Dietmar Dath
Superhelden. 100 Seiten
[Superheroes. 100 Pages]
Reclam Verlag
Stuttgart 2016
ISBN 978-3-150-20420-7
100 Pages
Publisher’s contact details
Reclam Verlag
Stuttgart 2016
ISBN 978-3-150-20420-7
100 Pages
Publisher’s contact details
Translated by David A. Brenner
By Ralph Trommer
Ralph Trommer, Dipl. Animator, is a freelance writer and artist who is a regular contributor of reviews and articles on comics, graphic novels and films for a variety of media.
Most masked double existences with amazing muscles and super powers are fearless and cannot be killed: these are superheroes. They have been around for a long time: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, The Fantastic Four, Cat Woman, Spiderman, Green Lantern, Hulk or the X-Men (Superman, for example, came into existence in 1938). Since then, they have continued to captivate their fans both on the page and in movie theaters.
But why does "this stuff" mean so much to certain people? What makes superheroes so fascinating? Dietmar Dath sees them as magnifying glasses of popular art that exaggerate and distort emotions and fantasies to the point where they appear as if they actually were facts - and in fact that’s what they are, according to Dath, "except that they happen in the mind."
Dath, who as a child had spent most of his allowance on acquiring superhero comics, looks at the phenomenon from a variety of angles, sheds light on the origins, evolution, marketing, and film adaptations of the superhero stories - and of course he includes the super villains and monsters that are their nemeses, the best of the worst.
(Text: Reclam Verlag)