So That's the Common Thread
May. 27th, 2010 06:59 amI was reading Karen Healey's post about the attractions of WisCon, particularly this panel she's hosting:
1) Superhero Comics as Fan Fiction: An Archontic Approach (Karen Healey) The multi–authored contemporary superhero comics of the main Marvel and DC fictional universes are essentially palimpsestual works. Constantly writing over and referring to earlier works in the same canon, they are rich in allusion, irony and self–reflexivity, and contain multiple complex and contradictory continuities. Moreover, although subject to corporate control and creative constraint, contemporary superhero comics are created primarily by fans of the established canon. In short, they're fan fiction. I propose a theoretical approach to superhero comics drawn largely from literary analysis of fan fiction, particularly from the theories of Sheenagh Pugh and Abigail Derecho.
First, that sounds really cool. Secondly, it makes me consider if the reason I liked comic books as a child was the same reason I liked reading fanfiction, and the same reason I like 19th century novels chock full of Biblical allusions. Intertextuality! the common thread of my reading habits.
What can I say? I like my books to talk to each other, not just to me.
1) Superhero Comics as Fan Fiction: An Archontic Approach (Karen Healey) The multi–authored contemporary superhero comics of the main Marvel and DC fictional universes are essentially palimpsestual works. Constantly writing over and referring to earlier works in the same canon, they are rich in allusion, irony and self–reflexivity, and contain multiple complex and contradictory continuities. Moreover, although subject to corporate control and creative constraint, contemporary superhero comics are created primarily by fans of the established canon. In short, they're fan fiction. I propose a theoretical approach to superhero comics drawn largely from literary analysis of fan fiction, particularly from the theories of Sheenagh Pugh and Abigail Derecho.
First, that sounds really cool. Secondly, it makes me consider if the reason I liked comic books as a child was the same reason I liked reading fanfiction, and the same reason I like 19th century novels chock full of Biblical allusions. Intertextuality! the common thread of my reading habits.
What can I say? I like my books to talk to each other, not just to me.