O presente trabalho analisa a formação de identidades culturais a partir da tradução das histórias em quadrinhos. Investigamos como se dá o processo de conhecimento do outro, ou seja, do estrangeiro, no original e na tradução, a partir da relação entre a imagem e o texto presentes na série de quadrinhos francesa Le photographe. A obra, que mescla texto, desenhos e fotografias, foi composta por três autores, a saber: Emmanuel Guibert, quadrinista responsável pelos desenhos, Didier Lefèvre, fotojornalista autor das fotografias, e Frédéric Lemercier, editor encarregado da diagramação das páginas. Dividida em três volumes, a série resulta do trabalho desenvolvido por Lefèvre junto à organização Médicos Sem Fronteiras, que o contratara para cobrir uma missão da instituição no Afeganistão em 1987, durante a guerra desse país contra a U.R.S.S. Publicados na França entre 2003 e 2006 e no Brasil de 2006 a 2010, respectivamente, Le photographe e O fotógrafo constituem um rico material para análise graças à simultaneidade de discursos: o documental e o quadrinístico, tendo em vista a representação da cultura do outro, isto é, do povo afegão, em dois contextos socioculturais distintos: o francês, no original, e o brasileiro, na tradução. Apresentamos algumas características acerca da composição da obra, em que o uso das fotografias em conjunção com os desenhos revela o desenvolvimento de um estilo inovador no contexto da linguagem dos quadrinhos. Isso fica evidente quando analisamos os trabalhos de teóricos que já investigaram a constituição da narrativa quadrinística, como os de Eco ([1965]2008) e McCloud (2005), trabalhos nos quais se destaca a questão da relação de continuidade entre os quadros e as páginas. Nosso trabalho, contudo, expande essas reflexões e propõe uma nova perspectiva de análise da enunciação das histórias em quadrinhos, pois observamos a constituição de uma unidade entre os signos no nível da leitura, que chamamos de unidade plurissemiótica, elemento que influencia o processo de tradução dessa forma de linguagem. Como a representação da cultura do outro se configura a partir da relação de complementaridade entre fotografia, desenho e texto, a análise da tradução dessa obra põe em relevo questões como a alteridade, a identidade, o contraste e a semelhança entre as três culturas envolvidas na criação e leitura da obra: a francesa, a afegã e a brasileira. Nesse sentido, exploramos as contribuições de diversos estudiosos que se dedicaram à investigação da representação cultural na tradução, dentre eles Venuti (1998) e Aubert (2006), para chegarmos à concepção das noções de marcador cultural verbal, icônico e verbo-icônico, tendo em vista a especificidade do processo de tradução dos quadrinhos. As análises realizadas partem da relação de complementaridade entre os códigos verbal e imagético e de como essa relação entre os signos constrói um conhecimento sobre o outro no original, que se transforma na tradução; dessa forma, o desenvolvimento de conceitos específicos relacionados a esse tipo específico de tradução, como a unidade plurissemiótica e os marcadores culturais verbais, icônicos e verboicônicos, coloca em relevo a sua singularidade. / This work analyzes the formation of cultural identities in the translation of comic books. We investigate how the process of knowledge of the other, that is, the foreigner, in the original and in the translation, is created from the relationship between image and text present in the French comic book Le photographe. This graphic novel, which combines text, drawings and photographs, was composed by three authors: Emmanuel Guibert, cartoonist, Didier Lefèvre, photojournalist, and Frédéric Lemercier, editor in charge of the pages layout. Divided into three volumes, the series is a result of the work developed by Lefèvre with the organization Médecins Sans Frontières, that had hired him to cover a mission of the institution in Afghanistan in 1987, during that country\'s war against U.R.S.S. First published in France between 2003 and 2006 and in Brazil from 2006 to 2010 respectively, Le photographe and O fotógrafo constitute a rich material for analysis thanks to the simultaneity of discourses: the documentary and the comics, in view of the representation of the culture of the other, that is, of the Afghan people, in two distinct sociocultural contexts: the French, in the original, and the Brazilian, in the translation. We present some characteristics about the composition of the work, in which the use of photographs in conjunction with drawings reveals the development of an innovative style in the context of comics language. This is evident when we analyze the contributions of theorists who have already investigated the constitution of the comic book narrative, such as those of Eco ([1965] 2008) and McCloud (2005), in which the question of continuity between panels and pages is emphasized. Our work, however, expands these reflections and proposes a new perspective of analysis of comic books enunciation, since we observe the constitution of a unity between the signs at the reading level, which we call plurissemiotic unity, element that influences the translation process this media. Since the representation of the culture of the other is based on the complementary relationship between photography, drawing and text, the analysis of Le photographe translation highlights issues such as alterity, identity, contrast and similarity between the three cultures involved in creation and reading of the graphic novel: the French, the Afghan and the Brazilian. In this sense, we explore the contributions of several scholars dedicated to the research of cultural representation in translation, among them Venuti (1998) and Aubert (2006), to develop the notions of verbal, iconic and verbal-iconic cultural markers, in view of the specificity of comic books translation process. The cases analysed are based on the relationship between the verbal and imagetic codes and on how this relationship between these signs constructs a knowledge about the other in the original, which is transformed in the translation; in this way, the development of specific concepts related to this specific type of translation, such as the plurissemiotic unity and the verbal, iconic and verbal-iconic cultural markers, highlights its uniqueness.

O objetivo deste trabalho é fazer uma aproximação teórico-prática entre tiras cômicas e piadas. Defende-se a idéia de que ambas compartilham estratégias textuais semelhantes para provocar efeito de humor. A pesquisa revela também que há características comuns na composição dos dois gêneros. Pelo caráter interdisciplinar dos objetos de estudo - que envolvem elementos verbais orais, verbais escritos e visuais -, fezse necessária a utilização de diferentes campos teóricos. Da Lingüística, utilizamos os elementos ligados às Teorias do Texto, que trabalham o processo de formação do sentido dentro de um ponto de vista sociocognitivo interacional e que permitem um diálogo com outros campos científicos afins, como a Análise da Conversação, o estudo dos gêneros, as teorias da narrativa e os estudos sobre imagens. Das diferentes teorias do humor, extraemse os elementos constituintes do texto humorístico, em especial o princípio da incongruência, que quebra a expectativa do leitor/ouvinte, gerando humor. As idéias lingüístico-humorísticas são debatidas nos capítulos da Parte I. A parte seguinte é dedicada a uma releitura de teorias da área da Comunicação que trabalham diferentes pesquisas sobre histórias em quadrinhos, que abarcam as tiras cômicas. Com base em conceitos claros do que sejam piada e tira cômica, bem como quais são as estratégias utilizadas pelos dois gêneros, parte-se para a aplicação dos conceitos em um corpus de 40 tiras, análise que compõe a terceira parte do estudo. / The aim of this thesis es to study theorical and practical similarities between comic strips and jokes. The idea is to defend that both of them share similar text strategies to provoke humor effect. The research reveals that there are common characteristics in both genres composition. By the interdisciplinal character of the objects of study - which involve oral, written and visual verbal elements, - it was necessary to make use of different theorical areas. From Linguistic, we took elements related to the Text Theories, which deal with the sense formation process inside of na interational social-cognitive viewpoint and allow a dialog with other kindred scientific areas, such as the Conversation Analysis, the study of genres, narrative theories and studies abaout images. From the different humor theories, it was extracted components of humoristic text, specially the incongruence principle, which breaks the reader/listener expectance, making humor. The linguistichumoristic ideas are debated in the chapters of Part I. The following part isso dedicated to reading of the Communication area theories which deal with different researches about comics, including the comic strips. Based on a clear concepts of what are jokes and comic strips, as well as what are strategies used by both genres, we went for concepts application in a corpus of 40 strips, being this analysis the third part of the study.

The Ph.D. focuses on the recent conflict in Sri Lanka that ended on 19 May 2009 with the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), otherwise known as the Tamil Tigers, and the death and disappearance of between an estimated figure of 75,000 and 146,679 Tamil civilians and LTTE combatants from that year. The research is based on narratives from oral histories taken largely from survivors of the civil war in order to produce a graphic novel to convey the story of a family whose experiences are paralleled among many other people from the Vanni in north-eastern Sri Lanka. Multiple methodologies were deployed from working closely with an illustrator, Lindsay Pollock, to focus groups and semi-structured and structured interviews listening to survivors' testimonies and experiences based in Chennai, London and Zurich with those people who are currently going through, or have recently gone through, the asylum process. The thesis and in particular the graphic novel can contribute to the formation of a compelling and engaging 'human rights culture' (Galchinsky 2012) both in terms of representing the bloody conflict in Sri Lanka, and the ordeals and dilemmas faced by displaced persons in other countries in its aftermath. As opposed to human rights law which is based on a vertical axis, Galchinsky states that human rights culture is based on a horizontal appeal to a shared humanity. While universalist understandings of human rights and the holistic conception of culture implied in his proposal are questionable, the horizontal axis of enquiry and representation informs this research - ranging from the fieldwork period that led to the collation of testimonies to the production of the graphic novel, to its sharing with research contributors for their opinions and formative feedback, and to its wider dissemination. The accompanying graphic novel is hybrid in terms of the combination of text with illustrations and photographs, and with regards to a fusion between the 'fictional' with 'factual' - both deemed here as conventions of representing and engaging with real-life events. Even though the nuance of multiple perspectives offered by research interlocutors may be simplified in the narrative of the graphic novel, there are clear theoretical and methodological advantages that, to date, have not been considered in the Sri Lankan context for this kind of literature. These include the ability to retain the anonymity of interlocutors while highlighting the compelling recollections of their experiences, the potential to foster a 'sympathetic imagination' across social and other demarcations that can constitute the creation of meanings that offer a particular way of seeing, feeling and thinking about one's relationship with oneself, others, and with society in general (Salgado 2007), and the possibilities for a collaborative approach with interlocutors. The written thesis provides the contextual and ethnographic foundations for the graphic novel that also elaborates upon the self-reflexive and participatory methodologies and ethical concerns of creating the novel itself. The graphic novel enables a wider career in terms of its readership amongst research contributors as well as others, and its role in promoting educational awareness and humanitarian advocacy on the recent conflict.

The 21st century has seen an unprecedented rise in the volume of comics and graphic novels being produced and consumed and in scholarly interest in the form, with the interdisciplinary field of Comics Studies rising to become a vibrant global community with a significant body of work and an established academic infrastructure. Alternative comics and graphic novels - those outside of the superhero genre-dominated corporate publishing structures of Marvel and DC - have driven this rise and the ensuing legitimation of the form. What defines the specific nature of alternative comics and what they are is the particular work and labour of alternative cartoonists. This work is, in turn, characterized and defined by specific tensions between auteurism (driven by neoliberalism and late capitalism's veneration of the individual and the entrepreneur) and collective production (driven by the sociological perspective of works of art always being the product of many hands). This thesis is an attempt to present specific examples of where these tensions are exhibited and, as a result, to offer new accounts of the specific nature of comics work. It is also an attempt to move away from the formalism that has dominated the field of comics studies and to move towards an understanding of comics as cultural work, informed by an understanding of comics through their creators and an approach that allows comics practice to inform comics theory. Each chapter of this thesis examines a specific aspect of the culture of working in contemporary comics, contextualised within neoliberal political economy and consistently bridging the gap between auteurism and collective production. These include the portrayal of art school and comics' engagement with institutions; the direct portrayal of work itself in alternative comics; the use of colour in comics, which here facilitates a reading of the effects of the technical conditions of production on the content and construction of comics; and finally, the effects of digital culture and new disruptive technologies on the production, distribution and consumption of comics, and how this contributes to a present and future understanding of the figure of the auteur cartoonist. Drawing these chapters together, the thesis concludes with a presentation of the auteur cartoonist as one who drives the contemporary culture of comics and graphic novels in the emerging dialectic of comics work. Comics work is thus situated as a political act and a site of resistance and rebellion through collective production.

Orientador: Tania Regina De Luca / Banca: Antonio Celso Ferreira / Banca: Ângela de Castro Gomes / Resumo: O objetivo da presente dissertação é realizar uma leitura crítica e sistematizada da revista em quadrinhos intitulada Chico Bento - nome da personagem criada por Maurício de Sousa - entre os anos de 1982 e 2000, a fim de analisar as representações elaboradas acerca do campo e da cidade e de seus habitantes. Do mesmo modo, pretende-se investigar de que maneira tais imagens dialogam com outras representações já cristalizadas acerca desses espaços. / Abstract: The objective of the present dissertation is to make a critical and systematized reading of the comic strips entitled Chico Bento - name of the character created by Maurício de Sousa - from 1982 to 2000, in order to analyze the representations elaborated concerning the rural and urban spaces and of their inhabitants. In this way, it intends to investigate that it sorts out such images dialogue with other representations crystallized of those spaces. / Mestre

As Histórias em Quadrinhos (HQ) vêm, há mais de um século, divertindo, informando e educando seus leitores. Seu código de formatação próprio e linguagem universal têm influenciado a formação cultural de várias gerações. Dado esse potencial, o presente trabalho enfoca a utilização das Histórias em Quadrinhos como instrumento para o ensino de física. Com essa perspectiva, apresenta-se nessa investigação uma proposta de utilização das HQ em sala de aula e analisa-se os resultados de sua implementação para o ensino do princípio da inércia. Embasados em um referencial construtivista de ensino, e partindo da hipótese de que a História em Quadrinhos apresenta uma série de características lúdicas e psico-lingüísticas apropriadas ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem, elaboramos uma HQ que buscasse instigar o aluno na busca da resolução de um problema envolvendo a 1a lei de Newton, procurando interpretar a influência desta proposta à luz da Teoria de Mudança Conceitual. Os dados do estudo, obtidos através de questionários, entrevistas, observações de aulas e documentos com cerca de 50 alunos de duas classes da oitava série do ensino fundamental, evidenciam resultados e indícios favoráveis quanto à aprendizagem do referido conceito científico, envolvimento e possibilidades de criatividade por parte dos alunos que utilizaram a História em Quadrinhos no ambiente escolar e à apropriação da proposta por parte da professora que aplicou o projeto em sala de aula. / The Comics Books, for more than one century, have been being entertaining, informing and teaching their readers. Their own formatation code and universal language have been influencing severals generations cultural formation. According to this potential, the present work emphasis the Comics Books usage as Physics teaching instrument. From this point of view, we are showing in this investigation an usage proposal of Comics Books during the classes, and we are, preliminary, analyzing the results of its implementation to the inertia principle teaching. Utilizing a construtivist theory of teaching, and supposing that Comic´s Books have several playing and psico-linguistics characteristics that can be used in the process of teaching and learning, we make a Comic Book that would instigate the student to solve a problem that involved the 1st Newton´s law, interpreting the influency of this proposition through the Conceptual Change´s Theory. The studying data, obtained through questionnaires, interviews, classes observations and documents with 50 students, approximately, of two classes from the last year of the elementary school, show us very favorable results and evidences in relation with the learning of scientific concept, involving e criative possibilites by the students that utilize the comics books in their school enviroment, and the proposal appropriation by the teacher who applies the project in the classes.

Ao longo de nossa trajetória como professora de língua espanhola, deparamo-nos com diversas dificuldades, entre elas a escolha de materiais didáticos adequados ao nosso público e contexto de ensino. Nesse sentido, uma de nossas maiores preocupações é a relação entre língua e cultura, visto que, muitas vezes, nesses materiais, elas se encontram dissociadas. Como os indivíduos se comunicam por meio dos gêneros discursivos e, assim, estabelecem uma interconexão da linguagem com a vida social (FIORIN, 2006, p. 61), entendemos que essas formas ou tipos de enunciados relativamente estáveis (BAKHTIN, 2003) são importantes para conhecer o contexto sociocultural da língua meta. Uma das formas por meio das quais os sujeitos estabelecem relações e expressam crenças e opiniões é a tira cômica, objeto de nosso estudo, pois, se por um lado ela aparenta simplicidade pela proximidade com a oralidade e pelo uso de imagens que facilitam o entendimento, por outro, ressalta a sua dificuldade pela interpretação da intersecção do verbal e do visual e que implicam, normalmente, a recorrência a referências como o contexto de produção e o conhecimento dos elementos que integram a linguagem dos quadrinhos, os quais podem compor-se não somente por uma sequência predominantemente narrativa, mas também pela conversacional-dialogal ou pela argumentativa (SILVEIRA, 2003). Dada a potencialidade que o estudo com esse gênero tem para estimular a reflexão crítica do alunado, pautada pelos multiletramentos, analisamos a presença de aspectos culturais nas propostas que fazem uso das tiras cômicas em dois livros didáticos de espanhol selecionados pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Didático de 2012 e 2015, a saber, Síntesis: curso de lengua española (MARTIN, 2011, 2011a, 2011b) e Cercanía Joven (COIMBRA; CHAVES; BARCIA, 2013, 2013a, 2013b). Para fundamentar este trabalho, estudamos o termo cultura (THOMPSON, 1995; CUCHE, 1999; EAGLETON, 2005; BOAS, 2010) a fim de evidenciar como esse conceito está presente no ensino e aprendizagem de línguas. Em seguida, aprofundamo-nos na concepção, características e papel das tiras cômicas (EGUTI, 2001; SILVA JUNIOR, 2004; RAMOS, 2007, 2011; CAGNIN, 2014) com o intuito de situá-las no contexto educacional e compreendê-las melhor para afastá-las de terminologias equivocadas. Nossa pesquisa, de cunho exploratório e bibliográfico, abarcou tanto dados quantitativos, coletados nos LD e organizados em gráficos e quadros, quanto qualitativos, os quais, com base na Análise de Conteúdo (FRANCO, 2012), possibilitaram a inferência de crenças, valores e ideologias dos autores das obras didáticas selecionadas. Concluímos que a maioria das atividades incluídas nos manuais se pauta em atividades de compreensão, que, em geral, buscam a exploração de informações explícitas dos textos e cujo principal objetivo é a ilustração de um item gramatical. Isso posto, confiamos que as discussões apresentadas servirão para estimular a reflexão crítica de autores e editores de livros didáticos, com vistas à exploração da potencialidade da tira cômica, principalmente no que concerne ao aspecto cultural, e também de professores e alunos para que ambos possam desenvolver maior criticidade em relação ao seu objeto de estudo. / Throughout our history as a Spanish language teacher, we are faced with several difficulties, among them the choice of teaching materials appropriate to our public and teaching context. In this sense, one of our major concerns is the relationship between language and culture, since in these materials they are often dissociated. As individuals communicate through discursive genres and thus establish an \"interconnection of language with social life\" (FIORIN, 2006, 61), we understand that these relatively stable forms or types of utterances (BAKHTIN, 2003) are important to know the socio-cultural context of the target language. One of the ways in which subjects establish relationships and express beliefs and opinions is the comic strip, object of our study, because, on the one hand, it seems simple by its proximity to orality and by the use of images that facilitate the understanding; on the other , emphasizes its difficulty in interpreting the intersection of verbal and visual and which usually imply the recurrence to references such as the context of production and knowledge of the elements that integrate the language of comics, which may be composed not only of a predominantly narrative sequence, but also by conversational-dialogal or argumentative sequence (SILVEIRA, 2003). Given the potential that the study with this genre has to stimulate the critical reflection of the student, guided by the multiliteracies, we analyze the presence of cultural aspects in the proposals that make use of the comic strips in two Spanish textbooks selected by the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático of 2012 and 2015, namely, Síntesis: curso de lengua española (MARTIN, 2011, 2011a, 2011b) and Cercanía Joven (COIMBRA, CHAVES, BARCIA, 2013, 2013a, 2013b). In order to substantiate this work, we study the term culture (THOMPSON, 1995; CUCHE, 1999; EAGLETON, 2005; BOAS, 2010) so as to show how this concept is present in language teaching and learning. Afterwards, we delve into the concept, characteristics and role of comic strips (EGUTI, 2001; SILVA JUNIOR, 2004; RAMOS, 2007, 2011; CAGNIN, 2014) in order to situate them in the educational context and better understand them away from the wrong terminology. Our exploratory and bibliographical research encompassed both quantitative data, collected and organized in graphs and charts, as well as qualitative ones, which, based on the Content Analysis (FRANCO, 2012), enabled the inference of the beliefs, values and ideologies of authors of the selected textbooks. We conclude that most of the activities included in the manuals are based on comprehension exercises, which, in general, seek the exploration of explicit information of the texts and whose main objective is the illustration of a grammatical item. In light of this, we understand that the discussions presented will serve to stimulate the critical reflection of authors and editors of textbooks, in view of exploring the potentiality of the comic strip, especially in what concerns the cultural aspect, as well as teachers and students so both may become more critical to their object of study.

This bachelor thesis discusses the concept of genre and the comic Gothic. It is an attempt to demonstrate the conflicts rooted in "genre" by discussing several scholars, such as Alistair Fowler and Mattias Fyhr with their works Kinds of Literature and De mörka labyrinterna respectively, and then problematise the "Gothic" as a genre and as a concept. Thus Avril Horner’s and Sue Zlosnik’s work Gothic and the Comic Turn is consulted through the discussion. The questions I ask are the following: What is a literary genre? How is the comic Gothic described by the researchers, and how does comic Gothic work in A. Lee Martinez’ novel Gil’s All Fright Diner (2005)? How can one use these questions in the classroom? The used methods in the thesis are genre analysis and close reading. I conclude that genre is a way to understand the relationship between a literary work and various conventions, such as environment and its contemporaries. Genre is also a tool for the reader to understand the traditions, history and other works the read text is related to. The comic inside the Gothic may appear and is as natural to the genre as horror and terror, since the Gothic is always close to self-parody. This can even be observed in the first Gothic novel, Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764). Furthermore, Gil’s All Fright Diner uses both the repertoire of classic Gothic and Horner’s and Zlosnik’s findings of the comic turn in the Gothic. Finally, the question regarding the definition of literary genre can be used in the classroom to widen students’ views on both genre itself and the prose they read. The comic Gothic can be used as an example on how genre can appear in different modes. Gil’s All Fright Diner is a thankful text for classroom readings due to its comic and gothic nature, and its contemporary language, themes and styles can make it relatable to students. There is therefore a potential in the concept of genre and the comic Gothic as subjects of discussion in the classroom.

In the postwar era of the United States, as military-industrial chemicals leak into airways, waterways, and foodways in unprecedented plumes and cancer clusters, comic art forms generate diverse environmental imaginations. Though historically disparaged as disposable ephemera, comics provide unique access to environmental expression in this critical period. This dissertation analyzes the formal registers of two independent newspaper strips and four graphic cancer narratives for an aesthetics of equity: a set of verbal-visual moves that chart awareness of environmental devastation as determined by privilege and power. The iconicity of the drawn body--its lines, shape, and movement--grapples with complex legacies of environmental harm and exclusion. Maps of environmental risk perception generated through game board motifs, collages, and icon repetition rely on the capacity of sequential art to engage readers in recognizing and analyzing postwar risk. In form and theme, an aesthetics of equity in comics deploys environmental knowledges subordinated and sharpened by interlocking social inequities. This aesthetics revises the elisions and assumptions of mainstream environmentalisms. Ultimately, comics demand a literacy particularly well suited to environmental justice (EJ) ecocriticsm. The dissertation comprises three chapters of analysis. The first examines competing environmental discourses in Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For (1982-2008). This newspaper strip coincides exactly with the start of the contemporary EJ movement. In examining three character arcs across a quarter of a century, I track the emergence of EJ discourse in Bechdel's distinctly lesbian environmental imagination. The second chapter examines the heteronormative limits of the EJ story arc in Jackie Ormes' midcentury romance strip Torchy in Heartbeats (1953-4). Published weekly in the Comic Section of the Black newspaper the Pittsburgh Courier, Torchy chronicles its eponymous heroine's quest to end environmental racism in the fictional small town of Southville. Torchy's affect and body language revise romance genre conventions and expose sexism and racism as intersecting environmental oppressions. The third chapter examines transcoporeal exchange in four contemporary graphic cancer narratives from the early 21st century. This chapter examines the extent to which graphic cancer narratives "move out," to use Diane Herndl's phrase, to form coalitions with disparate environmental communities. / 2015-10-17

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.