Comic Book Realism: Sincerity, Ethics, and the Superhero in Contemporary American Literature reads a trio of recent American novels in the context of superhero comics, the influence of which looms large over these texts but has for one reason or another been largely neglected by critics. Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude, and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao feature protagonists whose immersion in their comic book collections translates into their lives by allowing them to comprehend and interact with the world in the language of the superhero metaphor. I argue that these texts should be studied because of, and not despite, their affiliation with superhero comics, against what seems to be a latent critical bias which has led many to overlook or disregard the superheroic elements of these texts. Understanding how Chabon, Lethem, and Díaz engage with the superhero genre is essential to understanding their engagement with issues of identity, ethical responsibility, and masculinity. Daniel Bautista has read Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as a work not of magical realism but of something new, “comic book realism,” which blends a realist approach to literature with popular culture citations in order to represent with accuracy the myriad cultural influences coming to bear on his characters’ lives. I suggest that Bautista’s label should be extended to Chabon, Lethem, and a variety of other authors who are engaging with the genre as Díaz does; in so doing, I connect a variety of novels which have either seldom been studied before or have never been studied in connection with each other. I begin by examining comic book realism’s affinity with emerging theories about the literary movement following postmodernism, which some have dubbed “post-postmodernism.” I argue that comic book realism’s approach to questions of identity, as informed by the dynamic between superhero and alter ego, aligns with Adam Kelly’s sense of a post-postmodern New Sincerity, which rejects any ironic valence between identity and mass culture; consequently, the novels of comic book realism unironically engage with superhero comics as tools for identity formation. I then turn to Levinasian ethics in order to address the charge that superhero comics are solely escapist; instead, I argue that escapism in these novels necessitates an act of memory, an ethical awareness of the absence from which these characters are attempting to escape. These texts, then, are not unethical in their attempts to escape historical atrocities like the Holocaust. Rather, they constitute an ethical act of remembrance in foregrounding this absence. In my penultimate chapter, I take up the question of masculinity, so central to the gendered space of superhero comics, arguing that the novels of comic book realism reject the hypermasculine standard of the superhero in favor of what I call an ideal of “mild-mannered masculinity,” after the superhero’s alter ego. Compared to the virile and confident Superman identity, Clark Kent represents a model of masculinity that is weak and timid, a model valorized by Chabon, Lethem, and Díaz. In my final chapter, I take stock of the contributions of women writers to the genre of comic book realism, whose work is overlooked by the presupposition that superhero comics are a boy’s domain. Here I find that the women writers evince a need to create their own space in the superhero genre, while I suggest that recent trends in the genre suggest that the next generation of women writers may engage with the genre in a different, somewhat unpredictable way.

This study examined the role and characterization of the Indian depicted in the western comic book using the research method, content analysis. The sample of 44 comic books contained two Indian characters, one with a major speaking part. <p> The guidelines of Berelson (1952) were used to develop the categories utilized and the procedures and categories applied by Agogino (1950), Katz and Braly (1933), and Spiegleman, et al. (1953) were modified to suit the purposes of this study. The pictorial and verbal data stated as the greatest percentage of attributable characteristics, were analyzed by the application of 141 items. Validation preceded the study; the percentage coder and intercoder agreement was 75% to 100%.<p> The Indian; clad in loincloth, leggings, and moccasins, subsisting in a raiding and hunting economy was depicted as cowardly and having an evil character. He was grim expressioned, treacherous, sneaky, cruel, dependent and untrustworthy. His stature was medium as was his physique; his skin was pink, bordering on red. His hair was shoulder length, adorned with a few feathers or full headdress. Wrist and arm bands, necklaces, and war paint were worn. Bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, and guns were evident. The Indian occupied a tipi and was transported by horse. He most often instigated acts of violence, primarily shooting and beating. In a historical time set in a domestic locality he was rarely the main character and hero but largely the submajor character and villain. Vengeance, hatred and revenge, and solution to immediate problems were the Indians' dominant goal orientation; his methods of attainment were physical violence or threats of physical violence and dependence, 'deceit, cunning and trickery. Barriers to his achievement were interpersonal violence or personal industry on the part of others. "Injun," "redskin," "squaw," "savage," and "warrior" denoted the Indian. The comic books analyzed depicted the Indian in a negative role perpetuating common stereotypes and generalizations.

This study examined the role and characterization of the Indian depicted in the western comic book using the research method, content analysis. The sample of 44 comic books contained two Indian characters, one with a major speaking part. <p> The guidelines of Berelson (1952) were used to develop the categories utilized and the procedures and categories applied by Agogino (1950), Katz and Braly (1933), and Spiegleman, et al. (1953) were modified to suit the purposes of this study. The pictorial and verbal data stated as the greatest percentage of attributable characteristics, were analyzed by the application of 141 items. Validation preceded the study; the percentage coder and intercoder agreement was 75% to 100%.<p> The Indian; clad in loincloth, leggings, and moccasins, subsisting in a raiding and hunting economy was depicted as cowardly and having an evil character. He was grim expressioned, treacherous, sneaky, cruel, dependent and untrustworthy. His stature was medium as was his physique; his skin was pink, bordering on red. His hair was shoulder length, adorned with a few feathers or full headdress. Wrist and arm bands, necklaces, and war paint were worn. Bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, and guns were evident. The Indian occupied a tipi and was transported by horse. He most often instigated acts of violence, primarily shooting and beating. In a historical time set in a domestic locality he was rarely the main character and hero but largely the submajor character and villain. Vengeance, hatred and revenge, and solution to immediate problems were the Indians' dominant goal orientation; his methods of attainment were physical violence or threats of physical violence and dependence, 'deceit, cunning and trickery. Barriers to his achievement were interpersonal violence or personal industry on the part of others. "Injun," "redskin," "squaw," "savage," and "warrior" denoted the Indian. The comic books analyzed depicted the Indian in a negative role perpetuating common stereotypes and generalizations.

This thesis examines the popularity of comic magazines among Japanese adult readers--primarily it looks at the male audience, but it also considers female response. It analyses texts of specific men's comics to illustrate the discourse of "masculinity-through-occupation" which these magazines offer to readers. In addition it explores the phenomenon of "readership response" by examining a selection of "reader letters." The role-adaptation-through-enjoyment possibilities these comic magazines provide to male readers is compared to parallel possibilities for female readers by examining both women's responses to male comics, and the nature of narrative in women's comics.

This study examined the role and characterization of the Indian depicted in the western comic book using the research method, content analysis. The sample of 44 comic books contained two Indian characters, one with a major speaking part. The guidelines of Berelson (1952) were used to develop the categories utilized and the procedures and categories applied by Agogino (1950), Katz and Braly (1933), and Spiegleman, et al. (1953) were modified to suit the purposes of this study. The pictorial and verbal data stated as the greatest percentage of attributable characteristics, were analyzed by the application of 141 items. Validation preceded the study; the percentage coder and intercoder agreement was 75% to 100%. The Indian; clad in loincloth, leggings, and moccasins, subsisting in a raiding and hunting economy was depicted as cowardly and having an evil character. He was grim expressioned, treacherous, sneaky, cruel, dependent and untrustworthy. His stature was medium as was his physique; his skin was pink, bordering on red. His hair was shoulder length, adorned with a few feathers or full headdress. Wrist and arm bands, necklaces, and war paint were worn. Bows and arrows, tomahawks, knives, and guns were evident. The Indian occupied a tipi and was transported by horse. He most often instigated acts of violence, primarily shooting and beating. In a historical time set in a domestic locality he was rarely the main character and hero but largely the submajor character and villain. Vengeance, hatred and revenge, and solution to immediate problems were the Indians' dominant goal orientation; his methods of attainment were physical violence or threats of physical violence and dependence, 'deceit, cunning and trickery. Barriers to his achievement were interpersonal violence or personal industry on the part of others. "Injun," "redskin," "squaw," "savage," and "warrior" denoted the Indian. The comic books analyzed depicted the Indian in a negative role perpetuating common stereotypes and generalizations.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diplomarbeit

Thèse complémentaire--Université de Paris. / "Bibliographie": p. 169-170.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 506-529).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska, 1931. / Bibliography: p. 88-90.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Univ., Diplomarbeit