The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger - by Jess Nevins (Hardcover)

About the Book

Using a broad array of historical and literary sources, this book presents an unprecedented detailed history of the superhero and its development across the course of human history.
How has the concept of the superhero developed over time? How has humanity's idealization of heroes with superhuman powers changed across millennia--and what superhero themes remain constant? Why does the idea of a superhero remain so powerful and relevant in the modern context, when our real-life technological capabilities arguably surpass the imagined superpowers of superheroes of the past? The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero is the first complete history of superheroes that thoroughly traces the development of superheroes, from their beginning in 2100 B.C.E. with the Epic of Gilgamesh to their fully entrenched status in modern pop culture and the comic book and graphic novel worlds.

The book documents how the two modern superhero archetypes--the Costumed Avengers and the superhuman Supermen--can be traced back more than two centuries; turns a critical, evaluative eye upon the post-Superman history of the superhero; and shows how modern superheroes were created and influenced by sources as various as Egyptian poems, biblical heroes, medieval epics, Elizabethan urban legends, Jacobean masques, Gothic novels, dime novels, the Molly Maguires, the Ku Klux Klan, and pulp magazines. This work serves undergraduate or graduate students writing papers, professors or independent scholars, and anyone interested in learning about superheroes.

• Presents a concise but thorough history of the superhero comic industry, from the 1930s to today
• Clearly describes the two main forms of the historical superhero, the Costumed Avenger and the Superman
• Suggests a new way in which to evaluate superheroes and explains why this new methodology is important
• Identifies and examines the ways in which superheroes have been present in popular literature since the beginning of human history

Book Synopsis

Using a broad array of historical and literary sources, this book presents an unprecedented detailed history of the superhero and its development across the course of human history.

How has the concept of the superhero developed over time? How has humanity's idealization of heroes with superhuman powers changed across millennia--and what superhero themes remain constant? Why does the idea of a superhero remain so powerful and relevant in the modern context, when our real-life technological capabilities arguably surpass the imagined superpowers of superheroes of the past? The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero is the first complete history of superheroes that thoroughly traces the development of superheroes, from their beginning in 2100 B.C.E. with the Epic of Gilgamesh to their fully entrenched status in modern pop culture and the comic book and graphic novel worlds.

The book documents how the two modern superhero archetypes--the Costumed Avengers and the superhuman Supermen--can be traced back more than two centuries; turns a critical, evaluative eye upon the post-Superman history of the superhero; and shows how modern superheroes were created and influenced by sources as various as Egyptian poems, biblical heroes, medieval epics, Elizabethan urban legends, Jacobean masques, Gothic novels, dime novels, the Molly Maguires, the Ku Klux Klan, and pulp magazines. This work serves undergraduate or graduate students writing papers, professors or independent scholars, and anyone interested in learning about superheroes.

Review Quotes

"A well-researched and utterly captivating book offering the complete history of the superhero and how the concept has evolved over time. . . . [T]here are hundreds of other superheroes that Nevins explores in-depth and with remarkable insight. The thrill of reading a book like The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger is that, aside from being educational and interesting in itself, it inspires readers to seek out more superhero stories." --Kirkus Reviews

"To trace these multitudinous precursors to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman is obviously a job that only super-researcher Jess Nevins could undertake. . . . Jess Nevins has now mapped the DNA that links ancient Enkidu to our own Wolverine. He convincingly shows that the superheroes of today's page and screen got their start long before baby Kal-El was sent rocketing toward Earth as the planet Krypton exploded." --Wall Street Journal

"A solid contribution to the literature on a phenomenon that today commands so much time, attention, and money. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty." --Choice

About the Author