untouchable paragons of virtue. Harley Quinn’s potency, is her ability to reach out to the audience and say: “It’s ok – I’m a mess, too.” Not an idol, but a friend. </p>
<p>Harley Quinn’s story may have begun with her breaking into a party, but I believe the Harley Quinn experience is a party to which we are all invited – a party which delivers a sense of belonging and an tragicomic acceptance that we are all at the whim of the fates together. The Justice League are heroes but they are also elitists who sit on a pedestal. Harley Quinn is a killer and accomplice to unspeakable deeds – but at least she’s one of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Ross does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
She started life as a bit-part sidekick to The Joker but is now a multi-platform anti-hero.
Andrew Ross, Graduate Tutor and Lecturer in Film, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81237
2017-07-21T14:44:30Z
2017-07-21T14:44:30Z
From self-driving cars to Zoomtubes: an expert imagines the evolution of transport in Mega City One
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179228/original/file-20170721-28505-pumppe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1654%2C1168&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.2000ad.com">Judge Dredd® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 2017 Rebellion A/S. All rights reserved. Images used with permission of the copyright holder.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Each year, more than 100,000 people descend on San Diego for <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/">Comic-Con International</a>. The <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2011/07/25/costumes-comic-con-cosplay">largest annual comic and pop culture convention</a> in the world. San Diego Comic-Con offers fans a chance to immerse themselves in the world of their favourite superheros, with panels, previews and promotions featuring renowned actors and comic book professionals. This year, The Conversation has given one academic the chance to do the same. Guy Walker, associate professor in Human Factors at Heriot-Watt University, journeys into the dystopian urban world of Judge Dredd, created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, and finds it holds a warning about the future of self-driving cars.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>It’s the year 2102AD. Something has been found underneath Sector 301 of Mega City One. Judge Dredd is on his way to the scene. He’s thundering in from above on his heavy-duty Lawmaster motorbike. Visible below are shiny Zoomtubes, weaving their way through the monolithic habitation blocks and unbroken urban blight. They pulsate with computer-controlled convoys of fast-moving automated vehicles, speeding along inside a vacuum. </p>
<p>As many as 800m people live in Mega City One. It’s crowded. Convulsing. Choking. Breaking under its own weight. The civilian population is mostly illiterate, since artificial intelligence removed the need for most types of work. But they are restless, always on the move and often in trouble. This is why street judges like Dredd exist. To dispatch instant justice, to restore order by force – they are judge, jury and frequently executioner: they are the law. </p>
<p>Mega City One has a secret. It is built on top of abandoned and ruined “under cities”, from before the nuclear war of 2070AD. Dredd is descending into this dark undercroft now. Spotlights have been set up around a crime scene, but this is not what attracts Dredd’s attention. No. His eyes are drawn to an old Brutalist building from 1970AD. A set of rusty steel roller-shutter doors have been ripped from their moorings. Inside, there appears to be a brand new, petrol-burning vehicle. These were mass-produced in the 20th century, but now they are incredibly rare and expensive antiques. </p>
<p>Why it is here is unclear. It sits inside a laboratory of some kind, connected to ancient silicon-based computers. A transport professor from the City Central De-Education Establishment is already sitting inside the vehicle, looking around in bemused wonderment. “They were trying to steal this” she says. “It’s a completely intact driving simulator laboratory from the 21st century”. </p>
<p>Dredd pauses for a moment… “what is driving?” he asks. </p>
<p>The professor chuckles. “About 100 years ago, people would sit here and turn this large wheel with their hands to send the vehicle left or right. At the same time, they’d press these pedals here with their feet, to start and stop”. Brushing some cobwebs away from the top of the instrument panel, the professor goes on: “Sounds dangerous doesn’t it. And in some ways it was. It’s astonishing how something so primitive could be used by so many people.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179212/original/file-20170721-28488-o6an8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Old school: a driving simulator laboratory from the 21st century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Walker/Heriot Watt University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She reaches into the passenger seat and picks up a thick, dusty folder containing hundreds of sheets of paper. “People used to think driving was a simple activity, but these documents prove otherwise. Look, here: it’s <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Human-Factors-in-Automotive-Engineering-and-Technology/Walker-Stanton/p/book/9781138747258">a task analysis</a> – an antiquated method of research based on hundreds of hours of observations, looking at how people used to control these things. Did you know, people had to perform more than 3,000 individual tasks, at the correct time, in the correct sequence, in order to avoid crashing? Amazing. In fact, people had quite a lot of trouble adapting to automatic vehicles.” </p>
<p>Dredd regards her incredulously. “I know!” she says, smiling, as she shifts herself out of the driver’s seat and walks to the other side of the laboratory. Dredd follows, intrigued. Part of the roof has collapsed and water is leaking in, dripping on piles of old paper books and broken coffee mugs with the crest of a once famous university printed on them. The professor crouches down and peels away a thin sheaf of water-damaged paper from the pile. </p>
<p>“This will take years to go through, but look at all these: these old scientific papers offer a fascinating insight into how people in the 21st century were thinking about vehicle automation. They categorised it <a href="https://www.sae.org/misc/pdfs/automated_driving.pdf">into six levels</a>, from zero automation –- a bit like that petrol-burning vehicle over there, where the driver does everything – right through to full automation, like we have now.” </p>
<p>“What’s interesting are the levels in between. For years, their Artificial Intelligence systems weren’t sophisticated enough for full automation in all conditions. So the vehicle controlled some of the functions, such as automatic cruising on the highway – their equivalent of a Meg-Way. But the human driver had to do the rest. And judging by all these other ancient texts lying here, it seems that caused no end of trouble.” </p>
<p>“Really?” Dredd replies, with growing curiosity. “I mean, it just seems obvious that AI is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-maths-and-driverless-cars-could-spell-the-end-of-traffic-jams-63462">much more efficient way</a> to pilot our vehicles – especially when a computer controls the whole traffic system. Why would that ever be a problem?” </p>
<p>“You’ll like this then,” the professor says, as she bends down to pick up another text. “They called it the study of ‘human factors’. Look: this describes some of the experiments performed in this laboratory a century ago. It says that when a crude safety technology called ‘anti-lock brakes’ was introduced in 1985AD, people <a href="https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2016/PSY540/um/64998189/64998284/targetrisk3_1.pdf">in experiments</a> drove faster and braked harder, because the new technology made them feel safer.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179214/original/file-20170721-28501-irbrxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ancient history: the laboratory’s control room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Guy Walker/Heriot Watt University</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“And this one here. This is <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.514.5506&rep=rep1&type=pdf">an early study</a> into night-vision from 2000AD. Far from making things safer, the tests showed that it actually made drivers speed up, even in thick fog. And this one here, look, <a href="https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/publications/whats-happened-to-car-design-an-exploratory-study-into-the-effect">it shows</a> that as cars got more technically advanced, their drivers became more isolated from the road and began to lose touch with what was happening around them. It seems as if old-fashioned drivers actually <a href="https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/publications/the-ironies-of-vehicle-feedback-in-car-design">needed some of that technological primitiveness</a> to remain 'situationally aware’. So up to a certain point, having things to do actually helped them to drive better.”</p>
<p>This was beginning to make sense now: AI hadn’t replaced human drivers overnight. It had taken years, decades, for automated transport systems such as the Zoomtube, Robochairs, and Mo-pads to be developed and refined. This slowness to adapt was why you could so often hear Mega City One’s chief transport engineer bemoaning the fact the city would be an engineer’s paradise, were it not for the humans. Dredd bent down to pick up a red book from out of the puddle at his feet. </p>
<p>“Ah yes, <a href="https://www.crcpress.com/Human-Factors-in-Automotive-Engineering-and-Technology/Walker-Stanton/p/book/9781138747258">Human Factors in Automotive Engineering</a>, I’ve been searching for a copy of that text for a while,” the professor says. “In the back they try to imagine what driving would be like today in the 22nd century. It’s rather quaint.” Turning to face him, the professor looks Dredd straight in the eye: “Still, I wonder what the inhabitants of this ancient city would have thought of Mega City One?” </p>
<p>“They would have learnt a lot from our advanced technology,” Dredd replies, with confidence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179215/original/file-20170721-28474-1rwwq04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mega City One: paradise for who?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.2000AD.com">Judge Dredd® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 2017 Rebellion A/S. All rights reserved. Images used with permission of the copyright holder.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Turning away a little wistfully, the professor says to herself, quietly: “I’m not so sure. Mega City One is like a giant machine. The technology rules. It is a logical extension of the ways we humans used to think about cities and transport, back when this building was constructed.” She waves her hand vaguely at the decaying concrete structure they’re standing in. </p>
<p>“But maybe we could have taken a different direction. A more human-centred direction. Instead of building a city which is optimised for computers, to make things more efficient, we could have used this powerful technology to meet human needs. Like the need for identity, freedom and participation. Heck, people used to enjoy driving some of these old relics…” </p>
<p>In the end, the professor has the last word: “Don’t you see, the harder we drive the technology, the more we seek to make things logical and machine-like, the more we get all sorts of unexpected problems, which we humans still need to fix. That’s the problem with all these dystopian comic book cities of the future.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Walker receives funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). He is affiliated with the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Young Academy of Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. </span></em></p>
The dystopian urban future imagined in the Judge Dredd comics warns against letting technology rule our transport systems.
Guy Walker, Associate Professor in Human Factors, Heriot-Watt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81352
2017-07-21T10:25:04Z
2017-07-21T10:25:04Z
Five comic book superpowers that really exist in animals
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179160/original/file-20170721-18141-1ttgs9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evolution has been occurring for billions of years, producing organisms that are perfectly adapted to their environments. And this includes abilities that we would normally consider superpowers if humans were to have them. But these powers really do exist in the animal kingdom.</p>
<h2>1. Echolocation</h2>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p08Y0oRAX3g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>In the superhero world, Matt Murdock, who was blinded by radioactive waste as a child, developed a superhuman ability to sense using sound waves and became the superhero Daredevil. This gives Daredevil a 360-degree field of “vision”, allowing him to precisely locate objects or people in all directions, an obvious advantage over normal vision.</p>
<p>Bats, despite being nocturnal animals, cannot see in the dark. Instead they have evolved a similar ability known as use <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-bats-echolocate-an/">echolocation</a> to navigate and locate prey at night. The bat emits a very high frequency sound and listens for the echo that bounces off objects. The difference in time between emitting the sound and hearing the echo allows the bat to build up a mental “picture” of its environment. Sounds that take longer to bounce back indicate that the surroundings are further away. </p>
<p>Matt Murdock’s ability may not be too far from reality <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19524962">as humans can also learn to use echolocation</a>. By making clicking noises or stomping their feet some visually impaired people are able to accurately “visualise” their surroundings. </p>
<h2>2. Magnetic Sense</h2>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wl0Ii29XmNk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>The X-Men’s arch-villian Magneto can sense and manipulate magnetic fields with his mind. And some animals have a similar magnetic sense known as “magnetoreception” that they use to navigate and orient themselves. For example, homing pigeons are able to navigate back to their home lofts when visual cues are missing but can’t do so when magnets are nearby. This suggests that they may use the Earth’s <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/68/1/102.full.pdf">magnetic field to navigate</a>. </p>
<p>Although we don’t understand exactly how they do this, pigeons have been found to possess a substance called magnetite in their beaks, which becomes magnetised when <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041122/full/news041122-7.html">exposed to magnetic fields</a>. So they may be following their nose, so to speak.</p>
<p>Of course, Magneto’s magnetic powers can produce a much wider range of effects, from lifting and manipulating metal objects to rearranging matter (a power definitely not seen in animals). However, his daughter Polaris has the ability to perceive the world as patterns of magnetic energy, which actually isn’t too dissimilar to the powers present in the animal kingdom.</p>
<h2>3. Shapeshifting</h2>
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<p>The ability to shapeshift and mimic the form of others is a formidable power for a superhero or villain – and has been used by X–Men’s Mystique on many occasions to lure and manipulate her foes. A rare few animals are capable of changing their shape and size in the real world, most notably <a href="http://theconversation.com/some-shape-shifting-animals-that-can-morph-to-fool-others-39616">the mimic octopus</a>.</p>
<p>It can alter its colour, behaviour, shape and texture to mimic a diverse range of species, with at least 13 examples <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00948.x/abstract">recorded so far</a> including sea snakes, jellyfish and sea anemones. Most of the impersonated species are poisonous, and so pretending to be them helps the octopus ward off predators. But this shapeshifter is also able to imitate its prey, possibly in an attempt to lure them in closer before feasting on them.</p>
<h2>4. Absorbing powers</h2>
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<p>The ability to steal the superpowers of another individual is surely the ultimate power, enabling you to have any power in existence. X–Men’s Rogue has the incredible ability to absorb superpowers of anyone she touches – but so do the Pitohui birds of New Guinea (well, almost). The feathers and skin of Pitohui contain a noxious substance, making them possibly the only poisonous birds in the world and giving them defence against predators. But the birds don’t appear to be able to produce the toxic substance directly. Instead, they acquire it by <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15520388">eating <em>Choresine</em> beetles</a>.</p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/97/24/12970.full">scientists think</a> this toxicity might even rub off onto the birds’ eggs and young, making them toxic to predators as well, even though they have never eaten the <em>Choresine</em> beetles. So the infant birds are essentially absorbing the superpower from their parents in the same way that Rogue absorbs powers when she touches other people.</p>
<h2>5. Chemical weapons</h2>
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<p>One animal ability even goes beyond what has been imagined by superhero fiction. Bombardier beetles are noted for their unique defence mechanism that enables them to produce acid gas bombs to deter predators such as ants. In extreme cases they may bombard predators with a lethal dose of these chemical bombs that they kill them. <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/96/17/9705.full">The acid bombs consist</a> of two chemical compounds stored separately in the beetle’s abdomen. When threatened, the beetles combine the two compounds, resulting in the production of a boiling mixture that explodes out of the tip of the directional abdomen as a gas.</p>
<p>You’d think this remarkable “weapon” was surely the precursor for a superpower. And the superheroes Anarchist and Zeitgeist (members of X Force) both have acid generation powers. Anarchist secretes an acid–like sweat, whereas Zeitgeist spews acidic vomit. But these are hardly formidable weapons. Perhaps it is time that some superheroes caught up with the amazing set of powers that have already evolved in the animal kingdom.</p>
<p><em>This article is an adapted extract from a chapter in “<a href="http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-1-78262-487-5">The Secret Science of Superheroes</a>” published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81352/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Gentle works for Nottingham Trent University. She contributed to the Secret Science of Superheroes, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, as an author. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Lorch is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He contributed to the Secret Science of Superheroes, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, as an author and editor. He has received funding from the Royal Society of Chemistry.</span></em></p>
From shapeshifting octopi to acid-firing beetles.
Louise Gentle, Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.