Superman on the Couch

Get in the xigxag app
This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.
Pre-order Buy Now £{{ price }}
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Why are so many of the superhero myths tied up with loss, often violent, of parents or parental figures? What is the significance of the dual identity? What makes some superhuman figures “good” and others “evil”? Why are so many of the prime superheroes white and male? How has the superhero evolved over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries? And how might the myths be changing?

Why is it that the key superhero archetypes—Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, the X-Men—touch primal needs and experiences in everyone? Why has the superhero moved beyond the pages of comics into other media?

All these topics, and more, are covered in this lively and original exploration of the reasons why the superhero—in comic books, films, and TV—is such a potent myth for our times and culture.

Critics Review

  • “Fingeroth draws on his decades of working at Marvel Comics (including work as the editorial director of the Spider-Man comics family) to write this personal, engaging, and earnest work…The result is an easygoing exploration of superheroes’ cultural significance.”

    School Library Journal

  • “[Superman on the Couch], like the escapist but enduring media it chronicles, proves an illuminating read.”

    Publishers Weekly

More from the same

Author

Narrator

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to get tailored content recommendations, product updates and info on new releases. Your data is your own: we commit to protect your data and respect your privacy.