Heroic Icons

What was my summer superhero lecture entitled Heroic Icons about?

Laying out the comic and society argument. 

Broadly speaking Heroic Icons was an overview of comics in the United States. In this context I try to discuss the cognitive and cultural engagement represented by comics. What happens in the panels and between the panels defines the comic reading experience. This means the comics themselves are in dialogue with society at the time they are created. This gives us a way to explore the past via the content presented in the comic. At the same time, the way creators approach presenting information is a commentary on expectations they understand about society. Values, anxieties, and beliefs about society are presented even as those attributes may be manipulated for artistic examination.