When the powerful alliance of superheroes called The Avengers were called by Marvel Comics (or rather, by S.H.I.E.L.D.), each member represented certain traits, powers, mindsets and even ideologies. The “Sentinel of Liberty,” a nickname (turned nom-de-guerre at various occasions on countless missions) for Captain America, unlike other superheroes of the Golden Age not simply existed […]
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Category: Comic Book Culture
Marvel Comics Library. Spider-Man. Vol. 2. 1965–1966 by Stan Lee and Jonathan Ross (eds.) (2023)
The latest addition to Taschen’s XXL Marvel Comic Library has the focus on the later adventures of Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man, in New York City. And what action awaits there! In the years 1965 and 1966, the extremely successful collaboration of Marvel’s mastermind Stan Lee (script and editor) and legendary Steve Ditko (drawings, […]
Secondary Action Heroes of Golden Age Comics by Lou Mougin (2023)
When in the 1930s and early 1940s comic books became very popular and promised good profits for its publishers, the market was soon flooded with various sorts of adventures at the newsstands. The comic book stories would take place on far away planets, on the American frontier of colonial America, in the West, in exotic […]
Blockheads, Beagles, and Sweet Babboos: New Perspectives on Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts by Michelle
The fame and the legend of the Peanuts started on October 2, 1950, and the newspaper comic strip became a success almost immediately: at its peak, it ran in more than 2,600 newspapers simultaneously and made Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Lucy household names. 1952 saw the first edition of the Peanuts in paperback editions, where […]
Marvel Comics Library. Silver Surfer. Vol.1. 1968–1970 by Stan Lee, John Buscema, Douglas Wolk (2023
Marvel invented many great and impressive superheroes. Some were allowed their own comic book series; some ran for years or even decades. Compared to other Marvel characters and exclusive series, the Silver Surfer, main actor of the XXL title at hand, archived legendary status after a very short (comic book) lifetime. He was around for […]
The Politics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Nicholas Carnes and Lilly J. Goren (eds.) (2022)
Marvel Comics, or rather, Marvel Entertainment as the corporation now has expanded into various companies responsible for diverse media enterprises, started out as one of many American comic book publishers. The many story arcs, story backgrounds, locations, family trees and so forth developed originally by Marvel‘s artists are by now complicated and span hundreds of […]
Marvel Comics Library. X-Men. Vol. 1. 1963–1966 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Chris Claremont, Fabian Nic
With the fourth installment of the Marvel superheroes edition in XXL size, another one of Stan Lee’s impressive lines of comics is available now: Marvel’s “The X-Men.” A name related to the eXtraordinary or simply X-tra powers the protagonists at hand possessed; without the help of lab accidents, misdirected sun rays or cosmic powers of […]
Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. The Ultimate History by J. B. Kaufman, D. Gerstein, D. Kothenschulte (ed
Much has been written about the economic power and cultural influence of The Walt Disney Company. Not only that today with their components Disney Entertainment, Pixar, ESPN, Disney Parks and many others, Disney is a major player in entertainment business. Furthermore, the company practically holds the rights to and […]
Critical Approaches to Horror Comic Books by John Darowski and Fernando G.P. Berns (eds.) (2022)
For those interested in superhero comics and the many connections to heritage, cultural standing and so forth associated with the category, there is no shortage of academic and popular titles. Fortunately, there are several new studies each year. With horror comic books, however, things are different. The horror genre, when approached from the perspective of […]