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A drawing of Magneto wearing a kippah over his helmet.

The Judgment Of Magneto

From villain to antihero, nationalist to freedom fighter, the comic book character has always been a reflection of the Jewish cultural identity.
by Asher Elbein via Defector on April 24, 2024
Picture of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of the superhero known as Spider-Man.

The Subversive Spider-Man: How Spidey Broke the Superhero Mold

Once Peter Parker received his miraculous spider powers, the last thing he wanted to do was go out and get a colorful costume and fight crime.
by Ralph Macchio via Literary Hub on January 3, 2022
Cover of an early Superman comic book.

The Vigilante World of Comic Books

A sweeping new history traces the rise of characters caught in a Manichaean struggle between good and evil.
by Scott Bradfield via The New Republic on December 16, 2021
A graphic featuring illustrations of Stan Lee.

The Unheroic Life of Stan Lee

In a career of many flops, he laid claim to the outsized success of Marvel Comics.
by Jillian Steinhauer via The New Republic on February 9, 2021
Superman comic illustration

Why Superheroes Are the Shape of Tech Things to Come

Superman et al were invented amid feverish eugenic speculation: what does the superhero craze say about our own times?
by Iwan Rhys Morus via Aeon on March 5, 2020

Golden Age Superheroes Were Shaped by the Rise of Fascism

Created in New York by Jewish immigrants, the first comic book superheroes were mythic saviors who could combat the Nazi threat.
by Art Spiegelman via The Guardian on August 17, 2019

We’re the Good Guys, Right?

Marvel's heroes are back again, but with little of the subversive aura that once surrounded them.
by Daniel Immerwahr via n+1 on April 26, 2018

The 100 Pages That Shaped Comics

From Mickey to Maus, tracing the evolution of the pictures, panels, and text that brought comic books to life.
by Jeet Heer, Abraham Josephine Riesman, Sarah Boxer, Heidi MacDonald, Fred Van Lente, Brian Cronin, Charles Hatfield, Christopher Spaide, Joshua Rivera, Klaus Janson, Mark Morales, Richard Starkings via Vulture on April 16, 2018

How the KKK Shaped Modern Comic Book Superheroes

Masked men who take the law into their own hands.
by Chris Gavaler via Literary Hub on November 3, 2017
Three identical pictures of the explosion of an atomic bomb with different coloring.

How Literature Predicted and Portrayed the Atom Bomb

On Pierrepoint B. Noyes, H.G. Wells, and the “Superweapons” of early science-fiction.
by Dorian Lynskey via Literary Hub on January 28, 2025
Four Black Marvel villains.

Marvel's Black Villain Era

The question of villainy has always been a complicated issue for African Americans in film.
by Brandon David Wilson via RogerEbert.com on June 21, 2024
Max Fleischer’s Superman

On the Men Who Lent Their Bodies (and Voices) to the Earliest Iterations of Superman

A wrestler, a Sunday school teacher, and a mystery man walk into a studio.
by Paul Morton via Literary Hub on August 10, 2023
Display of banned books in a bookstore.
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Today’s Book Bans Echo a Panic Against Comic Books in the 1950s

When a climate of fear exists, people don’t scrutinize the evidence behind claims about children’s reading material.
by Jeremy C. Young via Made By History on October 17, 2022
Animals in pairs in the rain board a rocket ship, evoking Noah's ark. Fantastic October 1961, Mike Christie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

What If… Historians Were Honest About Counterfactuals?

A single choice can branch out to infinite realities.
by Adam R. Shapiro via Contingent on May 5, 2022
Eartha Kitt engaged in conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House

When Eartha Kitt Disrupted the Ladies Who Lunch

The documentary short “Catwoman vs. the White House” reconstructs an unexpected moment of activism during the Vietnam War.
by Scott Calonico, Lauren Elyse Garcia via The New Yorker on February 16, 2022
Comic of a boy inside an atom structure while a man looks on.

The Surprising History of the Comic Book

Since their initial popularity during World War II, comic books have always been a medium for American counterculture and for nativism and empire. 
by J. Hoberman via The Nation on January 25, 2022

Panel Mania

An excerpt from a new graphic biography of Jack Kirby, the "King of Comics."
by Tom Scioli, Calvin Reid via The Millions on June 26, 2020

In the Time of Monsters

Watchmen is a sophisticated inquiry into the ethical implications of its own form—the flash and bang, the prurience and violence of comic books.
by Namwali Serpell via New York Review of Books on March 19, 2020

The Decade Comic Book Nerds Became Our Cultural Overlords

Why do they have to be such sore winners?
by Alex Pappademas via Medium on December 10, 2019
"Black Panther" comic book cover.

Black Panther and the Black Panthers

Much is at stake in understanding the history and relationship between black superheroes and black revolutionaries.
by Amy Ongiri via Los Angeles Review of Books on June 23, 2018

How Superheroes Made Movie Stars Expendable

The Hollywood overhauls that got us from Bogart to Batman.
by Stephen Metcalf via The New Yorker on May 28, 2018

Black Atlantis

Why do white people love Black Panther, just as they love Star Wars?
by Asad Haider via Viewpoint Magazine on March 5, 2018
Still from Black Panther

The Many Dimensions of "Black Panther"

The blockbuster refuses to flatten its characters into simple heroes or villains — and that's exactly what makes it so refreshing.
by Melvin L. Rogers via Dissent on February 27, 2018
Still from Black Panther film.

'Black Panther' and the Invention of 'Africa'

The film's hero and antagonist represent dueling responses to five centuries of African exploitation at the hands of the West.
by Jelani Cobb via The New Yorker on February 18, 2018
Still from Black Panther

How 'Black Panther' Taps Into 500 Years of History

The film draws on centuries of black dreams of independence to create Wakanda.
by N. D. B. Connolly via The Hollywood Reporter on February 16, 2018
Uranium-rich ore sample from the Shinkolobwe Mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Searching for Wakanda

The African roots of the Black Panther story.
by Thomas F. McDow via Origins on February 15, 2018

The Man Who Made Black Panther Cool

Christopher Priest broke Marvel's color barrier and reinvented a classic character. Why was he nearly written out of comics history?
by Abraham Josephine Riesman via Vulture on January 22, 2018

How a Magazine Cover From the '70s Helped Wonder Woman Win Over Feminists

Nearly 45 years after they put the female superhero on the cover of Ms. magazine's first issue, the players behind the cover consider its impact.
by Katie Kilkenny via Pacific Standard on June 21, 2017

The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman

The history of the comic-book superhero's creation seven decades ago has been hidden away — until now.
by Jill Lepore via Smithsonian on October 1, 2014
A photograph of a bouquet flowers with the center of the image intentionally cut out.

Nothing to See Here

For centuries the study of optics and the use of invisibility in science fiction have developed side by side, each inspiring the other.
by James Gleick via New York Review of Books on July 27, 2023
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