Ordinary Superheroes
Ordinary Superheroes

Author: Christopher Lansdown

Publisher: Christopher Lansdown

Published: 2014-02-28

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13:

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Millenia ago martian superheroes defeated an ancient evil, who was imprisoned on a moon of Jupiter. Neglected for centuries, the prison is about to fail, giving the ancient evil a second chance to wipe out all life in the solar system. Unfortunately, the martians have gone extinct so it’s up to earth’s superheroes to save the day. Worse, there’s only one man who even knows of the threat, and he’s not a superhero. On the plus side, training teams of superheroes to save the world is what he does. Mr Macho, Mockingbird, and the Mega Ninja were just ordinary college student/superheroes doing ordinary student things like attending class and ordinary superhero things like foiling bank robberies and catching drug dealers until one night when they returned to their apartment and found a strange old man with a mystical amulet sitting on their couch. Unfortunately, while he can teach them how to teleport to other planets, he has no idea how to repair the prison. Did the amulet pick correctly this time, and will they figure out what they need to do before it's too late?

Losing the Cape
Losing the Cape

Author: Dan Stanford

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2018-04-03

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 0802496490

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How to be a hero when you’re feeling anything but super Despite all the superhero hype, the problems and pain in our world aren’t going away. In fact, it often feels like the threats just keep coming. But the good news is that God has placed you here for such a time as this. And the even better news? You don’t have to get rid of your anxiety, debt, speech impediment, extra weight, health issues, disability—or any other weakness—to be used by God. What this world actually needs is less-than-super people making small but significant differences in their own corners of the world. Through inspiring stories from the Bible and his own life, Dan Stanford demonstrates that with God availability is more important than ability. Losing the Cape is an invitation to start making the world a better place through your ordinary, everyday presence.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed
The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed

Author: William Boniface

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2006-05-30

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780060774653

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YIKES! Professor Brain-Drain is on the loose! This supervillain menaces the fine supercitizens of Superopolis, concocting evil-genius schemes and draining everyone's brainpower! (And in this town, there's not a whole lot of that to begin with.) NEVER FEAR! The AMAZING INDESTRUCTO will save the day! He is indestructible! He cannot be harmed by anything! He is the town's greatest superhero! Collect all sixty-four of his trading cards! BUT WAIT! A mystery is afoot in Superopolis. Why is it so hard to get a complete set of the collectible cards? Where is the last card hiding? Who is the real mastermind behind this sinister plot, and what is he planning? Forget the regular superheroes. In a city where everyone is extraordinary, this might just be a job for . . . ORDINARY BOY.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed
The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, Book 1: The Hero Revealed

Author: William Boniface

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2006-05-30

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 0060774649

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A hilarious new series that proves superpowers are no match for brainpower. In the town of Superopolis, everyone has a superpower. Everyone, that is, except Ordinary Boy. He's–well, he's pretty much ordinary. But that won't stop him from taking on supervillains like the sinister Professor Brain–Drain.... This spring, welcome to Superopolis and The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy, a clever, funny new series for kids who've outgrown Captain Underpants or anyone who loves The Incredibles and The Tick. Packed with dynamic illustrations and starring a smart young hero who could hold his own with Charlie Bone, Klaus Baudelaire, and Stanley Yelnats, this is a series that kids will find undeniably super!

All My Friends Are Superheroes
All My Friends Are Superheroes

Author: Andrew Kaufman

Publisher: Coach House Books

Published: 1999-10-19

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 1770560106

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All Tom's friends really are superheroes. There's the Ear, the Spooner, the Impossible Man. Tom even married a superhero, the Perfectionist. But at their wedding, the Perfectionist was hypnotized (by ex-boyfriend Hypno, of course) to believe that Tom is invisible. Nothing he does can make her see him. Six months later, she's sure that Tom has abandoned her. So she's moving to Vancouver. She'll use her superpower to make Vancouver perfect and leave all the heartbreak in Toronto. With no idea Tom's beside her, she boards an airplane in Toronto. Tom has until the wheels touch the ground in Vancouver to convince her he's visible, or he loses her forever.

Superheroes and Their Ancient Jewish Parallels
Superheroes and Their Ancient Jewish Parallels

Author: Johnny E. Miles

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2018-03-23

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1476669988

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Persia had Rostam. Babylonia had Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Egypt had Horus and Isis. Greece had Odysseus and Achilles. Israel had its heroes, too--Moses, David, Esther and Samson. While Israel's heroes did not wear capes or spandex, they did meet cultural needs. In times of crisis, heroes emerge to model virtues that inspire a sense of commitment and worth. Identity concerns were especially acute for a post-exilic Jewish culture. Using modern American superheroes and their stories in a cross-cultural discussion, this book presents the stories of Israelite characters as heroes filling a cultural need.

What is a Superhero?
What is a Superhero?

Author: Robin S. Rosenberg PhD

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-07-01

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 019933952X

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It's easy to name a superhero--Superman, Batman, Thor, Spiderman, the Green Lantern, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Rorschach, Wolverine--but it's not so easy to define what a superhero is. Buffy has superpowers, but she doesn't have a costume. Batman has a costume, but doesn't have superpowers. What is the role of power and superpower? And what are supervillains and why do we need them? In What is a Superhero?, psychologist Robin Rosenberg and comics scholar Peter Coogan explore this question from a variety of viewpoints, bringing together contributions from nineteen comic book experts--including both scholars in such fields as cultural studies, art, and psychology as well as leading comic book writers and editors. What emerges is a kaleidoscopic portrait of this most popular of pop-culture figures. Writer Jeph Loeb, for instance, sees the desire to make the world a better place as the driving force of the superhero. Jennifer K. Stuller argues that the female superhero inspires women to stand up, be strong, support others, and most important, to believe in themselves. More darkly, A. David Lewis sees the indestructible superhero as the ultimate embodiment of the American "denial of death," while writer Danny Fingeroth sees superheroes as embodying the best aspects of humankind, acting with a nobility of purpose that inspires us. Interestingly, Fingeroth also expands the definition of superhero so that it would include characters like John McClane of the Die Hard movies: "Once they dodge ridiculous quantities of machine gun bullets they're superheroes, cape or no cape." From summer blockbusters to best-selling graphic novels, the superhero is an integral part of our culture. What is a Superhero? not only illuminates this pop-culture figure, but also sheds much light on the fantasies and beliefs of the American people.

Superheroes!
Superheroes!

Author: Roz Kaveney

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2007-12-19

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0857717162

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Modern myths, cheap trash or the objects of fetishist desire? Most people know something about Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Wonder Woman, even if what they know is heavily filtered through film and television versions, rather than the comics in which they first appeared. Yet, even though the continuity of the DC and Marvel Comics universes rival or surpass in size almost anything else in Western culture, surprisingly little attention has been paid to comics, which we were supposed to grow out of. In "Superheroes!", acclaimed cultural commentator Roz Kaveney argues that this is a mistake, that, at their best, superhero comics are a form in which some writers and artists are doing fascinating work, not in spite of their chosen form, but because of it. "Superheroes!" discusses the slow accretion of comics universes from the thirties to the present day, the ongoing debate within the conventions of the superhero comic about whether superheroes are a good thing and the discussion within the comics fan community of the extent to which superhero comics are disfigured by misogyny and sexism. Roz Kaveney attempts to explain the differences between Marvel and DC, the notion of the floating present (or why Spider-Man, fifteen when he adopted the costume, is still only in his early thirties), and the various attempts by both companies to re-invent and re-boot individual characters and their entire continuity universes. She also looks at the influence of comics on the group of film and television screenwriters she calls 'the fanboy creators', all of whom moonlight as comics script writers, using Joss Whedon as her case study, and examines the adaptation of well-known comics into large-budget feature films, not always to the advantage of the material.

Our Superheroes, Ourselves
Our Superheroes, Ourselves

Author: Robin S. Rosenberg PhD

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-06-21

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0199339473

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Superhero fans are everywhere, from the teeming halls of Comic Con to suburban movie theaters, from young children captivated by their first comic books to the die-hard collectors of vintage memorabilia. Why are so many people fascinated by superheroes? In this thoughtful, engaging, and at times eye-opening volume, Robin Rosenberg--a writer and well-known authority on the psychology of superheroes--offers readers a wealth of insight into superheroes, drawing on the contributions of a top group of psychologists and other scholars. The book ranges widely and tackles many intriguing questions. How do comic characters and stories reflect human nature? Do super powers alone make a hero super? Are superhero stories good for us? Most contributors answer that final question in the affirmative. Psychologist Robert J. Sternberg, for instance, argues that we all can learn a lot from superheroes-and what we can learn most of all is the value of wisdom and an ethical stance toward life. On the other hand, restorative justice scholar Mikhail Lyubansky decries the fact that justice in the comic-book world is almost entirely punitive, noting extreme examples such as "Rorschach" in The Watchmen and the aptly named "The Punisher, who embrace a strict eye-for-an-eye sense of justice, delivered instantly and without mercy. In the end, the appeal of Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and legions of others is simple and elemental. Superheroes provide drama, excitement, suspense, and romance and their stories showcase moral dilemmas, villains we love to hate, and protagonists who inspire us. Perhaps as important, their stories allow us to recapture periods of our childhood when our imaginations were cranked up to the maximum--when we really believed we could fly, or knock down the bad guy, or save the city from disaster.

Black Jesus and Other Superheroes
Black Jesus and Other Superheroes

Author: Venita Blackburn

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2017-09

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 149620400X

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2018 PEN America Literary Award Winner–Los Angeles Winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, Black Jesus and Other Superheroes chronicles ordinary people achieving vivid extrasensory perception while under extreme pain. The stories tumble into a universe of the jaded and the hopeful, in which men and women burdened with unwieldy and undesirable superhuman abilities are nonetheless resilient in subtle and startling ways. Venita Blackburn's characters hurl themselves toward the inevitable fates they might rather wish away. Their stories play with magic without the sparkle, glaring at the internal machinations of the human spirit. Fragile symbols for things such as race, sexuality, and love are lifted, decorated, and exposed to scrutiny and awe like so many ruins of our imagination. Through it all Blackburn’s characters stumble along currents of language both thoughtful and hilarious.