Afterword. Gloriously flawed saviors / Randy Duncan. Introduction. It's all about the villain! / Robert G. Weiner, Robert Moses Peaslee, and Duncan Prettyman -- Section 1: Moral philosophies and taxonomies of villainy. Dividing lines: a brief taxonomy of moral identity / A. G. Holdier ; Superheroes, "moral economy," and the "iron cage": morality, alienation, and the super-individual / Robert Moses Peaslee ; What Magneto cannot choose / Jared Poon ; Excerpts from "The Functions of Dramatis Personae" / Vladimir Propp ; The supervillain / Peter Coogan ; Vivisecting the villain: a framework for the analysis of enemy image construction in cinema / Lennart Soberon ; Sorting out villainy: a typology of villains and their effects on superheroes / Robin S. Rosenberg ; Implacable henchmen? From the Iliad's Myrmidons to the wild hunt of The Witcher / Cait Mongrain and David D. Perlmutter -- Section 2: Supervillainy in myth and literature. Aṅgulimāla: Buddha's original "super foe" / John N. Thompson ; Shakespeare's villains / Maurice Charney ; Shakespeare's supervillain: Coriolanus / Jerold J. Abrams ; Milton's Satan / John Carey ; "More demon than man": Melville's Ahab as Gothic villain / Tony Magistrale ; The bat, the cat...and the eagle? Irene Adler as inspiration for Catwoman / Richard D. Heldenfels ; Vilifications: conjuring witches then and now / Hannah Ryan ; Voldemort's "unusual evil" / Adam Davidson-Harden -- Section 3: Supervillainy in cinema and television. Caligari / Siegfried Kracauer ; Destructive villain or gigantic hero? The transformation of Godzilla in contemporary popular culture / Stefan Danter ; Harley Quinn, villain, vixen, victim: exploring her origins in Batman: the Animated Series / Joe Cruz and Lars Stoltzfus-Brown ; "You were the chosen one!" Darth Vader and the sequential dynamics of villainy in the Star Wars prequel trilogy / Tara Lomax ; TV serial killers: the configuration of a new concept of villain / Víctor Hernández-Santaolalla and Alberto Hermida ; The kingpin: a "princely" villain for social and political change / Ryan Litsey -- Section 4: Supervillainy in comics and sequential art. Comics codes and parameters for villain construction in sequential art / Robert G. Weiner and the Comics Magazine Association of America ; Excerpt from "The Sun God and the Dark Knight" / Grant Morrison ; Disability and the silver age supervillain / José Alaniz ; Art imitates life: Nixon as villain in the pages of Captain America / Richard Hall ; The absence of black supervillains in mainstream comics / Phillip Lamarr Cunningham ; Making America great again, you foolsssss: neoliberal snake charmers in Marvel's G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero / J. Richard Stevens ; The outing of Superman; or, how I learned to love Bizarro as a trans monster / Dan Vena ; A darker truth underneath: Bucky Barnes and Captain America / Naja Later ; Excerpts from Japanese Demon Lore: Oni from Ancient Times to the Present / Noriko T. Reider ; Where did Superman's white hat go? Villainy and heroism in Superman: Red Son / W. D. Phillips ; From perfect hero to murderous villain: a comparative analysis between the fallen god heroes of Irredeemable and Injustice: Gods Among Us / Matthew McEniry ; Distortions of supervillainy, radical interiority, and victimhood in Sam Kieth's The Maxx / Tiffany Hong -- Afterword. Gloriously flawed saviors / Randy Duncan.
Summary:
"The Supervillain Reader, featuring both reprinted and original essays, reveals why we are so fascinated with the villain. The obsession with the villain is not a new phenomenon, and, in fact, one finds villains who are "super" going as far back as ancient religious and mythological texts. This innovative collection brings together essays, book excerpts, and original content from a wide variety of scholars and writers, weaving a rich tapestry of thought regarding villains in all their manifestations, including film, literature, television, games, and, of course, comics and sequential art. While The Supervillain Reader focuses on the latter, it moves beyond comics to show how the vital concept of the supervillain is part of our larger consciousness. Editors Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G. Weiner collect pieces that explore how the villain is a complex part of narratives regardless of the original source. The Joker, Lex Luthor, Harley Quinn, Darth Vader, and Magneto must be compelling, stimulating, and proactive, whereas the superhero (or protagonist) is most often reactive. Indeed, whether in comics, films, novels, religious tomes, or videogames, the eternal struggle between villain and hero keeps us coming back to these stories over and over again"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.