Superhero Synergies

Stork's clarity lays bare his extensive research, which digs not just into the financial logic of revised aesthetic approaches for maximal capital gains, but also film theorist Rick Altman's definition of 're-genrification,' which finally makes clear that Marvel's strategies are not new as much as reinterpreted—'a new presentational model of crossover synergy.' Stork's work here is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand precisely how corporate control yields pop-culture product. I'll be sending his essay to my inquisitive colleague shortly—along with the rest of Superhero Synergies. * Slant Magazine *
Undisputably, Superhero Synergies is a strong and relevant contribution to patterns of digital media production. Offering a wide range of material and perspectives, it helps to elucidate the cultural productivity of present-day superhero(in)es, and points out blind spots of hero research through its focus on market imperatives, boundaries of the genre and affective immersion.... [T]his present volume is a viable contribution to studies of hero production and consumption, paving the way for future research into cultural practices of heroisation and the cultural processing of the heroic in the ‘digital age’. * helden. heroes. héros. *
Fearlessly leapfrogging media from cinema and comics to gaming and theater, this fresh, smart collection follows the superhero's storied trajectory across formats, franchises, and fandoms, mapping our evolving entertainment universe through innovative, risk-taking scholarship. Whether or not you're into Batman or the Avengers, DC or Marvel, look no further for a shining exemplar of the emerging field of transmedia studies. -- Bob Rehak, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Film and Media Studies, Swarthmore College
Agile and witty as Spider-Man, brilliantly persuasive as Batman, these essays offer a series of new perspectives on the figure of the superhero across media platforms. The contributors are expert in both traditional scholarship and comic-book canon: Eisenstein's theory of shot-collisions meets 'Hulk smash,' and Bazin's view of the cinema screen as a 'mask' illuminates the interior of Tony Stark's helmet. This is an inspiring assembly of exciting essays. -- Will Brooker, author of Hunting the Dark Knight
An insightful and provocative set of case studies, bound to unsettle the ‘bad object’ status that film studies and critics frequently reserve for the superhero genre, even as the book challenges the techno-centric ethos of new media theory to more convincingly account for the complexities of genre and inter-media content. Together, the original essays collected here provide a useful interdisciplinary roadmap and productive critical framework that should spur other scholars to more fully engage a wider range of complexities—involving gender, genre, aesthetics, identity, labor, and industrial practice—that define intermedial superhero genre production and consumption today. -- John T. Caldwell, Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA. Author of Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television