Chambliss, Julian, William Svitasky, and Thomas Donaldson, eds. Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men: Superheroes and the American Experience.

Coker, Catherine

Chambliss, Julian, William Svitasky, and Thomas Donaldson, eds. Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men: Superheroes and the American Experience. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013. 262 pp. Hardcover. ISBN 978-1-4438-4803-9. $75.99.

This edited compilation of essays on superhero comics is as ambitious as it is problematic. The editors state that their goal is "to offer a single volume that will group scholarly examination of comic book superheroes from historical, sociological, and cultural perspective [sic] into one volume" (2). As a whole, the chapters converge on the concept of rereading superhero comics within the framework of broader American culture; otherwise, they are a disparate grouping of essays that approach such topics as masculinity, race, gender, and politics such that they often overlap and seem homogenous rather than cohesive. The majority of the comics surveyed are the classics of DC and Marvel, including Superman and Batman on the one hand and Captain America and Spider-man on the other. It is perhaps unnecessary to have a book-length examination of how superhero comics reaffirm the mainstream status quo even as they occasionally subvert it, and yet having committed to this cause, there is all too little to show for it.

Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men is divided into three main parts, each of which comprises five chapters. Section one is entitled "Defending the American Way: The Golden Age of Comics, American Identity, and the Search for Order" and roughly encompasses the years 1938-1960. Chambliss and Svitasky open the book with an essay on "The Origin of the Superhero: Culture, Race, and Identity in US Popular Culture, 1890-1940." This piece does a good job setting the stage for the essays that follow, but an editorial weakness that appears in other parts of the book is the constant and consistent reintroduction of characters; for instance, we are reminded multiple times that Superman first appears in 1938 and Captain America first appears in 1941. Efforts to make each essay stand alone end up making each piece sound more or less like those that preceded or followed it when read in succession, as character and publishing histories are reiterated. Other essays in this section discuss Superman and oppression in the 1930s; the Canadian superheroine Nelvana of the Northern Lights; representations of both the Cold War and nationalism and gender and power relationships in comics. Each of these essays condenses topics and material that could easily be standalone volumes of their own.

Section two, "Crisis of Consensus: The Silver Age, Societal Upheaval, and New Definition of Heroism," covers the 1960s through the 1990s. This is the strongest part of the collection; because it covers the greatest length of time and a larger range of topics, there is less repetition here than in the other sections. Particularly strong essays include Antonio S. Thompson's "Nationalism and Power: Captain America, Governmental Policy, and the Problem of American Nationalism" and Thomas C. Donaldson's "Ineffectual Lass Among the Legions of Superheroes: The Marginalization and Domestication of Female Superheroes, 1955-1970." Both of these pieces combine historical overviews of the characters discussed with close readings of particular stories such that audiences familiar with the material can nod along and those who aren't won't be left bewildered by the commentary. Other essays skim the surface in discussing race, the effect of the Baby Boom Generation on comics over time, and the representation of the American military industrial complex during and after the Cold War.

The third and final section, "The Modern Age: Fall and Rise of the Hero," focuses largely on comics in the post-9/11 world. In many ways this part of the book is its weakest in choice of subject matter. For better or for worse, only glancing treatment is given to the past decade of media blockbusters and none at all to transmedia interpretations. However, as comics as a print medium are transitioning to digital editions--and, in the case of newer comics, are born digital altogether--a discussion on this topic would have been relevant. Essays in this section expand upon depictions of the nuclear family in superhero films, masculinity in consumer culture, and a discussion of Latino identity in American comics. Michael J. Lecker's "Superhero Fantasy in a Post-9/11 World: Marvel Comics and Army Recruitment" is the standout piece for this section, but has its own problems as well. It discusses the presence of army ads in comic arcs, especially the Marvel Civil War series, and makes an argument for a conservative ideology in the use of these ads with that storyline. However, he ignores those Civil War comics that tackle head-on the problems of the national police state; New Avengers #22 in particular focuses on "Cape-Killers" attempting to arrest Luke Cage with explicit parallels to the Rodney King case. Glancing reference is made to US military participation in the Iron Man films which are pro-military, but nothing is said of their lack of involvement in the Hulk films which are anti-military--and part of the same franchise.

Comics scholarship as such is scarce on the ground; for this reason, the sources cited tend to reference few articles or monographs and more of the source texts. Given the breadth and range of superhero comics, it makes sense for a great deal of space to be allocated to summarizing character histories and storylines, yet I can't help but feel that more of an effort could have been made in shaping the material of this book into a traditional academic volume; all too often citations lead to popular press articles rather than scholarly texts. It seems to me that what scholarship there is should be championed and utilized with a conscious effort towards adding to that body of work, rather than re-inventing the wheel. What little theory referenced is often used sparingly and shallowly, lending the feel of mediocre seminar papers to several chapters. Shawn O'Rourke's essay, "A Brief Historiography of the Age of Marginalization: The Superhero in the American Mind" closes the volume and provides a brief overview of comics scholarship both popular and academic; it would have made a lot of sense for this to be the opening rather than closing essay. The historiography of a small field of study is an important element of its critical development, as is demonstrating knowledge of preceding scholarship. At this point in comics studies, there is a fledgling set of readers and anthologies already available; in failing to engage with these volumes, Ages sets itself up to fail in its stated goal. Far from providing a singular volume that covers a great deal of ground, it has all but divorced itself from its field entirely.

This book best belongs in an academic library or in the hands of a truly obsessive collector. It's too short of content to be worth the expense to an average academic, let alone a comics aficionado whose dollars could be better spent on obtaining more comics. Given the short range of material covered and its less than stellar offerings, it would be a poor addition to the private library of a graduate student or a working scholar. However, we can hope that this publication spurs on a drive for more, and better, academic publications on the topic.