Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Jennifer Patico, committee chair; Emanuela Guano, Megan Sinnott, committee members. Description based on contents viewed Sept. 10, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 141-147).

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / In November 2011 Marvel Comics introduced the re-imagined incarnation of one of their top tier superhero characters, Spider-Man. Marvel proposed the new identity of the hero as Miles Morales, a 13-year-old boy of African American descent. It represents the first significant alteration to the character in almost half a century. Further, Marvel suggested that Miles is evidence of both their commitment to diversity, transformation and the representation of a multicultural society that includes different identity propositions. This study explores the enunciation on of Miles’ identity counterpoised with that of the normative discursive enunciation of heroism in comics within the context of intersectional politics. A central focus is the manner in which Miles’ rendering can be interpreted as discursively disruptive and transformative, especially in the depiction of race and class. The study views Marvel’s representation of Miles as not only a proposition of black postcolonial heroism but also that of the scaffolding of power and knowledge. It is the contention of this study that UCSM exhibits the markings of colonial and imperial discourse pertaining to identity politics, manifesting in the discursive strategy of mimicry and the mimetics of popular culture, that reveal firmly entrenched power relations limiting Miles’ autonomy. The analysis delves into the articulation of race in the circumscription and demarcation of identity, when read comparatively with classical heroism, supporting characters and the subjectivity of Miles’ white counterparts, notably his predecessor as Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Miles is imprinted with the pattern of disenfranchisement and labours under the weight of racialised identity politics that invoke the spectre of colonialism. Through the use of critical discourse analysis, postcolonial and critical theory the study brings to light the maintenance and structure of inequality, tacit discrimination and stereotypical identity that surfaces in a 21st century popular cultural text. / XL2018

My dissertation interrogates the role played by teachers, professors, researchers, administrators, and librarians in comics activism in the years before the establishment of the Comics Code Authority. Teachers occupied a unique space: public servants in one sense, subject matter experts in another. At the same time, they were not impervious to the media’s treatment of the anti-comics crusade, nor were they immune to the sway of religion, politics, and race in the conversation. Using teachers’ professional journals and local newspapers, I find that educators existed on both sides of the debate as drivers of the action—sometimes as actors, but also as proxies and participants. In addition, as arbiters of kids’ free time, keepers of literacy, imparters of citizenship, developers of good taste, and specialists in the behavior and needs of students, teachers had a special vantage point from which to observe the effects of comics on young readers. Theirs was a valuable position, and it was coopted by any number of factions jockeying for influence. Probing the records of the comic book industry’s regulatory body, I determined that educators were targets of the industry’s campaign to legitimate the genre. My dissertation also situates universities as key sites of pro-comics activities and expands the actors in the anti-comics campaign to include independent scholars, as well as university faculty, administrators, and students. Peer-reviewed research was used by parties on both sides of the debate. Evaluating this scholarship, I conclude that unaffiliated researchers made consequential contributions to the debate, speaking directly to the public in ways that more traditional researchers could not. Finally, my project establishes the nuance in educators’ role in the anti-comics campaign and surveys the ways they were actors, subjects, and instruments in the movement. Utilizing textual analyses of key Silver Age comics, I find that the comic books created in the wake of the anti-comics crusade were direct outgrowths of the anxieties and aspirations of educators—a deliberate effort by comic book publishers to gain their endorsement.

The desire for heroes is a global and cultural phenomenon that gives a view into society’s very heart. There is no better example of this truism than that of the superhero. Typically, Superheroes, with their affiliation to values and morality, and the notion of the grand narratives, should not fit well into postmodernist theory. However, at the very core of the superhero narrative is the ideal of an individual creating his/her own form of morality, and thus dispensing justice as the individual sees fit in resistance to metanarrative’s authoritarian and restrictive paradigms. This research will explore Superhero comic books, films, videogames and the characters Superman, Spider-Man and Batman through the postmodernist conceptions of power, plurality, and morality.

A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Applied Ethics for Professionals, September 2017 / The cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad on the front cover of various issues of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, leading up to the 2015 terrorist attack have been seen by many to be harmful and offensive. This report argues that, from a liberal perspective, the cartoonists did not do anything morally wrong by publishing these cartoons. In fact, it is argued that the cartoonists were morally justified in publishing these cartoons because they were protecting the liberal value of free speech. I argue that both the act of publishing these cartoons, as well as the actual content of these cartoons were morally justifiable. Arguments against the cartoons pertaining to both harm and offence are proven to be unsound. Furthermore, when balancing the seriousness of the offence with the reasonableness of the cartoons, it becomes clear that the offence is not as serious as some may think. / XL2018

Thesis (M.A. (English))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2016. / This dissertation examines how particular combinations of image and text in sequential art reflect specific social, historical and political contexts. The analysis of how meaning is constructed is done through consideration of three iterations of the Batman superhero character, and argues for an eventual postmodernisation of the character. The first case study presented is the original version of Batman as it debuted in 1939, which naturally established much of the substance from which later depictions would take their cues. The second case study used is the “camp” 1960s TV series starring Adam West, which was influenced by the highly restricted Batman comics under the Comics Code Authority established in 1954. The main case study, and the central focus of this dissertation, is Batman – Arkham Asylum (1989), a graphic novel by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean, the latest of the three iterations, which represents the eventual disruption of the enforced or constructed harmony evident in the earlier versions of the character into a fracturing and fragmentation both of the world and the self. It is a version of Batman that privileges the interiority and psychological complexity of the character, representing a culmination of the 1980s shift toward a more mature audience with its incorporation of horror, violence and mental turmoil. These three examples are compared and contrasted, showing how each constructs a particular meaning using its own unique combination of image and text. Having established a historicity for the character and having constructed an argument for how Batman as a cultural icon echoes shifts in society, the focus of the dissertation is transferred to a deeper analysis of Arkham and attempts to trace more explicitly its status as a postmodern text by examining its fragmentary nature, its use of intertextuality and how meaning in Arkham is constructed in the mind. Following this, an exploration of the central theme of madness in the graphic novel is provided in order to show how the work both critiques the representation of madness in fiction as well as how the liminal setting of the asylum functions as part of the postmodernisation of Batman by creating a “landscape of madness” where irrationality and the uncanny dominate reality, in contrast to the logical, “left-brain” treatment of Batman which had become common prior to Arkham Asylum. The analysis of the three iterations is shaped by WTJ Mitchell’s theories on imagetext relationships and additionally by the principles of sequential art outlined by Scott McCloud. The postmodern theoretical framework is informed by John Docker’s explorations of fragmentation, intertextuality, inversion and the Carnivalesque. Additionally, the writings of Lillian Feder and Michel Foucault will inform the discussion of madness in Arkham. / GR2017

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf main screen (viewed on April 8, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

by Cheung Hiu Wan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [135-140]). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgement / Abstract / List of figures / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Scope of Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Methodology --- p.13 / Chapter 1.4 --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Historical Development of Comics in China / Chapter 2.1 --- Comics History before1949 --- p.24 / Chapter 2 . 2 --- Comics under the Reign of Chinese Communist Party --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3 --- Beijing Cartoon after the Open Door Policy --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 3 . --- Interaction with the Leaders of Beijing Publishing House / Chapter 3.1 --- Leaders´ةExpectation for Beijing Cartoon --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Discrepancy between the Senior and Junior Editors --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3 --- Editors' Comments on Interaction with the Leaders of the Beijing Publishing House --- p.54 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Interaction with the Senior Artists / Chapter 4.1 --- Cartoon Art Festival98 --- p.57 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Invasion of Japanese Comics --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- The Essence of Comics with Chinese Features --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4 --- The Expected Role of the Chinese Government --- p.67 / Chapter 4.5 --- The Editors´ة Comments on Cartoon Art Festival98 --- p.68 / Chapter 4 . --- 6 Concluding Remarks --- p.70 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Interaction with the Junior Artists / Chapter 5.1 --- Social Status of the Junior Artists --- p.12 / Chapter 5.2 --- Cooperation with Beijing Cartoon --- p.11 / Chapter 5.3 --- Why do they Join the Comics Business --- p.79 / Chapter 5.4 --- Agreement and Terms of Payment --- p.87 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summer Camping: Market Mechanism and Autonomy in Artists' Creation --- p.88 / Chapter 5.6 --- The Editors' Expectation on the Roles of The Artists --- p.96 / Chapter 5.7 --- Artists' Comments on the Educational Aspect of Comics --- p.98 / Chapter 5.8 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.102 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- The Interaction with the Readers and Elders / Chapter 6.1 --- Whom were and Whom are the Comics for? --- p.104 / Chapter 6.2 --- Parents and Teachers: Comics for Education --- p.105 / Chapter 6.3 --- Parents and Teachers: Sex and Violence in Japanese Comics --- p.107 / Chapter 6.4 --- More than Sex and Violence in Japanese Comics --- p.110 / Chapter 6.5 --- Nippon´ؤcentric and Militarism of Japanese Comics --- p.115 / Chapter 6.6 --- Better Academic Performances and More Choices --- p.115 / Chapter 6.7 --- The Popularity of Comics among the Teenagers --- p.118 / Chapter 6.8 --- Feedback from the Comics Readers --- p.121 / Chapter 6.9 --- The Conflicts: More Education or More Entertainment --- p.122 / Chapter 6.10 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.12 5 / Chapter Chapter 7. --- Conclusion --- p.127 / Appendix / References

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