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Titans: How Superheroes Can Help Us Make Sense of a Polarized World
These days it seems like heroes fight each other more often than they fight villains. The hero-vs-hero trope so common in comic books and in superhero movies these days can provide us with a means of thinking about the deeply polarized state of modern politics and public opinion about civic life, morality, and even God. There is a real divide in our public life that nobody seems to be able to cross. It's easy to complain that people should be more willing to meet each other half-way, that politicians should be more willing to compromise in order to get things done, but there are plenty of important issues on which compromise really isn't possible. We see this problem dramatized in comics like Marvel's Civil War and Avengers vs X-Men; in DC's Kingdom Come and The Dark Knight Returns; and in film media like Daredevil, Batman v Superman, and Captain Civil War. The consequences of the conflicts that arise in these stories can serve as warnings about our current political environment. They're safe places in which we can see the logic of our political dysfunction carried to frightening (but perhaps inevitable?) conclusions.
"Superheroes seem to spend more time these days fighting each other than battling evil. In Titans, Boudreaux, Latta, and Nevin use this trend as an opportunity to explore issues such as conflicts between different visions of the good, the nature of power (and superpower), and the value of superheroes as modern mythology. Their love for the subject matter shines through while they flesh out the stories we all love with fascinating insight and entertaining prose."
--Mark D. White, author of The Virtues of Captain America and A Philosopher Reads Marvel Comics' Civil War
"Boudreaux shows with surpassing clarity not only how comic books make use of philosophy, but also the more important point that precisely because it is such a powerful tool for understanding the world, philosophy underwrites all forms of culture, popular as well as elite. In making explicit so much of the thought that informs the genre, he also provides a helpful primer on a variety of major ideas and schools of thought in the Western tradition."
--Stephen Slimp, University of West Alabama
"Titans is a serious examination of the political, philosophical, and theological themes in superhero films and comic books. The superhero genre constitutes a new mythology that revisits ancient themes which have continued salience in the contemporary world--the existence of God, the problem of evil, the moral obligation to disobey unjust laws. Titans is an important study of a popular genre that has not received sufficient scholarly attention."
--Joseph S. Devaney, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Armond Boudreaux is an Assistant Professor of English at East Georgia State College in Statesboro, GA. He is the author of That He May Raise and Little Gods. You can read more of his writing on superheroes and politics at and www.armondboudreaux.com.
Corey Latta is a writer, teacher, and public speaker. He is the author of Functioning Fantasies, Election and Unity in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, When the Eternal Can Be Met, and C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing.
"Superheroes seem to spend more time these days fighting each other than battling evil. In Titans, Boudreaux, Latta, and Nevin use this trend as an opportunity to explore issues such as conflicts between different visions of the good, the nature of power (and superpower), and the value of superheroes as modern mythology. Their love for the subject matter shines through while they flesh out the stories we all love with fascinating insight and entertaining prose."
--Mark D. White, author of The Virtues of Captain America and A Philosopher Reads Marvel Comics' Civil War
"Boudreaux shows with surpassing clarity not only how comic books make use of philosophy, but also the more important point that precisely because it is such a powerful tool for understanding the world, philosophy underwrites all forms of culture, popular as well as elite. In making explicit so much of the thought that informs the genre, he also provides a helpful primer on a variety of major ideas and schools of thought in the Western tradition."
--Stephen Slimp, University of West Alabama
"Titans is a serious examination of the political, philosophical, and theological themes in superhero films and comic books. The superhero genre constitutes a new mythology that revisits ancient themes which have continued salience in the contemporary world--the existence of God, the problem of evil, the moral obligation to disobey unjust laws. Titans is an important study of a popular genre that has not received sufficient scholarly attention."
--Joseph S. Devaney, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Armond Boudreaux is an Assistant Professor of English at East Georgia State College in Statesboro, GA. He is the author of That He May Raise and Little Gods. You can read more of his writing on superheroes and politics at and www.armondboudreaux.com.
Corey Latta is a writer, teacher, and public speaker. He is the author of Functioning Fantasies, Election and Unity in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, When the Eternal Can Be Met, and C. S. Lewis and the Art of Writing.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 8, 2017
2 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Armond Boudreaux
10 books28 followersMy current fiction project––a series of post-apocalyptic fantasy novels called Animus––is a story about power, heroism, and sacrifice. It’s a meditation on what happens when the weak become strong and how the powerless respond to those who possess strength. The first book in this series, Animus: Little Gods, will be available in the Amazon Kindle Store in December of 2016. You can read more about it at my website (www.armondboudreaux.com).
I’m also at work on a nonfiction book about superheroes, mythology, and politics to be published by Wipf & Stock in 2017. You can read more about that project here: https://armondboudreaux.com/about/a-c...
Besides the literary blog on my website, I write a blog about superheroes at www.aclashofheroes.wordpress.com.
My first book, That He May Raise, is a story of suffering and redemption in the tradition of Faulkner and O’Connor. As Steven Barthelme describes the book, “[That He May Raise] begins with a teenage boy in a tree with his longbow and closes with the same boy, now a priest and an Iraq War vet, alone in his small town confessional with his doubt. The novella and four stories are shot through with religious wonder and peopled by the unchronicled population of rural South Alabama and Mississippi which Boudreaux knows like the back of his hand. Deceptively, quietly, his stories evolve into a harrowing but riveting read as you come to understand, in the words of a young woman in one of the pieces, ‘This is what this place, these people are really like.'”
You can read more about That He May Raise at the website of the Livingston Press.
In addition to my fiction, I have also published literary criticism on Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Robert Frost.
I’m also at work on a nonfiction book about superheroes, mythology, and politics to be published by Wipf & Stock in 2017. You can read more about that project here: https://armondboudreaux.com/about/a-c...
Besides the literary blog on my website, I write a blog about superheroes at www.aclashofheroes.wordpress.com.
My first book, That He May Raise, is a story of suffering and redemption in the tradition of Faulkner and O’Connor. As Steven Barthelme describes the book, “[That He May Raise] begins with a teenage boy in a tree with his longbow and closes with the same boy, now a priest and an Iraq War vet, alone in his small town confessional with his doubt. The novella and four stories are shot through with religious wonder and peopled by the unchronicled population of rural South Alabama and Mississippi which Boudreaux knows like the back of his hand. Deceptively, quietly, his stories evolve into a harrowing but riveting read as you come to understand, in the words of a young woman in one of the pieces, ‘This is what this place, these people are really like.'”
You can read more about That He May Raise at the website of the Livingston Press.
In addition to my fiction, I have also published literary criticism on Flannery O’Connor, C.S. Lewis, and Robert Frost.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 19, 2018
2018 November: Titans
Andy Walsh’s book Faith Across the Multiverse carries this dedication: “To Ronnie Simon, who introduced me to X-Men comics in the 7th grade and changed my life.” Unlike Andy’s, my life is largely untouched by comics. I knew about comics when I was growing up, but I didn’t read or collect them. I can’t explain why except that I don’t recall seeing them in the stores I was likely to visit as a child. As I grew into into adulthood I probably adopted the attitude that comic books are for children. Andy’s book, and now Armond Boudreaux’s Titans, suggest that attitude might be shortsighted.
Knowing as little as I do about comic books I can’t really review Titans. It is an engaging book, but readers will benefit from a knowledge of superhero stories. Some chapters, especially the chapters on Marvel’s Civil War, are dense with references to characters and their actions. Others focus more on the conflicts that the characters face and the parallels in contemporary America. What is clear in all chapters is that superheroes are complex and often conflicted characters. What’s also clear in Boudreaux’s consideration of these characters is that these complexities and conflicts have parallels in real people in our time.
Even for someone who is comics- and superhero-illiterate, getting to the afterword on page 151 is worth the effort. With its subtitle “Where Do We Go from Here,” and section headings such as “What It Means to Be Reasonable,” it deserves to be read more than once. Karl Popper’s definition of rationalism, presented on page 151 is an important contribution to the discussion.
Titans is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in Eugene, Oregon under their Cascade Books imprint. Wipf and Stock publishes a diverse list of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and academic titles. I have enjoyed Daniel Taylor’s Death Comes for the Deconstructionist (Slant Books) and Ragan Sutterfield’s Cultivating Reality (Cascade Books) from Wipf and Stock. Cultivating Reality in particular strikes me as a book that mainstream publishers might overlook.
If you dabble in comics, or if you are the first in line when a new Marvel Comics print issue or movie is released, consider reading Titans.
Andy Walsh’s book Faith Across the Multiverse carries this dedication: “To Ronnie Simon, who introduced me to X-Men comics in the 7th grade and changed my life.” Unlike Andy’s, my life is largely untouched by comics. I knew about comics when I was growing up, but I didn’t read or collect them. I can’t explain why except that I don’t recall seeing them in the stores I was likely to visit as a child. As I grew into into adulthood I probably adopted the attitude that comic books are for children. Andy’s book, and now Armond Boudreaux’s Titans, suggest that attitude might be shortsighted.
Knowing as little as I do about comic books I can’t really review Titans. It is an engaging book, but readers will benefit from a knowledge of superhero stories. Some chapters, especially the chapters on Marvel’s Civil War, are dense with references to characters and their actions. Others focus more on the conflicts that the characters face and the parallels in contemporary America. What is clear in all chapters is that superheroes are complex and often conflicted characters. What’s also clear in Boudreaux’s consideration of these characters is that these complexities and conflicts have parallels in real people in our time.
Even for someone who is comics- and superhero-illiterate, getting to the afterword on page 151 is worth the effort. With its subtitle “Where Do We Go from Here,” and section headings such as “What It Means to Be Reasonable,” it deserves to be read more than once. Karl Popper’s definition of rationalism, presented on page 151 is an important contribution to the discussion.
Titans is published by Wipf and Stock Publishers in Eugene, Oregon under their Cascade Books imprint. Wipf and Stock publishes a diverse list of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and academic titles. I have enjoyed Daniel Taylor’s Death Comes for the Deconstructionist (Slant Books) and Ragan Sutterfield’s Cultivating Reality (Cascade Books) from Wipf and Stock. Cultivating Reality in particular strikes me as a book that mainstream publishers might overlook.
If you dabble in comics, or if you are the first in line when a new Marvel Comics print issue or movie is released, consider reading Titans.
April 17, 2024
Really interesting book on how Superhero comics and movies function as a lens for our contemporary society’s polarization. I love the concept of the book, not every chapter worked for me, but the ones that did were awesome. Some chapters were a 6/5 others were a 3/5… Overall though I really appreciated the conclusion, and would love to read a sequel/updated version looking at some of the other more recent events in comics and in the MCU and DCEU.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews