Uncanny Bodies

“A remarkably significant contribution to both disability studies and comics studies. The essays collected here interrogate how superhero comics have struggled with reconciling the fantasy of the superbody with a growing concern, among producers and readers, for a more diverse and more adequate treatment of disabilities ranging from autism and dissociative identity disorder to deafness and progressive muscular dystrophy. A truly eye-opening book!”

—Daniel Stein, University of Siegen

“Historically, the mad villain and the supercrip have embodied comics’ problematic relationship to disability. However, Smith, Alaniz, and their contributors use an intersectional lens to capture the diverse range of superhero comics that move beyond these stereotypes. Through discussions of chronic, temporary, and fluid visible and invisible disabilities in such comics as Birds of Prey, Hawkeye, and El Deafo, the volume expands our understanding of the superhero figure and pushes the limits of disability studies.”

—Leah Misemer, Georgia Institute of Technology

“What is particularly laudable about Uncanny Bodies is that it remains nuanced and specific throughout. Reflections complicating the motif of empowerment are present just as are descriptions of truly empowering moments and projects. As such, the volume is an important contribution to the discourse on dis/ability—and its links to the depiction of bodies in recent visual popular culture.”

—Lukas Etter, co-editor of Reader Superhelden

“Uncanny Bodies offers nuanced interrogations of how dis/ability is presented within superhero narratives. The strength of the volume lies in the wide range of topics treated and in the diverse methodological approaches chosen, from posthumanist considerations to queer theory. A constant is an unwavering commitment to taking seriously the multifaceted and intersectional nature of the issue(s) at hand. As such, Uncanny Bodies will be a point of reference for further scholarship in the field.”

—Joanna Nowotny, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich

“Published as part of the “Graphic Medicine” series from Penn State University Press, Uncanny Bodies is a significant and essential contribution to comics studies as well as to the expanding body of research on and interrogation of the depiction of disability in society and culture.”

—J. G. Matthews Choice

Scott T. Smith is Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Penn State University.

José Alaniz is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Washington.