Gender and the Superhero Narrative

Description

The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests. Yet just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic shifts―both in the creation of superhero media and in their critical and reader reception―need reassessment not only of the role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change. Contents Acknowledgments Foreword • Ryan North Introduction • Michael Goodrum, Tara Prescott, and Philip Smith POLITICS AND INTERSECTIONALITY “Yeah, I Think There Is Still Hope”: Youth, Ethnicity, Faith, Feminism, and Fandom in Ms. Marvel • Mel Gibson Intersectional Feminism in Bitch Planet: Moving Comics, Fandom, and Activism beyond the Page • Maite Urcaregui “I Was Never the Hero That You Wanted Me to Be”: Feminism and Resistance to Militarism in Marvel’s Jessica Jones • Samira Nadkarni The Queen of Burlesque:The Subtle (as a Hammer) Satire of Bomb Queen • Christina M. Knopf QUEER IDENTITIES “Curiouser and Curiouser”: Revisiting “The Woman Question” in Batwoman: Elegy • Lisa K. Perdigao Rule 63: Genderswapping in Female Superhero Cosplay • Christopher McGunnigle Faces of Abjectivity: The Uncanny Mystique and Transsexuality • Dorian L. Alexander INDUSTRY AND FANDOM From Princess to Protagonist: Redesigning the Video Game Superhero • Vanessa Hemovich The Evolution of Female Readership: Letter Columns in Superhero Comics • Tim Hanley The Gwenaissance: Gwen Stacy and the Progression of Women in Comics • Gabriel Gianola and Janine Coleman About the Editors and Contributors Index