Abstract

This study is a close analysis of the historicity and affectivity of selected African-American comic book superheroes. These superheroes, with names like 'Black Lightning' and 'Black Panther', indicate the status of these black characters in mainstream comics; they are forever labeled as 'black' supermen. Making their debut in the 70s, most of these characters shared the traits of Blaxploitation film heroes (angry rebels, hypersexual vigilantes, etc.). Although these early representations were highly stereotypical, this thesis is not interested in finding the 'authentic' black superhero. Rather, it seeks to understand representations of 'blackness' in the superhero genre beyond notions of reflection theory. What this thesis seeks is a more sophisticated way of looking at black superheroes by using reading formation to examine how fictional stories articulated with a "sense of the past". Combining theories of representation and textuality, this thesis examines the black superman as a configuration of many different historical influences that dynamically produce a reading formation that allows the black superman to operate as what some theorists call counter-memory