'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

It should not be a surprise that I'm once again returning to discussion of the book. After dealing with a conference presentation on comics at the Florida Conference of Historians meeting in Wakulla Springs,FL I'm thinking about the collection again. The concept is sound, but the publishers' spirits are weak. So, after some consultation among the editors we have decided to revamp the proposal a bit, to highlight the themes we think are important. This is not to say we have not done that before, we have, and now we are doing it again with the intention of making the links clearer to the less comic savvy reader. One thing that came out of the discussion is me moving away from race in my chapter and incorporating an examination of Iron Man. Don't worry, I will send the chapter out to a journal, so eventually someone will read it. Moving away from my exploration of race in Marvel does not mean the book will not address race, in fact we have one article exploring Lat...

How can I connect WATCHMEN to Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men , how much pointless self-promotion can I engage in and still look myself in the eye? Well, let see shall we:) In the last two decades, comic books and comic book heroes have experience increased scholarly interest. This attention has approached comic books and characters as myth, sought context of the superhero archetype, and used comic books as cultural markers for postwar America. All of theses efforts share an acknowledgement that comic books and superheroes offer a distinct means to understand U. S. culture. If the mania over WATCHMEN explains anything, it that comic are our culture's mythology. American comics and comic culture provide a window into the way we understand our place in the postwar global experience. The WATCHMEN stands as testament to heighten Cold War tension in the 1980s. The recent success of comic inspired films reflect both the maturity of generation X and the power of visual media to effect...

These are big days for comics fans. WATCHMEN is coming out and Ages of Heroes, Eras of Men , the edited volume I am working on with William Svitavsky and Thomas Donaldson has reached a major milestone. This year's Florida Conference of Historian(FCH) meeting in Fort Myers, FL marks the contributor's first meeting. Some very smart people came from across the country and around the world to present their research at the FCH. This is not surprising because the FCH has been a welcoming forum for everyone interested in any area of historical inquiry for nearly 50 years. This year, the board voted to create Special Interest Sections (SIS) designed to attract scholars interested in specific subjects. One SIS of interest to me is Media Arts and Culture. This special section will be forum for everyone interested in comics, movies, television, film, and radio who might be interested in presenting research with a historical dimension. The creation of this SIS is linked to Professor Svi...