Skip to main content

Mythology and Superheroes in Comics

Ohhh my goodness... When I decided on trying to analyze the mythological origins and references in superhero comics, I had no idea the can of worms I was opening up... On the one hand, it was awesome to see just how many connections there were between superheroes and psychology/mythology/philosophy, but all the information also made it terribly difficult to distinguish what I should be using and how to tie it all together. When I was talking to one of my sorority sisters about it she said, "Oh yeah, well, research essays are kind of like putting together puzzles..." and I think that really sums up what writing this paper was like for me. Fortunately, I was really interested throughout the whole process and I very much enjoyed writing the paper.

Being a psychology major, I was especially interested in reading about the Jungian archetypes that had a lot of parallels with major modern comic books superheroes. I was also able to incorporate Joseph Campbell's "hero cycle" which I learned about last year in my Greek Mythology class as well as the discussion of Superman as a Christ-figure which we touched upon a little in class. Overall, despite its complexity, I really enjoyed researching and writing this essay because of all the things I learned both about psychology and heroes in comic culture.

Comments

L. said…
hey,
i'd really like to know more about this subject. what books did you study for this? where could i read this essay? i'd be very grateful for your answers, because i am dealling with similiar research at the moment, but i reached a dead end. thank you!
J Chambliss said…
For an examination of superhero as myth see Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, The Myth of the American Superhero (2002). In addition, some great cultural analysis has been done. Check out Will Brooker, Batman Unmasked (2001) and Danny Fingeroth, Superman on the Couch (2004).

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding Comics Ch. 1-2 & Comic Book Nation Ch.1

To begin with, I really do like the idea of reading a comic about comics. I think it's a great idea and it's very well executed. As I was reading the first two chapters, I was surprised at how many examples there were of art in recent (and ancient, in some cases) history that are variations of "sequential visual art" and thus the foundations of modern comics. I'd never even thought about it before and it was hard to believe how many different kinds there were. I also love all the discussion about how our human brains automatically interpret certain images in a specific way, how we see others constantly but we identify ourselves when we look at cartoons, and how inanimate objects automatically becomes extensions of our bodies. The pyramid of styles was very interesting too as a way to conceptualize and almost graph or "place" a specific art style in comics. In Comic Book Nation , I enjoyed reading about the evolution of early comics from "funnies...

MegaCon 2011 Mobile Blog Entry

Next up, the Crime Noir Panel hosted by The Rack Pack Comic Podcast . Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Tieri, Darwyn Cook and Dave Johnson are the speakers. MegaCon has matured as the comic industry has grown in importance in popular culture. Orlando's native convention should be attracting this kind of top talents and now it seem to be doing it.

Why blame comics for societal failure?

Why blame comics for societal failure? Society blamed comics for the societal failures because it was a fairly new industry, and as things seemed to go “wrong” they figured it must be comic books. When a child grew up during the war, his father was probably killing people and the military and his mother was probably making things in factories to help kill the opposition. The only things kids had to “babysit” them was comic books, and they read many different kinds. So when kids starting acting differently in this new generation the figured it must be the comic books. Society didn’t want to believe it may have been the internal and external scars war causes on the soldiers and their families. Also the fact that young unattended children are reading these comics may not be able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. When society fails it always needs a scapegoat then it was comic books next it was rock and roll. Society naturally resist change.