Do The Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes

Description

Brash, bold, and sometimes brutal, superheroes might seem to epitomize modern pop-culture at its most melodramatic and mindless. But according to Ben Saunders, the appeal of the superhero is fundamentally metaphysical - even spiritual - in nature. In chapter-length analyses of the early comic book adventures of Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Iron-Man, Saunders explores a number of complex philosophical and theological issues, including: the problem of evil; the will-to-power; the tension between intimacy and vulnerability; and the challenge of love, in the face of mortality. He concludes that comic book fantasies of the superhuman ironically reveal more than we might care to admit about our human limitations, even as they expose the falsehood of the characteristically modern opposition between religion and science. Clearly and passionately written, this insightful and at times exhilarating book should delight all readers who believe in the redemptive capacity of the imagination, regardless of whether they consider themselves comic book fans.

Ben Saunders is Associate Professor of English at the University of Oregon. He is author of Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Interpretation (Harvard University Press, 2006) and co-editor, with Roger Beebe and Denise Fulbrook, of Rock Over the Edge: Essays in Popular Music Culture (Duke University Press, 2002).

'Ben Saunders sets the bar high for himself when he says at the outset that a book about pop superheroes must be a book about spirituality and therefore about love. That might seem to place an unsupportable weight on the shoulders of Superman, Wonderwoman, Spiderman, and Iron man, but in this learned yet entirely accessible essay, Saunders makes both his thesis and his heroes stand up.' - Stanley Fish, Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor of Humanities and Law, Florida International University, USA 'Ben Saunders has done for comics analysis what Alan Moore did for comics literature. Do the Gods Wear Capes? is a provocative, intelligent, and thought-provoking work, and Saunders' insights rise from the page with the same power and grace as those iconic characters he examines. Certainly the best critical work on the meaning and impact of those marquee super-heroes that define the genre and that we encounter in myriad ways every day as has ever been written.' - Greg Rucka, novelist and author of Batwoman: Elegy, Whiteout, and Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia ... my summaries here do not begin to do justice to the depth of Saunders' own work. His reading and analysis of William Marston's professional writings in psychology-and the subsequent light they shed on Wonder Woman-are unprecedented; and he then goes on to bring in feminist theologians such as Rosemary Radford Reuther, Daphne Hampson, and Sarah Coakley. Although this is only one example, it is indicative of the quality of work found throughout the entire book. * Transpositions * In this excellent book, four iconic superheroes serve as Saunders's role models for social and spiritual awareness...Saunders's superb essay on Wonder Woman at long last makes sense of the odd ideological mix of feminism, pseudo-Greco-Roman spirituality, and sadomasochism(?) underpinning the character. He is one of the few comic scholars who appreciates and understands this revolutionary and deeply spiritual character...This volume is highly recommended. -- Marc DiPaolo * Religious Studies Review * Capes offers the perspective that superheroes might be much more than simply an adolescent power fantasy. And within the confines of this slim 150-page book, Saunders argues this cogently and coherently ... Perhaps one of the most important facets of the book comes from the varied think ers to whom Saunders refers. There are references to philosophers and theologians, from Slavoj Zizek to John Caputo, Kant and St. Augustine and Nietzsche, but little reference to comic book theorists. Indeed, in trying to place this book into a continuum of like-minded works, Grant Morrison's Supergods and David Lewis and Christine Kraemer's collection Graven Images are two of only a few that spring to mind, and Saunders acknowledges this explicitly when he writes "I am actually trying to elevate the status of superhero comics by association" (6). Rather than privilege solely either analysis of the form, or of the cultural moment that these stories seem to emblematize, Saunders asks us to think about superheroes as part of a much longer lineage, one that has been a fundamental part of human conscious ness almost since the beginning of human consciousness: the lineage of art that interrogates existence. -- Tom Miller * TOPIA * [Listed in "Too Many Words: 15 fantastic books to help you learn about comics"] There's no shortage of books about superheroes and their mythological significance, but this one stands out from the rest. Written by Ben Saunders, who runs the Comics and Cartoon Studies program at the University of Oregon, Do the Gods Wear Capes? makes an enthralling case for superheroes as spiritual entities, and has the sharp analysis of text and pop culture to back it up. With chapters focusing on Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man and Iron Man, this is a great way to see your favorite heroes in a new light. * blastr *