Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes.

Comics

Interesting course

Tomorrow in the Bible and Popular Culture course we begin to look at ethics and how interpretation of the Bible (esp. origin stories) functions in that. At some point we’ll intersect with comic book narratives as contemporary morality plays. While surfing around the web today thinking about that, I came across this course that deals with superheroes – looks interesting.

COM 4849 Mythic Rhetoric of the American Superhero
Course blog: SUPERHERO RHETORIC FORTRESS OF BLOGITUDE!

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for linking to my supercourse blog, Stephen! The intersections of ethics and hermeneutics seems to be a shared interest, here are a few suggestions that may provide fodder for reflection.

    Review of L&J’s “Myth of the American Superhero,” a critique of American supersaviors who crusade against evil with redemptive violence and thus subvert both theological ethics and democratic values.
    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_3_63/ai_101261152/

    The link-o-ramas in these blog entries may be particularly relevant to your critical perspective:
    http://rhetoricsuperhero.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/week-3-superheroes-and/
    Are you familiar with KINGDOM COME?
    http://rhetoricsuperhero.wordpress.com/2010/03/07/marvels-and-kingdom-come/

    Also check out “The Gospel according to Spider-Man” in a 2004 issue of Journal of Popular Culture, since it offers a nice counter-point to Lawrence & Jewett’s scathing critique using the film!

    Avante!

  2. Thanks for the links, Shaun.

    Kingdom Come is a favourite of mine, and a few years back I got to ask Mark Waid some questions about it and religion in general at a pop culture expo down here.

    Currently sitting at my desk working on a conference paper on religious authority in comic books, with a focus on ‘warrior nuns’. Slow going as there’s too much interesting source material 🙂

    Cheers,

    Stephen.