The World Of Dc Comics

The first sustained study of the DC Comics Multiverse, this book explores its history, meanings, and lasting influence. The multiverse is a unique exercise in world-building: a series of parallel and interactive worlds with a cohesive cosmology, developed by various creators over more than 50 years. In examining DC's unique worlds and characters, the book illustrates the expansive potential of a multiverse, full of characters, histories, geographies, religions, ethnographies, and more, and allowing for expressions of legacy, multiplicity, and play that have defined much of DC Comics' output. It shows how a multiverse can be a vital, energizing part of any imaginary world, and argues that students and creators of such worlds would do well to explore the implications and complexities of this world-building technique. Andrew J. Friedenthal has crafted a groundbreaking, engaging, and thoughtful examination of the multiverse, of interest to scholars and enthusiasts of not just comics studies, but also the fields of media studies and imaginary world studies.

A detailed study of the history and long-lasting influence of Marvel Comics, this book explores the ways Marvel’s truly unique comic book world reflects real world issues and controversies alongside believable, psychologically-motivated characters. The book examines a decades-long dual focus on both tight-knit continuity and real-world fidelity that makes the Marvel Universe a unique entity amongst imaginary worlds. Although there have been many books and articles that analyze each of these aspects of the Marvel Universe, the unique focus of this book is on how those two aspects have interwoven over the course of Marvel’s history, and the ways in which both have been used as storytelling engines that have fueled the entire imaginary world of Marvel Comics. Andrew J. Friedenthal has crafted a groundbreaking, engaging, and thoughtful examination of how this particular story world combines intricate world-building with responsiveness to real world events, which will be of interest to scholars and enthusiasts of not just comics studies, but also the fields of transmedia studies and imaginary worlds.

Traces the history of DC Comics from 1935, when the company published the first-ever book of all new comic material, to DC's sixtieth anniversary and beyond, with information on the development of popular heroes such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and others, and over six hundred illustrations.

The first sustained study of the DC Comics Multiverse, this book explores its history, meanings, and lasting influence. The multiverse is a unique exercise in world-building: a series of parallel and interactive worlds with a cohesive cosmology, developed by various creators over more than 50 years. In examining DC's unique worlds and characters, the book illustrates the expansive potential of a multiverse, full of characters, histories, geographies, religions, ethnographies, and more, and allowing for expressions of legacy, multiplicity, and play that have defined much of DC Comics' output. It shows how a multiverse can be a vital, energizing part of any imaginary world, and argues that students and creators of such worlds would do well to explore the implications and complexities of this world-building technique. Andrew J. Friedenthal has crafted a groundbreaking, engaging, and thoughtful examination of the multiverse, of interest to scholars and enthusiasts of not just comics studies, but also the fields of media studies and imaginary world studies.

Travel the myriad worlds of the DC Multiverse. If you want to truly understand DC Comics, The DC Book is your one-stop guide to the DC Multiverse. It is a unique and insightful examination of this mind-boggling comics universe that takes readers on a compelling journey from the dawn of Super Heroes to the formation of the Dark Multiverse... and beyond. Meticulously researched and expertly written, The DC Book is packed with stunning, painstakingly selected artwork, illuminating infographics, and incisive, specially curated essays that shed new light on the ever-evolving DC Multiverse. From the world's finest Super Heroes such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, to iconic villains like the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Darkseid, to mythic realms like Apokolips and Themyscira, to cosmic energies like The Source and The Speed Force, The DC Book explores the key concepts, characters, and events that have defined and shaped DC Comics over the past 80 years. The book's content is divided into key subject areas--The Multiverse, Dark Multiverse, and Metaverse; Weird Science and Super Tech; Down to Earth; Mysteries from Space; Mystic Realms and Dream Worlds; and Time Warps and Other Earths--that form the foundations of DC Comics. The DC Book is an invaluable roadmap to DC Comics that no fan will want to miss!

The complete story of the world's favourite comic book heroes created by the US publisher, DC Comics. It traces the complex genealogies of characters and offers remarkable anecdotes about the company's history, plus interviews with dozens of their writers and artists.

Traces the history of DC Comics, and looks at the television programs, motion pictures, books, and products inspired by its comic book characters

The superhero Wolverine time travels and changes storylines. On Torchwood, there's a pill popped to alter memories of the past. The narrative technique of retroactive continuity seems rife lately, given all the world-building in comics. Andrew J. Friedenthal deems retroactive continuity, or "retconning," as a force with many implications for how Americans view history and culture. Friedenthal examines this phenomenon in a range of media, from its beginnings in comic books and now its widespread shift into television, film, and digital media. Retconning has reached its present form as a result of the complicated workings of superhero comics. In comic books and other narratives, retconning often seems utilized to literally rewrite some aspect of a character's past, either to keep that character more contemporary, to erase stories from continuity that no longer fit, or to create future story potential. From comics, retconning has spread extensively, to long-form, continuity-rich dramas on television, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, and beyond. Friedenthal explains that in a culture saturated by editable media, where interest groups argue over Wikipedia pages and politicians can immediately delete questionable tweets, the retcon serves as a perfect metaphor for the ways in which history, and our access to information overall, has become endlessly malleable. In the first book to focus on this subject, Friedenthal regards the editable Internet hyperlink, rather than the stable printed footnote, as the de facto source of information in America today. To embrace retroactive continuity in fictional media means accepting that the past itself is not a stable element, but rather something constantly in contentious flux. Due to retconning's ubiquity within our media, we have grown familiar with narratives as inherently unstable, a realization that deeply affects how we understand the world.