Khng, Desiree L. “Philosophising gender politics in Y: The Last Man.”Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (2015): 1-11.
Patriarchy is threatened in Brian K. Vaughan’s apocalyptic graphic novel series Y: The Last Man, denoted through the near-extinction of males on earth. This study incorporates modern critical theory and philosophy in the analysis of Vaughan’s comics. Thematically, this essay employs works by Judith Butler, Joan Riviere and Sigmund Freud regarding the analysis of gender, sex and feminism. Because Y: The Last Man incorporates religious and scientific philosophy as a framework for its gender theme, this essay focuses on the impact of an all-female dystopia on patriarchal laws and their adaptations, which in turn determine the evolution of normative social relations post-apocalypse.
Beerman, Ruth J. “The body unbound: Empowered, heroism and body image.” Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 3.2 (2012): 201-213.
Within most superhero comics, superheroes start as established heroes who save others and planets in the ultimate battle of good versus evil; although characters do evolve and become stronger over time, they still are treated as heroes by fellow superheroes and citizens. Offering an alternative reading, this article explores the transformative narrative arc of a female character who begins as disempowered and struggles to become empowered. Through Adam Warren’s graphic novels Empowered, this article argues that through rhetorics of (dis)empowerment and challenging the duality of strength and femininity/sexuality, a new version of superhero emerges: a vulnerable, human superheroine.
Hodo, Brandi. “Battles of Family, Freedom and Femininity: Portrayals of Gender in Marvel’s Civil War.” Marvel Comics’ Civil War and the Age of Terror: Critical Essays on the Comic Saga (2015): 121.
Marvel Comics has an established tradition of addressing relevant real-life issues facing the American public. With the publication of Civil War (2006-2007), a seven-issue crossover storyline spanning the Marvel universe, they focused on contemporary anxieties such as terrorism and threats to privacy and other civil liberties. This collection of new essays explores the Civil War series and its many tie-in titles from the perspectives of history, political science, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, law and education.
The contributors provide a close reading of the series’ main theme–the appropriate balance between freedom and security–and discuss how that balance affects citizenship, race, gender and identity construction in 21st-century America.
GoodruM, Michael. “‘Oh c’mon, those stories can’t count in continuity!’Squirrel Girl and the problem of female power.” Studies in Comics5.1 (2014): 97-115.
The history of superheroines is one of tensions, contradictions and difficulties. Squirrel Girl is no stranger to these, and her journey through the last twenty years of Marvel comic books has not been easy. In her debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 (S. Ditko and W. Murray, 1992), Squirrel Girl failed to become Iron Man’s sidekick even though she saved him from Doctor Doom. Despite initial success, at least in terms of the narrative, Squirrel Girl disappeared for over ten years. When she reappeared in 2005, Squirrel Girl was in rather less illustrious surroundings – outside continuity. This article tracks the career of Squirrel Girl, focusing on strategies of narrative and visual representation and the relationship of the character to the structuring principle of continuity. Squirrel Girl demonstrates the ability to wield considerable power outside continuity but even here, where the victories of a woman can be easily disavowed thanks to their structural position within the Marvel universe, Squirrel Girl is still problematic. Various strategies of containment are implemented and this article will engage with these, demonstrating continuity and discontinuity in these policies as Squirrel Girl is ultimately drawn into continuity. Through a close critical reading of Squirrel Girl’s appearances, then, this article will provide initial insights into how powerful women are simultaneously promoted and contained by superhero narratives.
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