This project develops extant theories of political affect and relational identification and affinity formation by tracing how the visual images of an understudied archive--American superhero comic books--work to build multiple, alternative, fitful, inchoate, and sometimes radically creative spaces for visions of the political to take shape and develop over time. By analyzing and interpreting the generic superhero phenomenon of origin stories in comic books and by mapping the formal and narrative techniques used to construct origin stories, I show how received understandings of power, order, justice, violence, whiteness, masculinity, and heteronormativity often linger outside of language in an analytically untapped relational space between bodies--the space of political affect. Visual images of superheroes thus do more than take up space within political sign-systems; I argue them as material engines of affect, as engines of potential and usefully critical political identities and affinities. Superhero comic books, a cultural form often disregarded as childish or even ideologically dangerous, are thus recovered in this project as theoretically complex, offering speculative feminisms, anti-racism, and queer temporalities that link these popular objects of visual culture to ongoing traditions of utopianism and foundational revisionism within American political culture.

Few superhero scholars, if any, are discussing physical age or definitions of maturity. It seems Hollywood and consumers are reluctant to associate "adult" content with anything other than pornography, immature language, and excessive violence—a reluctance that should be explored by scholars and critics alike. Most superhero characters only reflect the insecurities of audiences who are currently undergoing the transition between adolescence and young adulthood. There are very few older, middle-aged, or retired superheroes depicted juggling the demands of a family along with their daring rescues. It is possible that superhero films could continue to enjoy longer, lasting success if they include more than the previously targeted immature audience. Live-action superhero films can target all ages more efficiently by avoiding the static "mature" audience narratives and presenting relatable and realistic adulthood with novelistic maturity along with adolescence and childhood.

Comics and graphic texts require complex engagement from readers, engagement that relies on a developed understanding of text and image, and how they interact to create meaning. There are several theories about how readers engage with comics, many from comic creators themselves, and some from scholars in literature and composition. This project introduces an approach to comics utilizing visual rhetoric, which reconsiders the stricter text/image dynamics often conceptualized in Comics Studies, includes the reader as creator, and explores comics as collaboratively created texts. This approach is applied to Superman: Red Son, a popular text that focuses in on Superman, and Cold War politics, producing a critical conversation about American and Russian relations and their influences in a global context. This project has several goals: to legitimize the superhero comic as a place of important cultural power, to show the collaborative nature of comics, placing writers and artists in equal standing to the work they produce, and to introduce the reader as creator.

At this exact moment, graphic novels are enjoying a heyday of popularity, profusion and attention. As the graphic novel medium matures and detaches itself from the “non-serious” reputation of comics, it is becoming clear that graphic novels are a powerful and effective art form, using the both verbal and the visual to relay their narratives. Portrait, the short graphic novel that is my senior art project, is intended to emphasize the artist’s book character of the graphic novel, and serve as an example of how a graphic novel’s artist’s book characteristics allow communication of the artist’s message effectively.

This study examines how the American comic book industry’s output is addressing the issue of Islam and in which manner the portrayal of Islam in the great American comic book universes have changed since 2001. The comic books are examined from the postcolonial perspective as formulated by Chandra Mohanty and the power and resistance-perspective as formulated by Michel Foucault. Examination of the comic books reveals far greater focus on universal values, orthopraxy and inclusive perspectives than it does on dogmatic teachings, orthodoxy and sectarianism while at the same time partly relying on generalizations and archetypes concerning Islam. To change the power balance requires what I call intervention from the objective, that is to say that ambiguity regarding Muslim characters has to be eliminated by the narrative. This reveals the prominence of the so-called white assistance fantasy in superhero fiction. / Den här studien granskar hur den amerikanska serieindustrins produktion bemöter ämnet islam och hur porträtteringen av islam i de stora amerikanska serieuniversumen förändrats sedan år 2001. Serietidningarna granskas genom det postkoloniala perspektivet formulerat av Chandra Mohanty och makt- och motståndsperspektivet av Michel Foucault. Granskning av serierna avslöjar långt större fokus på universella värden, ortopraxi och inkluderande perspektiv än dogmatiska läror, ortodoxi och sekterism samtidigt som man delvis förlitar sig på generaliseringar och arketyper rörande islam. För att ändra på maktbalansen behövs det ofta vad jag kallar intervention från det objektiva, det vill säga att tvetydighet om muslimska protagonister måste raderas av narrativet. Detta avslöjar den framträdande företeelsen av så kallade vit assistans-fantasier inom superhjältefiktion.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 103 p. : col. ill. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Youngstown State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-65). Also available via the World Wide Web in PDF format.

Orientador: Maria Celeste Tommasello Ramos / Resumo: Esta dissertação de mestrado investiga trechos de duas fases da revista Mulher-Maravilha roteirizadas por George Pérez (1987-1992) e Greg Rucka (2016-2017). O eixo teórico utilizado é o do maravilhoso como gênero narrativo identificado por Marinho. A autora estabelece alguns critérios de inserção de narrativas nesse grupo, sendo um deles o da intertextualidade com outras narrativas maravilhosas. Acreditando que esse seja o principal modo pelo qual Mulher-Maravilha se enquadra nesse gênero, utilizamos os pressupostos Samoyault para explorar a relação da revista com alguns mitos e contos de fadas. Também é feita uma categorização de um dos volumes analisados segundo as funções do conto maravilhoso de Vladimir Propp, outro critério estabelecido por Marinho. As análises são acompanhadas de ponderações a respeito do modo como as esferas mítica e maravilhosa interagem com a super-heroica, bem como uma reflexão que mostra os motivos pelos quais a superaventura em quadrinhos propicia o uso da intertextualidade. A conclusão mostra que a intertextualidade com o maravilhoso é ampla em Mulher-Maravilha, e sempre está atrelada à revisão dos valores presentes nos mitos e contos. Alinha-se, portanto, à tendência presente desde sua criação de usar histórias canônicas de forma revisionista, questionando-as, reinterpretando-as e atualizando seus valores para os novos tempos. / Abstract: This master thesis investigates excerpts of two runs of the Wonder Woman comic book: those written by George Pérez (1987-1992) and Greg Rucka (2016-2017). The theoretical guideline is Marinho’s view of the marvelous as a narrative genre. The author establishes a few criteria for classifying narratives as part of this group, one of them being the intertextuality with other marvelous narratives. This work uses Samoyault’s studies regarding intertextuality to explore how the comic book relates to both myths and fairy tales, as this seems to be the main mode of operation of the marvelous genre in Wonder Woman. One of the volumes of stories is also examined through Propp’s functions of the wonder tale since this method is another of Marinho’s parameters. The analyses are accompanied by discussions on how the mythic and marvelous spheres interact with the superhero one, as well as a reflection about why superhero comics encourage their study through the means of intertextuality. The conclusion shows that the dialogue with marvelous stories is broad in Wonder Woman and that it is always tied to the revision of their values. Therefore, the comic is aligned to a typical tendency of the character since her creation: using canonical stories in a revisionist fashion, questioning and reinterpreting them in a way that updates their values to the new times. / Mestre

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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