A complete guide to the history, form and contexts of the genre, Superhero Comics helps readers explore the most successful and familiar of comic book genres.

In an accessible and easy-to-navigate format, the book reveals:

·The history of superhero comics—from mythic influences to 21st century evolutions
·Cultural contexts—from the formative politics of colonialism, eugenics, KKK vigilantism, and WWII fascism to the Cold War’s transformative threat of mutually assured destruction to the on-going revolutions in African American and sexual representation
·Key texts—from the earliest pre-Comics-Code Superman and Batman to the latest post-Code Ms. Marvel and Black Panther
·Approaches to visual analysis—from layout norms to narrative structure to styles of abstraction