Download or read book Why We Need Superheroes written by Jeffrey Kahan and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-12-09 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comic books and superhero stories mirror essential societal values and beliefs. We can be Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Black Panther or Rocket Raccoon through our everyday choices. We can't fly, fix hyper drives or hear human heartbeats a mile away, but we can think about what Matt Murdock would do in a conflict, how Superman would respond to natural disasters and how Captain America would handle humanitarian crises. This book analyzes the impact of dozens of comics by examining the noble personalities, traits and actions of the main characters. Chapters detail how superheroes, comic books and other pop culture phenomena offer more than pure entertainment, and how we can better model ourselves after our favorite heroes. Through our good deeds, quick thinking and positive choices, we can become more like superheroes than we ever imagined.

Download or read book What is a Superhero written by Robin S. Rosenberg PhD and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-01 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's easy to name a superhero--Superman, Batman, Thor, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rorschach, Wolverine--but it's not so easy to define what a superhero is. Buffy has superpowers, but she doesn't have a costume. Batman has a costume, but doesn't have superpowers. What is the role of power and superpower? And what are supervillains and why do we need them? In What is a Superhero?, psychologist Robin Rosenberg and comics scholar Peter Coogan explore this question from a variety of viewpoints, bringing together contributions from nineteen comic book experts--including both scholars in such fields as cultural studies, art, and psychology as well as leading comic book writers and editors. What emerges is a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most popular of pop-culture figures. Writer Jeph Loeb, for instance, sees the desire to make the world a better place as the driving force of the superhero. Jennifer K. Stuller argues that the female superhero inspires women to stand up, be strong, support others, and most important, to believe in themselves. More darkly, A. David Lewis sees the indestructible superhero as the ultimate embodiment of the American "denial of death," while writer Danny Fingeroth sees superheroes as embodying the best aspects of humankind, acting with a nobility of purpose that inspires us. Interestingly, Fingeroth also expands the definition of superhero so that it would include characters like John McClane of the Die Hard movies: "Once they dodge ridiculous quantities of machine gun bullets they're superheroes, cape or no cape." From summer blockbusters to best-selling graphic novels, the superhero is an integral part of our culture. What is a Superhero? not only illuminates this pop-culture figure, but also sheds much light on the fantasies and beliefs of the American people.

Download or read book Superheroes Are Everywhere written by Kamala Harris and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-01-08 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Vice President Kamala Harris comes a picture book with an empowering message: Superheroes are all around us--and if we try, we can all be heroes too. A #1 New York Times bestseller! Before Kamala Harris was elected to the vice presidency and named the Democratic presidential nominee, she was a little girl who loved superheroes. And when she looked around, she was amazed to find them everywhere! In her family, among her friends, even down the street--there were superheroes wherever she looked. And those superheroes showed her that all you need to do to be a superhero is to be the best that you can be. In this empowering and joyful picture book that speaks directly to kids, Kamala Harris takes readers through her life and shows them that the power to make the world a better place is inside all of us. And with fun and engaging art by Mechal Renee Roe, as well as a guide to being a superhero at the end, this book is sure to have kids taking up the superhero mantle (cape and mask optional). Praise for Superheroes Are Everywhere: "This [book] offers a solid message: a superhero could be anyone, including you." --Booklist

Download or read book My Captain America written by Megan Margulies and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A finely wrought coming-of-age memoir about the author’s relationship with her beloved grandfather Joe Simon, cartoonist and co-creator of Captain America. In the 1990s, Megan Margulies’s Upper West Side neighborhood was marked by addicts shooting up in subway stations, frequent burglaries, and the “Wild Man of 96th Street,” who set fires under cars and heaved rocks through stained glass church windows. The world inside her parents’ tiny one-bedroom apartment was hardly a respite, with a family of five—including some loud personalities—eventually occupying the 550-square-foot space. Salvation arrived in the form of her spirited grandfather, Daddy Joe, whose midtown studio became a second home to Megan. There, he listened to her woes, fed her Hungry Man frozen dinners, and simply let her be. His living room may have been dominated by the drawing table, notes, and doodles that marked him as Joe Simon the cartoonist. But for Megan, he was always Daddy Joe: an escape from her increasingly hectic home, a nonjudgmental voice whose sense of humor was as dry as his farfel, and a steady presence in a world that felt off balance. Evoking New York City both in the 1980s and ’90s and during the Golden Age of comics in the 1930s and ’40s, My Captain America flashes back from Megan’s story to chart the life and career of Rochester-native Joe Simon, from his early days retouching publicity photos and doing spot art for magazines, to his partnership with Jack Kirby at Timely Comics (the forerunner of Marvel Comics), which resulted in the creation of beloved characters like Captain America, the Boy Commandos, and Fighting American. My Captain America offers a tender and sharply observed account of Megan’s life with Daddy Joe—and an intimate portrait of the creative genius who gave us one of the most enduring superheroes of all time.

Download or read book Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination written by Henry Jenkins and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How popular culture is engaged by activists to effect emancipatory political change One cannot change the world unless one can imagine what a better world might look like. Civic imagination is the capacity to conceptualize alternatives to current cultural, social, political, or economic conditions; it also requires the ability to see oneself as a civic agent capable of making change, as a participant in a larger democratic culture. Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination represents a call for greater clarity about what we’re fighting for—not just what we’re fighting against. Across more than thirty examples from social movements around the world, this casebook proposes “civic imagination” as a framework that can help us identify, support, and practice new kinds of communal participation. As the contributors demonstrate, young people, in particular, are turning to popular culture—from Beyoncé to Bollywood, from Smokey Bear to Hamilton, from comic books to VR—for the vernacular through which they can express their discontent with current conditions. A young activist uses YouTube to speak back against J. K. Rowling in the voice of Cho Chang in order to challenge the superficial representation of Asian Americans in children’s literature. Murals in Los Angeles are employed to construct a mythic imagination of Chicano identity. Twitter users have turned to #BlackGirlMagic to highlight the black radical imagination and construct new visions of female empowerment. In each instance, activists demonstrate what happens when the creative energies of fans are infused with deep political commitment, mobilizing new visions of what a better democracy might look like.

Download or read book Superhero Ethics written by Travis Smith and published by Templeton Foundation Press. This book was released on 2018-06-01 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether in comic books or on movie screens, superhero stories are where many people first encounter questions about how they should conduct their lives. Although these outlandish figures—in their capes, masks, and tights, with their unbelievable origins and preternatural powers—are often dismissed as juvenile amusements, they really are profound metaphors for different approaches to shaping one’s character and facing the challenges of life. But, given the choice, which superhero should we follow today? Who is most worthy of our admiration? Whose goals are most noble? Whose ethics should we strive to emulate? To decide, Travis Smith takes ten top superheroes and pits them one against another, chapter by chapter. The hero who better exemplifies how we ought to live advances to the final round. By the end of the book, a single superhero emerges victorious and is crowned most exemplary for our times. How, then, shall we live? How can we overcome our beastly nature and preserve our humanity? (The Hulk vs. Wolverine) How far can we rely on our willpower and imagination to improve the human condition? (Iron Man vs. Green Lantern) What limits must we observe when protecting our neighborhood from crime and corruption? (Batman vs. Spider-Man) Will the pursuit of an active life or a contemplative life bring us true fulfillment? (Captain America vs. Mr. Fantastic) Should we put our faith in proven tradition or in modern progress to achieve a harmonious society? (Thor vs. Superman) Using superheroes to bring into focus these timeless themes of the human condition, Smith takes us on an adventure as fantastic as any you’ll find on a splash page or the silver screen—an intellectual adventure filled with surprising insights, unexpected twists and turns, and a daring climax you’ll be thinking about long after it’s over.

Download or read book Even Superheroes Have to Sleep written by Sara Crow and published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Toddlers will feel better about bedtime when they learn that superheroes, cowboys, princesses, and astronauts ALL have to sleep too! It’s bedtime for superheroes . . . and KIDS! Young ones will enjoy this sweet, short, rhyming story that lulls them to sleep with the promise that all their heroes are getting tucked into bed too. It’s the perfect story to choose for a peaceful bedtime ritual. And don't miss the companion book—Even Superheroes Use the Potty—to help teach kids good bathroom habits. “Will ease little readers to restful states.”—Kirkus

Download or read book Superman on the Couch written by Danny Fingeroth and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures "good" and others "evil"? Why are so many of the prime superheroes white and male? How has the superhero evolved over the course of the 20th and early 21st centuries? And how might the myths be changing? Why is it that the key superhero archetypes - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the X-Men - touch primal needs and experiences in everyone? Why has the superhero moved beyond the pages of comics into other media? All these topics, and more, are covered in this lively and original exploration of the reasons why the superhero - in comic books, films, and TV - is such a potent myth for our times and culture.>

Download or read book Cake Girl written by David Lucas and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this magical fairy tale, the Witch is alone AGAIN on her birthday, so she bakes a Cake Girl to sing, dance, and do all the housework for her. The Witch tells Cake Girl she is going to EAT her, but clever Cake Girl turns the tables on her captor and shows her instead how it is possible and EVEN fun to be a nice person. The finale is a cornucopia of magic tricks and laughter, and is the best birthday either of them have ever had.

Download or read book The First Ghosts written by Irving Finkel and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed 'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post 'Marvellous...Finkel is an expert in Mesopotamian cultures at the British Museum, and is one of the most clever, and nicest, of people it has ever been my pleasure to encounter...A fascinating journey' - The Scotsman There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay tablets which dates back to 3400BC, Irving Finkel has embarked upon an ancient ghost hunt, scouring these tablets to unlock the secrets of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians to breathe new life into the first ghost stories ever written. In The First Ghosts, he uncovers an extraordinarily rich seam of ancient spirit wisdom which has remained hidden for nearly 4000 years, covering practical details of how to live with ghosts, how to get rid of them and bring them back, and how to avoid becoming one, as well as exploring more philosophical questions: what are ghosts, why does the idea of them remain so powerful despite the lack of concrete evidence, and what do they tell us about being human?

Download or read book Who Needs a Superhero written by H. Michael Brewer and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the Gospel and our need for a Savior by drawing on the traits and trials of a popular superhero in each chapter.

Download or read book Superheroes Can t Save You written by Todd Miles and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2018-04-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comic superheroes embody the hopes of a world that is desperate for a savior. But those comic creations cannot save us from our greatest foes—sin and death. Throughout the history of the Church there have been bad ideas, misconceptions, and heretical presentations of Jesus. Each one of these heresies fails to present Jesus as the Bible reveals him. In Superheroes Can’t Save You, Todd Miles demonstrates how these ancient heresies are embodied in contemporary comic superheroes. Miles compares something everybody already knows (who the superheroes are) with what they need to know (who Jesus is), in a book that makes vitally important Christian truths understandable and applicable to a wide audience.

Download or read book The Psychology of Superheroes written by Robin S. Rosenberg and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2008-02-09 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This latest installment in the Psychology of Popular Culture series turns its focus to superheroes. Superheroes have survived and fascinated for more than 70 years in no small part due to their psychological depth. In The Psychology of Superheroes, almost two dozen psychologists get into the heads of today's most popular and intriguing superheroes. Why do superheroes choose to be superheroes? Where does Spider-Man's altruism come from, and what does it mean? Why is there so much prejudice against the X-Men, and how could they have responded to it, other than the way they did? Why are super-villains so aggressive? The Psychology of Superheroes answers these questions, exploring the inner workings our heroes usually only share with their therapists.

Download or read book Starling written by Sage Stossel and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: POWERLESS? For Amy Sturgess, life in the big city comes with even bigger problems. Her marketing career is being derailed by a conniving coworker stealing her accounts. Her family crises range from her down-and-out brother running afoul of the law to her mother’s growing affections for the house cats. And Amy’s love life just flatlined thanks to an unexpected reunion with the one that got away—who’s now engaged. When Xanax and therapy fail to relieve her stress, Amy does what any young woman in her position would do: She uses her superstrength, speed, flight, and ability to generate 750 volts from her hands to fight crime as the mysterious masked vigilante Starling. But while Starling is hailed as a superhero, will Amy remain a super-zero?

Download or read book I Am Not Starfire written by Mariko Tamaki and published by DC Comics. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author Mariko Tamaki (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass) and artist Yoshi Yoshitani (Zatanna and the House of Secrets) comes a story about Mandy, the daughter of super-famous superhero Starfire. Seventeen-year-old Mandy, daughter of Starfire, is not like her mother. Starfire is gorgeous, tall, sparkly, and a hero. Mandy is not a sparkly superhero. Mandy has no powers. She’s a kid who dyes her hair black and hates everyone but her best friend, Lincoln. To Starfire, who is from another planet, Mandy seems like an alien, like some distant, angry, light-years away moon. And ever since she walked out on her SATs, which her mom doesn’t know about, Mandy has been even more distant. Everyone thinks Mandy needs to go to college and become whoever you become at college, but Mandy has other plans. Or she did until she gets partnered with Claire, the person she intensely denies liking but definitely likes a lot, for a school project. When someone from Starfire’s past arrives, Mandy must make a choice: give up before the battle has even begun, or step into the unknown and risk everything to save her mom. I Am Not Starfire is a story about teenagers and/as aliens; about knowing where you come from and where you are going; and about mothers.

Download or read book Comic Book Movies written by Blair Davis and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-25 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comic Book Movies explores how this genre serves as a source for modern-day myths, sometimes even incorporating ancient mythic figures like Thor and Wonder Woman’s Amazons, while engaging with the questions that haunt a post-9/11 world: How do we define heroism and morality today? How far are we willing to go when fighting terror? How can we resist a dystopian state? Film scholar Blair Davis also considers how the genre’s visual style is equally important as its weighty themes, and he details how advances in digital effects have allowed filmmakers to incorporate elements of comic book art in innovative ways. As he reveals, comic book movies have inspired just as many innovations to Hollywood’s business model, with film franchises and transmedia storytelling helping to ensure that the genre will continue its reign over popular culture for years to come.

Download or read book Real Superheroes written by Julia Seal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A heartwarming thank you to the essential workers who help us every day From supermarket staff and firefighters to doctors and nurses, this charming picture book celebrates the brave, everyday heroes who keep our world turning through difficult times. Inside the pages of this illustrated children’s book, you’ll discover: • Charmingly simple illustrations by Julia Seal • Simple, rhyming text to share and read aloud with young children • A beautiful celebration of key workers Some superheroes have shiny capes, super-strength, and trusty sidekicks, but how many of these superheroes have ever rescued you? Perfect for children aged 3-7 years, and a wonderful picture book dedicated to brave frontline workers - the real heroes who look after us! Covering a diverse range of professions and characters, Real Superheroes pays tribute to the incredible jobs that key workers are doing around the world so we can stay home and stay safe. Little ones will love seeing pictures of other kids dressed up to do different jobs, including a teacher, a delivery worker, and a shopkeeper!