Superheroes of the Round Table : Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance Literature

Few scholars nursed on the literary canon would dispute that knowledge of Western literature benefits readers and writers of the superhero genre. This analysis of superhero comics as Romance literature shows that the reverse is true--knowledge of the superhero romance has something to teach critics of traditional literature. Establishing the comic genre as a cousin to Arthurian myth, Spenser, and Shakespeare, it uses comics to inform readings of The Faerie Queene, The Tempest , Malory's Morte and more, while employing authors like Ben Johnson to help explain comics by Alan Moore, Jack Kirby, and Grant Morrison and characters like Iron Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Justice League. Scholars of comics, medieval and Renaissance literature alike will find it appealing. "Establishing the comic genre as a cousin to Arthurian myth, Spenser, and Shakespeare, this work uses comics to inform readings of The Faerie Queene, The Tempest, Malory's Morte and more, while employing authors like Ben Johnson to help explain comics by Alan Moore, Jack Kirby, and Grant Morrison"--Provided by publisher. Table of Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 10 1. Double Identities and Arthegall’s Yron Man 28 2. Kirby’s Masque 60 3. “By My So Potent Art” 100 4. Arthur, the Four-Color King 151 5. Grant Morrison’s Grail Quest 198 Notes 236 Bibliography 241 Index 246