Research Catalog

Title

The new mutants : superheroes and the radical imagination of American comics / Ramzi Fawaz.

Author

Fawaz, Ramzi

Publication

• New York ; London : New York University Press, [2016]
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 316 pages, 28 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color); 24 cm.

Summary

"In 1964, noted literary critic Leslie Fiedler described American youth as "new mutants," social rebels severing their attachments to American culture to remake themselves in their own image. 1960s comic book creators, anticipating Fiedler, began to morph American superheroes from icons of nationalism and white masculinity into actual mutant outcasts, defined by their genetic difference from ordinary humanity. These powerful misfits and "freaks" soon came to embody the social and political aspirations of America's most marginalized groups, including women, racial and sexual minorities, and the working classes. In The New Mutants, Ramzi Fawaz draws upon queer theory to tell the story of these monstrous fantasy figures and how they grapple with radical politics from Civil Rights and The New Left to Women's and Gay Liberation Movements. Through a series of comic book case studies -- including The Justice League of America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and The New Mutants --alongside late 20th century fan writing, cultural criticism, and political documents, Fawaz reveals how the American superhero modeled new forms of social belonging that counterculture youth would embrace in the 1960s and after. The New Mutants provides the first full-length study to consider the relationship between comic book fantasy and radical politics in the modern United States."--Publisher's description.

Series Statement

Postmillennial Pop

Uniform Title

Postmillennial pop.

Subjects

• Comic books, strips, etc
• Criticism, interpretation, etc
• Comic books, strips, etc > United States > History and criticism
• United States
• Superheroes in literature
• Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer Bitterfeld

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-307) and index.

Contents

Introduction: superhumans in America -- The family of Superman : the superhero team and the promise of universal citizenship -- "Flame on!" Nuclear families, unstable molecules, and the queer history of the Fantastic Four -- Comic book cosmopolitics : the Fantastic Four's counterpublic as a world-making project -- "Where no X-Man has gone before!" Mutant superheroes and the cultural politics of the comic book space opera -- Heroes "that give a damn!" Urban folktales and the triumph of the working-class hero -- Consumed by hellfire : demonic possession and the limits of the superhuman in the 1980s -- Lost in the badlands : radical imagination and the enchantments of mutant solidarity in The new mutants -- Epilogue: Marvelous corpse.

Call Number

JFE 19-2056

ISBN

• 9781479814336
• 1479814334
• 9781479823086
• 1479823082

LCCN

• 2015021427
• 40025682517

OCLC

910802482

Author

Fawaz, Ramzi, author.

Title

The new mutants : superheroes and the radical imagination of American comics / Ramzi Fawaz.

Publisher

New York ; London : New York University Press, [2016]

Copyright Date

©2016

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Postmillennial Pop

Postmillennial pop.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-307) and index.

Local Note

AUTH: U WISC, MADISON. REV. DISSERTATION LINKING MISFIT COMIC CHARACTERS & RADICAL POLITICS.

Other Standard Identifier

40025682517

Sudoc No.

-

Research Call Number

JFE 19-2056