Superman is probably the most famous comic book super hero in the world. It seems pretty apparent to me that Superman is an American character. Sure his creators were Jewish immigrants who weren't born in America, but that doesn't mean that Superman can't be classified as an American character. Superman really represents the dream that many people come to this country for. Superman really lives the American dream in a sense. After he he is found on earth, he is raised out on a farm and then moves to the city of metropolis. Here he uses his super powers to battle evil and protect the citizens. Superman swept the nation and became extremely popular. Today there are movies and tv shows about him. His creators may be immigrants to the country, but in America who isn't? America was built on people immigrating to the country. I'd say this makes superman even more American. Seigel and Schuster were really living the American dream. They were unpopular and un-athletic high school kids and they became some of the most successful comic book writers at the time and created arguably the most iconic character ever made. Superman is definitely an American character, and an American hero.
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...
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