meredyd's blog

(This paper is made up of my own thoughts intercepted with the words of various other comics fans.)

“The idea of the female consumer is elusive and mystical. it's like the white unicorn of the comics industry. They're just clueless about what female readers want.”
- L, former assistant editor at Marvel Comics

 Final Project Proposal

When I was in middle school, I started to read comics. It’s a habit I’ve kept up pretty inconsistently since then, in terms of actually going into the store and purchasing them, but it’s never been one I’ve felt ashamed of or wanted to stop. There’s something about the highly stylized, totally absurd world of superheroes that has always appealed to me - the way their stories are able to tackle issues using fantastical allegories and storytelling tricks that wouldn’t be acceptable in “real literature”. 

 A Case Study on Disabled Superheroes

For every disabled person living an unremarkable, everyday life you see in the media, you’ll see at least three disabled people with superpowers. The popularity of the supercrip archetype, whether created through careful media positioning of disabled athletes and personalities, is also visible in the world of popular culture - specifically, mainstream comics. While graphic novels have dealt into emotionally complicated territory with their depiction of various disabilities and life circumstances, superhero comics have really taken up the “supercrip” - the disabled superhero or heroine, as a money-maker and cultural tool. 

Tightrope
When I think about school, and whatever impact it had on my life and the gradual shaping of who I am as a person, I begin by coming up with a big blank. I’ve attempted to wrack my brain, to tease out stories or incidents that bear significance of who I was when I entered college and who I am now, and all that goes along with that, but what comes to me is not a coherent narrative but more specific moments that I am only beginning to piece together and understand.