Heroines of Comic Books and Literature

Maja Bajac-Carter is a doctoral candidate in Communication Studies at Kent State University. Her research focuses on gender, identity, and media studies. She is a contributor to We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life . . . and Always Has (2014).Norma Jones has a PhD in communication and information from Kent State University. She is an editor of Rowman & Littlefield's Sports Icons and Issues in Popular Culture book series and is coeditor of Aging Heroes: Growing Old in Popular Culture (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).Bob Batchelor teaches in the Media, Journalism & Film department at Miami University and is the founding editor of the Popular Culture Studies Journal. Batchelor edits the Contemporary American Literature and Cultural History of Television book series for Rowman & Littlefield. Among his books are John Updike: A Critical Biography (2013), Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), and Mad Men: A Cultural History (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).

The release of Heroines of Comic Books and Literature...could not have been timelier.... The well-organized thought processes throughout should prove to be refreshing to the comic book fan, even though it reveals some uneasy, though necessary truths, of these heroine portrayals.... Heroines of Comic Books and Literature boasts nineteen succinct chapters by a collection of authors who aptly command authority in their respective areas of expertise. A notable inclusion of comic artist, writer, and Will Eisner Hall of Fame inductee Trina Robbins adds panache to an already credible list of educators and scholars. The variety of case studies and methodologies will certainly satisfy those who want more from their popular culture analysis. Collections like this can potentially fall into the trap of stylistic inconsistency, but the editors may be credited for a book filled with direct, punchy writing that provokes the reader to want more from each chapter. This book is perhaps best described as an academic’s Jezebel — it approaches popular culture in a manner that welcomes discussions and is appropriately critical, well researched, even-tempered, and, is still, wildly passionate.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionI. LiteratureChapter 1: To Heck with the Village: Fantastic Heroines, Journey and Return, Sandra J. LindowChapter 2: From Duckling to Swan: What Makes a Twilight Heroine Strong, Tricia ClasenChapter 3: Salem’s Daughters: Witchcraft, Justice, and the Heroine in Popular Culture, Lauren Lemley Chapter 4: Heroine: Christina of Markyate, K. A. LaityChapter 5: The Bohemian Gypsy, Another Body to Sell: Deciphering Esmeralda in Popular Culture, Adina SchneeweisChapter 6: Writing Women in War: Speaking Through, About, And For Female Soldiers in Iraq, Christina M. SmithII. Exotic, Foreign, Familiar, and QueerChapter 7: The Borderland Construction of Latin American and Latina Heroines in Contemporary Visual Media, Mauricio EspinozaChapter 8: Janissary: An Orientalist Heroine Or a Role Model For Muslim Women?, Itir Erhart & Hande Eslen-ZiyaChapter 9: Representations of Motherhood in X-men, Christopher Paul WagenheimChapter 10: Negotiating Life Spaces: How M