Superheroes!: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films

The superhero genre of comics is much-loved by its fans but often dumped on by the critics who see it as the equivalent of the daytime tv of the comics world. In this book, while admitting its many flaws, Kaveney attempts to reclaim the superhero genre in a series of essays which recount, analyse, and assess it.As you've already seen from my rating, I have a high opinion of this book. But who is the author and what are her qualifications? All too often writers will descend on something and pretend to be experts. Ms Kaveney does not fall into this category. An intellectual with a command of literary theory and the author of several texts on different aspects of pop culture, a part of the UK's science fiction establishment, long-time reader of superhero comics, and long standing buddy of people like Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore, she is well qualified to author a book like this.This isn't intended as a survey of the superhero genre, though some time is spent outlining it, rather she cherry-picks specific areas on which to go into detail. I'm not going to go into what and where as part of the many joys of this book is discovery and reading how she links one thing to another, creates theories, praises, criticises, reveals surprising profundities here and feet of clay there.Just one example. An entire chapter is devoted to the comic Alias, probably one of the very best things to come from Marvel (I'm not a great Marvel fan) in recent years, and an outstanding piece of work. Kaveney outlines, analyses, and assesses exactly what Alias is about, how and why it works, and why it is important in the context of the superhero genres. Her account is so good and vivid that reading Alias becomes almost redundant. (Almost. If you haven't already, buy the trades now.) As I read, images and scenes from it came back vividly to my mind.I don't agree with everything Kaveney writes (probably because I'm not, with several exceptions, a great Marvel fan), but then that is part of the fun of this kind of book in that it stimulates debate and makes you reconsider your own judgements and the author is very persuasive.There are a few minor errors. Two spring to mind: she confuses two very different DC villains, Deadshot and Deathlock (the Terminator; more often known by his real name Slade Wilson); and consistently misspells Ra's as R'as. Like I said, minor.Despite the occasional need to check the dictionary, this is a compelling and fascinating read and I do hope she returns again to the field of comics. We need her.

I knew virtually every character under discussion - I did not, however, have the depth of knowledge of the stories displayed by Roz Kaveney in this book.I have always enjoyed comic books (I have been reading them for about sixty years) but this is the first time that I have read such an in depth analysis of the genre..Highly recommended.

...light, but well-researched, whith parts that are both brilliant and highly original. I bought it for research for my thesis, and ended up rewiring parts of my own brain in the process (always a possible outcome of reading anything by Kaveney, I must admit) - it's not an overly serious book, but it is, however, solid and intelligent.

A great secret Santa gift>

Roz Kaveney's new book takes an interesting look at the world of comics and the huge sprawling narrative structures they've built up over the years, universes of idea in which something briefly glimpsed in a couple of panels ten years ago can turn out to have extraordinary effects in the latest plot twist today. Amongst other things she points out that they represent the largest and (despite their flaws) possibly the most coherent body of fictional continuity in all of fiction.Concentrating mainly on the main players, DC and Marvel, it's a fascinating discussion of plot and its consequences. Some of the storylines followed may seem obvious - it would be odd if attention hadn't been devoted to The Watchmen, for example - but others introduce characters less fanatical readers will have overlooked; my example here would be Jessica Jones, heroine of Brian Bendis' Alias, who was deliberately written into Marvel continuity as someone who had always been around but had somehow never quite been mentioned, and would appear to be a fascinating character. The book concentrates on printed comics, but naturally films and TV receive some attention, if only to point out that their continuity often strays from the mainstream of the comics and is seldom sustained in the same way.My only argument with the book would be the thought that some of the material on Joss Whedon could have been cut to some advantage. He's an important player, but I personally feel that his contribution to the field is a little over-emphasised here, although it may be necessary in discussing the way in which films, TV and comics are increasingly cross-fertilising each other.Inevitably some of the storylines it discusses are already out of date - for example, the recent huge (and appallingly stupid) Spiderman retcon occurred after it went to press - but that's something that's bound to happen to any study of the field. Overall it's a very worthwhile snapshot of the field, and of the processes which tend to keep continuity coherent, which ought to be very useful to anyone with an interest in comics and their creation.