Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes
The cover of Our Gods Wear Spandex by Roland Friedrich
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| Author | Christopher Knowles |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Joe Linsner |
| Cover artist | Roland Friedrich |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Superheroes |
| Publisher | Weiser |
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Publication date
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2007 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 137246002 |
| 741.5/352 22 | |
| LC Class | PN6714 .K56 2007 |
Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes is a 2007 book by Christopher Knowles, the former editor of Comic Book Artist, with illustrations by Joe Linsner.
The book examines superheroes as a modern evolution of mythological archetypes and the more modern history, as well as the mystical influences on comics.
The book looks at the evolution of the superhero through the early Egyptian, Greek and Roman myths to the modern era. In particular Knowles highlights the significance of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race and its concept of the Vril-ya, a super human race occupying the hollow earth. This was adopted and adapted by Theosophy into their concept of Ascended Masters which when mixed with Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch, became the template for the early superheroes. It then goes on to examine the influences of the pulp magazines on the development of what we would come to view as superheroes, looking at specific examples like The Shadow and Doc Savage
The book breaks down superheroes into four main archetypes
It also examines the religious, mystical and occult influences on comics writers like Jack Kirby, Alan Moore and Grant Morrison.
Knowles has further expanded on his ideas, in particular looking at Action Comics #1 and its similarities with Hercules Clubs the Hydra by Antonio del Pollaiolo. He also runs The Sacred Sun blog which also returns to the theme, especially in connection with Jack Kirby and the influences of ideas like the Ancient Astronaut Theory on his work, even series seemingly unconnected to it such as Devil Dinosaur, a topic Knowles has written about for The Jack Kirby Collector.
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