The Superhero Reader

by Charles Hatfield (Brand), Jeet Heer (Editor), Kent Worcester (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Comics, Essays, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction

342 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Arnav Varma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection of articles and papers. Some of them were a bit boring and disagreeable, but the book serves its purpose. The articles on “revisionary superhero” and “epic hero and pop culture” are cracking reads. The last article on “death-defying heroes” is also pretty decent.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of essays exploring different facets of the superhero genre. Some of them are older, but it is easy to extrapolate what each author might write about more recent developments of the genre.

[Olivia Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-3.5⭐️

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book collects chapters from other academic books on comics studies. This would be a good place for someone new to the critical study of comics to start. It does try to cover every aspect of comics, so you may find that some chapters are not for you, but also you'll find some chapters that you will really like. I particularly liked Peter Coogan's chapter on comic predecessors, Gloria Steinem's chapter on the inspirational power of Wonder Woman, Andy Medhurst's chapter on camp and Batman, and Henry Jenkins' chapter on how superheroes helped him deal with the death of his mother.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. This is a collection of essays from an academic perspective dealing with the topic of superheroes. Included is an excerpt from Frederic Wertham's infamous Seduction of the Innocent. Fun book, but a bit dry and footnote-y.

[Shilo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I did not read every piece of literary criticism in this large collection, what I did read was both interesting and useful when discussing similar ideas in my responses and essays for my superhero class.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting food for thought, most def.