Hi everyone! The given reading for this week was my first experience with reading a comic. My dad is an avid comic book reader and has his own collection that I was never allowed to read for fear of damaging the condition of them. I really enjoy watching TV series or movies on comics such as Arrow, the Avengers, Spiderman, The Flash, etc. I also used to watch Smallville and as I read the first 110 pages of the Superman Chronicles Volume 1, I found myself picturing the actors from Smallville. I found our first reading of the Superman Chronicles Volume 1 to be very funny.
I also found it to be sexist. For example, in Issue 5, the Daily Star editor tells Lois, “Can’t! It’s too important! –This is no job for a girl!” However, I found Lois Lane’s character to be an admirable example of all women. She demonstrates her intelligence, independence and determination throughout the comic yet also displays the fact that she’s human and at times needs rescuing from Superman. She’s driven and hard-working to prove she’s just as smart and capable of doing things men can which provides us with a strong female character. However, her character also has flaws such as her conniving and manipulative nature. We see her steal assignments from Clark Kent by giving him false information and even going as far as drugging him. To me, it just seems like she will go to any length to prove herself capable which is somewhat admirable.
As for the “Masked Heroes” section in our Superhero Reader, I found it to be a very informative summary of features of the superhero genre such as lost parents, man-god, justice, the normal and the super powered, secret identity, superpowers and politics, and science as magic. I found it to be very interesting that many writers and artists create different cities based off of New York City. It makes sense to use a metropolitan area like New York for many comics yet I was unaware that, “The New York of the early 1940s was a place seemingly chosen for the preservation of the values of European civilization…” (Reynolds 108). I assumed many comics were set in cities similar to New York City because of the population and skyscraping buildings. That’s all I have for this week’s response, I can’t wait to learn more in this class!
I also found it to be sexist. For example, in Issue 5, the Daily Star editor tells Lois, “Can’t! It’s too important! –This is no job for a girl!” However, I found Lois Lane’s character to be an admirable example of all women. She demonstrates her intelligence, independence and determination throughout the comic yet also displays the fact that she’s human and at times needs rescuing from Superman. She’s driven and hard-working to prove she’s just as smart and capable of doing things men can which provides us with a strong female character. However, her character also has flaws such as her conniving and manipulative nature. We see her steal assignments from Clark Kent by giving him false information and even going as far as drugging him. To me, it just seems like she will go to any length to prove herself capable which is somewhat admirable.
As for the “Masked Heroes” section in our Superhero Reader, I found it to be a very informative summary of features of the superhero genre such as lost parents, man-god, justice, the normal and the super powered, secret identity, superpowers and politics, and science as magic. I found it to be very interesting that many writers and artists create different cities based off of New York City. It makes sense to use a metropolitan area like New York for many comics yet I was unaware that, “The New York of the early 1940s was a place seemingly chosen for the preservation of the values of European civilization…” (Reynolds 108). I assumed many comics were set in cities similar to New York City because of the population and skyscraping buildings. That’s all I have for this week’s response, I can’t wait to learn more in this class!