Scan barcode
A review by rosienreads
Superhero Comics by Chris Gavaler
3.0
Disclaimer: I received free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Superheroes are everywhere nowadays; it is near impossible to go into town and avoid seeing something superhero-related, be it a toy, a DVD or even a logoed shirt. That being said, I am not complaining. Superheroes have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; yet, despite that, the comic side of the superhero world has mostly been a mystery to me. When I saw Superhero Comics on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it.
I will admit, I don’t often read non-fiction. I find it hard to get into and hard to stick to. However, Superhero Comics managed to keep my attention throughout most of the book and I found myself completely fascinated by what it had to say. The book essentially covers three main topics: the history of comics, the social and cultural context of comics and the actual structure and formatting of comics.
Of these three categories, the first two were the ones which particularly interested me and it would be an understatement to say I learnt a lot. The book goes back to before the dawn of heroes to explore what it was that led to their appearance in the world; then, from there, moves forward, going through the various ages of comics before investigating how comics have evolved based on the cultural and societal pressures of the time. This includes superhero roots in the KKK and Nazi ideals, the ups and downs of comic popularity and even tackles why female heroes are drawn the way they are. The chapter which stuck out to me the most was the one which covered female and LGBTQ+ representation, whereas the final part of the book, where it starts to analyse various artist techniques and comic book structure was a little difficult for me to get into.
My main concern with the book was, simply, for a book about comics there were not that may pictures. As someone who has yet to be fully initiated into the world of comic books, a lot of the references were lost on me and so it would have been helpful to have examples of these mixed in with the text. Towards the end, when Superhero Comics was talking about the appearance of comics, this did change a little, although the fact I was reading on a kindle did make it difficult to flip back to the images when they were being discussed. This meant a lot of what was being described ended up being lost on me.
Overall, Superhero Comics is a fascinating read for anyone even mildly interested in the comic book world. It is clear and, for the most part, the terminology is described so that a layperson could understand. The pages are filled with facts that I had not even considered (such as why DC and Marvel are the only companies to use the term ‘superhero’) and, for those just getting into comics, there is also a key text section which covers the main, defining comics of each era – a great place to get started. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in comics, even if you aren’t necessarily an avid comic book reader yourself.
Superheroes are everywhere nowadays; it is near impossible to go into town and avoid seeing something superhero-related, be it a toy, a DVD or even a logoed shirt. That being said, I am not complaining. Superheroes have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; yet, despite that, the comic side of the superhero world has mostly been a mystery to me. When I saw Superhero Comics on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it.
I will admit, I don’t often read non-fiction. I find it hard to get into and hard to stick to. However, Superhero Comics managed to keep my attention throughout most of the book and I found myself completely fascinated by what it had to say. The book essentially covers three main topics: the history of comics, the social and cultural context of comics and the actual structure and formatting of comics.
Of these three categories, the first two were the ones which particularly interested me and it would be an understatement to say I learnt a lot. The book goes back to before the dawn of heroes to explore what it was that led to their appearance in the world; then, from there, moves forward, going through the various ages of comics before investigating how comics have evolved based on the cultural and societal pressures of the time. This includes superhero roots in the KKK and Nazi ideals, the ups and downs of comic popularity and even tackles why female heroes are drawn the way they are. The chapter which stuck out to me the most was the one which covered female and LGBTQ+ representation, whereas the final part of the book, where it starts to analyse various artist techniques and comic book structure was a little difficult for me to get into.
My main concern with the book was, simply, for a book about comics there were not that may pictures. As someone who has yet to be fully initiated into the world of comic books, a lot of the references were lost on me and so it would have been helpful to have examples of these mixed in with the text. Towards the end, when Superhero Comics was talking about the appearance of comics, this did change a little, although the fact I was reading on a kindle did make it difficult to flip back to the images when they were being discussed. This meant a lot of what was being described ended up being lost on me.
Overall, Superhero Comics is a fascinating read for anyone even mildly interested in the comic book world. It is clear and, for the most part, the terminology is described so that a layperson could understand. The pages are filled with facts that I had not even considered (such as why DC and Marvel are the only companies to use the term ‘superhero’) and, for those just getting into comics, there is also a key text section which covers the main, defining comics of each era – a great place to get started. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in comics, even if you aren’t necessarily an avid comic book reader yourself.