Book Reading List: Fandoms and Comics

It’s been a while since my last book reading list. Today, I want to share with you some books on fandoms and comics that are great pools of wisdom. You can read them for entertainment, or know more about how adorkable geeks can be. Knowing more about fandoms is an excellent way to discovering oneself. But knowing more about comics is seeing a wild new world.

The Superhero Costume : Identity and Disguise in Fact and Fiction is one of the best reads on Superheroes ever! You never think about Superhero fashion: you give it for granted. However, there’s much more than meets the eye on Super-fashion. How colors change over time as Superheroes change because of historical and social changes is just one of the exhilarating examples that this book can offer. Is it frivolous to read about fashion? Is it a waste of time discovering all the ins and outs of Superhero fashion? I say it’s a waste if you don’t read about it!

The Secret History of Wonder Woman opens the door to know everything about Wonder Woman. Not only she is a great Superhero, but she also happens to have a secret story! Created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman embodies values and astonishing relations with historical figures like suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst. This book is a jewel! It explains tons on Wonder Woman and the struggle of women’s rights during the 20th century.

Fandom : Identities and Communities in a Mediated World explains the extent of fandom in almost all humans, at least, in the Western World. Let’s face it: we go to websites, forums to know more about our favorite characters. We’re not only happy on what Netflix offers us: we need more! Contributors of this book study fans, spaces of fandom, the impact of technologies on fandom and many other key topics that will leave you breathless. (Basically, because you end up nodding your head now and now again because you did all those things too! Let’s embrace our inner fangirl!)

Black Comics : Politics of Race and Representation talks about the different and diverse contributions of Black artists to comics. It’s a jewel since it gives us perspective on the Black experience, politics, gender, identity, etc. This is a book for students of the medium of comics. However, it’s a great pool of wisdom, and it helps you to put some perspective in reading comics.

The Visual Language of Comics : Introduction to the Structure and Cognition of Sequential Images is a provocative book: it considers drawings and sequential images as language. Said in other words: comics are a language. Hence they can be studied and analyzed as language, with grammar and structure. This book takes inspiration in linguistics and cognitive psychology. It’s a new way of taking a look at comics, and it’s also an interesting way to start analyzing comics. You can see that, comics from different cultures speak a very different language (even if they look pretty similar at the beginning).

Super-History : Comic Book Superheroes and American Society, 1938 to the Present is amazing. If you love discovering about American history and culture, you’re going to have a great time with this book! The book takes us in a journey of discovery on how comics mirror history, and how Superheroes are a very American thing. The connections of what happens on paper and what happens, in reality, are mind-blowing!

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Note: this post contains affiliate links. I only present books that I love.