1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910978264603321

Autore

Kee Chera

Titolo

Corpse crusaders : the zombie in American comics / / Chera Kee

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ann Arbor : , : University of Michigan Press, , 2024

©2024

ISBN

9780472904501

0472904507

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiii, 205 pages) : illustrations

Classificazione

CGN000000CGN007000SOC052000

Disciplina

741.5/973

Soggetti

Zombies in comics

Horror comic books, strips, etc - United States - History and criticism

Comic books, strips, etc - United States - History and criticism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from eBook information screen..

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-205) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction: A brief (and heroic) history of the zombie in comics -- Part 1: Mission. The Purple Zombies: superheroes and strongman zombies -- Vengeance and villains: from the horror comics of the 1950s to Deadworld -- Part 2: Identity. Tales of the zombie and Xombi: or, the curious case of the suffering zombie hardbodies -- Gwen Dylan is not the girl she used to be: iZombie and female zombies in comics -- Part 3: Powers. Conclusions: Blackest night and Marvel zombies-the hero as zombie.

Sommario/riassunto

In the popular imagination, zombies are scary, decomposing corpses hunting down the living. But since the 1930s, there have also been other zombies shambling across the panels of comic books--zombies that aren't quite what most people think zombies should be. There have been zombie slaves, zombie henchmen, talking zombies, beautiful zombies, and even zombie heroes. Using archival research into Golden Age comics and extended analyses of comics from the 1940s to today, Corpse Crusaders explores the profound influence early action/adventure and superheroic generic conventions had on shaping comic book zombies. It takes the reader from the 1940s superhero, The Purple Zombie, through 1950s revenge-from-the-grave zombies, to the 1970s anti-hero, Simon Garth ("The Zombie") and the



gruesome heroes-turned-zombies of Marvel Zombies. In becoming immersed in superheroic logics early on, the zombie in comics became a figure that, unlike the traditional narrative uses of other monsters, actually served to defend the status quo. This continuing trend not only provides insight into the overwhelming influence superheroes have had on the comic book medium, but it also provides a unique opportunity to explore the ways in which zombiism and superheroism parallel each other. Corpse Crusaders explores the ways that truth, justice, and the American way have influenced the undead in comics and turned what is often a rebellious figure into one that works to save the day.