Author: José Alaniz
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!
Erratum:
Page 79 the text describes the comic panels switching from square to rectangular in parallel to the Daredevil’s change from Matt Murdock to superhero, but in fact the panels are the opposite – switching from rectangular (the first four) to square (the last one) in the image sample shown on page 78.
The author is the program director of the Disabilities Study Program at the University of Washington (which begs the question as to why this was published by University Press of Mississippi, but let's not stir up and inter-varsity rivalry!
I initially requested this cluelessly thinking it was a graphic novel – and a potentially amusing one at that. It is not. It was (and misleadingly so, where I was concerned!) in the Net Galley graphic novels section, but it’s actually a text book with images. It’s not what I would describe as a graphic novel by any means, although I guess it was in the right place. it just wasn't the fast lunch-time read I was expecting! There are many interesting samples and pages included from graphic novels however, which admirably illustrate the text and the points the author is making.
That said (or whined, or however you wish to view it!), the book turned out to be engaging, and I learned things, which is never a waste of my time. This isn't fiction at all, but an exhaustive study of the super hero genre as it deals with death and disability. The disability section I found fascinating, especially so when you consider that comic books, particularly those from the Marvel stable, ‘outed’ disabilities in the sixties, by introducing actual characters with them – not merely superheroes who were temporarily disabled, as, say, Superman is when exposed to kryptonite, or like the original Thor, who was “crippled” by his father Odin (it was later revealed) and banished to Earth so he could learn what it was like to be weak and in pain. The original hero was able to use Mjolnir to transform himself into the god-like Thor, but he never realized, not to begin with, that he actually was Thor!
Marvel took this a step further and imbued some of their heroes with real disabilities, such Daredevil, who is blind. They reversed this approach, too, by introducing heroes who were fine when in their regular everyday human form, but who acquired disability - along with the attendant superpower - when they transformed, such as when Bruce Banner becomes The Hulk, and when Ben Grimm became The Thing.
The cover for this book is taken from a 2002 work by French artist Gilles Barbier titled 'L'Hospice', which shows superheroes at approximately the age they would have been had they aged normally since their ‘birth’ – defined for this purpose a the first time they appeared in a comic book. It's cropped for the book cover, but you can see the whole image here (or you could at the time I made the link).
A particularly interesting section discusses the genderism (sexism is too loaded a word for my taste!) inspired by the transformation of Ms Marvel into “the She-Thing” in a Fantastic Four comic which came out in February 1988. Ben Grimm had been working with Ms Marvel in space, and when they were returning to Earth, the space shuttle lost power (how that works is a mystery because the space shuttle’s return from orbit was not a powered flight – it was designed to land as a glider!). The shuttle crashed and somehow Ms. Marvel was transformed into a 'Thing' just like Ben.
Her reaction is completely negative. She felt unfeminine and ugly, and people also viewed her that way – not just people in the comic, but comic fans. Apparently it’s fine to have a male thing, but not a female thing. And girls, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, right?! A female thing is very threatening. That was bad enough, but what really bothered me about his section was that the author never explored the very obvious fact that the genderism problem was already in play long before Ms Marvel ever transformed!
You can see what I mean by this if you compare an image of Ms. Marvel with her male counter-part, Captain Marvel. He gets to be a Captain and to wear a regular “super hero costume” just like, for example, Superman, with tight-fitting spandex and a cape, whereas Ms Marvel not only has no rank, she’s also forced to disport herself in what amounts to little more than a bikini. Is that not a gender issue?! (And yeah, I know her lack of rank was rather tardily rectified). Who actually confers the rank on these guys? I know Captain America actually was a Captain, but Captain Marvel? What was he, the captain of a cheer-leading squad?!
There’s a fascinating comparison of Caulder and Xavier, two wheelchair-bound men who lead teams of misfits – the former in the doomed Doom Patrol, and the latter in the wildly successful X-Men, both of which series debuted almost at the same time, with Marvel’s series trailing DC’s by about three months.
As the author advises, Caulder was typically depicted as a man of action, his wheelchair merely a prosthetic, whereas Xavier is often depicted in a static mode in his wheelchair, when he isn’t robbed of the chair and lying on the floor, relying on his mental powers to save the day. For me, it never ceased to amaze me how Xavier could invent fantastic devices for his X-men to use, but never came up with a cure or at least a fix for his legs? Of course, that would rob him of the symbolism, but it’s still unrealistic! I mean, we're on the verge of exo-skeleton medical technology now, and we don't even have Xavier's brain helping!
In conclusion, any comic fan or fan of comic history should appreciate this immensely. The discussions actually reminded me of the rather of the odd analysis of Superman which was doled out by David Carradine's character in Kill Bill part 2. It's nice to get those kinds of insights (at least it is for me!) and this book is replete with them. I recommend it - although I have to warn you, the price is really steep!
