Comic book superheroes have risen from their newsprint beginnings to dominate films, infiltrate the literary establishment, and become an integral part of popular culture. Secret Identity Reader: Essays on Sex, Death and the Superhero is a collaboration between two authors who investigate, and often disagree on, key facets of the superhero character and storyline. Masculinity, origin stories and the problem of the sidekick are all fair game in this wide-ranging discussion, which also considers the superhero’s place in a post 9/11 world and ponders why these characters keep dying and coming back to life.
Reviews
Telling Secrets (Tim Blackmore, Canadian Literature, 06/12/2012)
“It is a great relief to read a book as thoughtful, intelligent, well-informed, perceptive, and smart as Lee Easton and Richard Harrison’s Secret Identity Reader.... It’s a pleasure to see this kind of study done right (the word “properly” just doesn’t pack the colloquial wallop it needs).”
Other Titles by Richard Harrison
Now is the Winter: Thinking about hockey (2010)
Worthy of his Fall (2005)
Hero of the Play: 10th Anniversary Edition (2004)
Big Breath of a Wish (1998)
Downloads
Secret Identity Reader Excerpt
Read an excerpt of Secret Identity Reader by Lee Easton and Richard Harrison
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