- Additional Authors
- Singsen, Doug.
- Description
- 1 online resource.
- Summary
- "American comics from the start have reflected the white supremacist culture out of which they arose. Superheroes and comic books in general are products of whiteness, and both signal and hide its presence. Even when comics creators and publishers sought to advance an antiracist agenda, their attempts were often undermined by a lack of awareness of their own whiteness and the ideological baggage that goes along with it. Even the most celebrated figures of the industry, such as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Jack Jackson, William Gaines, Stan Lee, Robert Crumb, Will Eisner, and Frank Miller, have not been able to distance themselves from the problematic racism embedded in their narratives despite their intentions or explanations. Bandits, Misfits, and Superheroes: Whiteness and Its Borderlands in American Comics and Graphic Novels provides a sober assessment of these creators and their role in perpetuating racism throughout the history of comics. Josef Benson and Doug Singsen identify how whiteness has been defined, transformed, and occasionally undermined over the course of eighty years in comics and in many genres, including westerns, horror, crime, funny animal, underground comix, autobiography, literary fiction, and historical fiction. This exciting and groundbreaking book assesses industry giants, highlights some of the most important episodes in American comic book history, and demonstrates how they relate to one another and form a larger pattern, in unexpected and surprising ways"--
- Uniform Title
- Bandits, misfits, and superheroes (Online)
- Alternative Title
- Bandits, misfits, and superheroes (Online)
- Subjects
- White people > Race identity > United States > Comic books, strips, etc
- Superheroes > Comic books, strips, etc
- Outlaws > Comic books, strips, etc
- Racism and the arts > United States
- Racism > United States > Comic books, strips, etc
- Comic books, strips, etc > Social aspects > United States
- Comic books, strips, etc > United States > History and criticism
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Access (note)
- Access restricted to authorized users.
- Source of Description (note)
- Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.
- Contents
- Introduction -- Chapter one: Race and racism in the birth of the superhero -- Chapter two: The Southern outlaw and the white Indian in Western comics -- Chapter three: Colonialism and primitivism in US Comics - Chapter four: Civil rights and the limits of liberalism -- Chapter five: Robert Crumb's cathartic racism -- Chapter six: Jewish exceptionalism and assimilation in the 1970s and 1980s -- Chapter seven: Racial borderlands in alternative comics -- Chapter eight: The deconstruction of the white superhero in Watchmen -- Chapter nine: Frank Miller's hyper masculine whiteness and the defense of Western culture -- Chapter ten: Reskinning narratives: taking off the mask -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
- LCCN
- 2021048485
- OCLC
- ssj0002556594
- Author
Benson, Josef, 1974-
- Title
Bandits, misfits, and superheroes [electronic resource] : whiteness and its borderlands in American comics and graphic novels / Josef Benson, Doug Singsen.
- Imprint
Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2022.
- Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
- Note
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher.
- Connect to:
- Added Author
Singsen, Doug.
- Other Form:
Print version: Benson, Josef, 1974- Bandits, misfits, and superheroes Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2022 9781496838339 (DLC) 2021048484