Just starting my A2 coursework for sociology and I'm thinking of doing a study on the hidden meanings in comics (the constructs of the hero/villian, etc) most probably for young(er) boys (say 2000ad's original age group) and I was wondering if anyone had any idea of books/articles that would help me with it.
Thank you
Will
Shit! I've just offloaded my sociology & comics course books to a secondhand shop. If only you'd gotten here sooner. Oh well, try having a look at "The Many Lives of the Batman: Critical Approaches to a Superhero and His Media" by Roberta E. Pearson & William Uricchio. It's great just for the Frank Miller interview about The Dark Knight Returns. You could also check out "Haunt of Fears: Strange History of the British Horror Comics Campaign". It might be out of print now but "Comics, Sociology & Superheroes" is quite insightful. I did the same thing about 9 years ago at Uni, so most of these books don't go beyond the Watchmen / Dark Knight era. Good luck with the research.
And if you can get hold of the Frederik Wertham book from the 1950's you'll be onto a winner. Seduction of the Innocent.
Boy this Wertham fella sure is popular on the board right now. If ya like to see my rant check out this thread
Link: Thread 5362
'Superheroes' by Richard Reynolds (now my editor/publisher!) First published by Batsford in the mid-90s. Very accessible but very intelligent overview, and short enough to be useful.
But the ubertext for anything to do with heroes and villains in any medium is Joseph Campbell's 'The Hero With A Thousand Faces'. Very highly recommended.
Surely the impact depends on how many, and from what height they are dropped?