Can This Really Be the End?
Nation, Salvation, Commodification, Preservation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v3i2/3.3.149Keywords:
messianism, superheroes, epic, narrativityAbstract
This essay begins with the close connections between messianism and superhero comics. In trying to understand how narrative functions, I take the classical epic as the master narrative and observe the ways in which the messianic tale and the comic book critique it. Looking at all three in relation to each other, we can see that death and embodiment are powerful items in the narrative toolkit, as part of a discourse of preservation in which narrative genres speak back and forth between cultural contexts.
References
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Detective Comics, Inc., v. Bruns Publications, Inc. et al. 1940. United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 111 F.2d 432; 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 3661; 45 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 291. April 29.
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Marx, Karl. 1976. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, trans. Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin.
National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. et al. 1950. United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 93 F. Supp. 349; 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2324; 87 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 12. April 10.
Parry, Milman. 1971. The Making of Homeric Verse. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sandnes, Karl Olav. 2005. “Imitatio Homeri? A Critique of Dennis R. MacDonald’s ‘Mimesis Criticism’.” Journal of Biblical Literature 124: 715-32.
Shea, Chris. 2005. “Imitating Imitation: Vergil, Homer, and Acts 10:1-11:18.” In Ancient Fiction, ed. Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea, 37-59. Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature.
Siegel, Jerry, and Joe Shuster. 1971. Action Comics #1, reprinted in Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies. New York: Bonanza Books.
Virgil. 1916. Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid I–VI, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Žižek, Slavoj. 1989. The Sublime Object of Desire. London: Verso.
Aristotle. 1972. Poetics. In Ancient Literary Criticism: The Principal Texts in New Translations, ed. D. A. Russell and M. Winterbottom, trans. D. A. Russell, 85-131. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Benjamin, Walter. 1968. “The Storyteller.” In Illuminations, 83-110. New York: Schocken.
Bhabha, Homi K. 1990. Nation and Narration. London: Routledge.
Brackett, Charles, Billy Wilder, and D. M. Marshman, Jr. 2002. Sunset Boulevard. DVD. Directed by Billy Wilder. Los Angeles: Paramount.
Brooks, Peter. 1984. Reading for the Plot. New York: Knopf.
Coogan, Peter. 2006. Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre. Austin, TX: Monkey-Brain Books.
Detective Comics, Inc., v. Bruns Publications, Inc. et al. 1940. United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 111 F.2d 432; 1940 U.S. App. LEXIS 3661; 45 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 291. April 29.
Eco, Umberto. 1979. “The Myth of Superman.” In The Role of the Reader, 107-24. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Jurgens, Dan, et al. 1992–93. The Death of Superman. New York: DC.
Lord, Albert Bates. 1960. The Singer of Tales. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
MacDonald, Dennis. 2001. Mimesis and Intertextuality in Antiquity and Christianity. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press.
Marx, Karl. 1976. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, trans. Ben Fowkes. London: Penguin.
National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. et al. 1950. United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. 93 F. Supp. 349; 1950 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2324; 87 U.S.P.Q. (BNA) 12. April 10.
Parry, Milman. 1971. The Making of Homeric Verse. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Sandnes, Karl Olav. 2005. “Imitatio Homeri? A Critique of Dennis R. MacDonald’s ‘Mimesis Criticism’.” Journal of Biblical Literature 124: 715-32.
Shea, Chris. 2005. “Imitating Imitation: Vergil, Homer, and Acts 10:1-11:18.” In Ancient Fiction, ed. Jo-Ann A. Brant, Charles W. Hedrick, and Chris Shea, 37-59. Atlanta: Society for Biblical Literature.
Siegel, Jerry, and Joe Shuster. 1971. Action Comics #1, reprinted in Superman From the Thirties to the Seventies. New York: Bonanza Books.
Virgil. 1916. Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid I–VI, trans. H. Rushton Fairclough. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Žižek, Slavoj. 1989. The Sublime Object of Desire. London: Verso.
Published
2010-02-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Worley, M. (2010). Can This Really Be the End? Nation, Salvation, Commodification, Preservation. Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts, 3(2-3), 149-161. https://doi.org/10.1558/post.v3i2/3.3.149
