[Comicsstudiessociety] IJOCA book review (USA only) - Toxic Masculinity: Mapping the Monstrous in Our Heroes

[Mike Rhode]

 For reviewers in the US only, due to postage costs. First to reply
directly to me gets it, as usual.  Mike
Toxic Masculinity: Mapping the Monstrous in Our Heroes
Edited by Esther De Dauw <https://www.ubcpress.ca/esther-de-dauw> and Daniel
J. Connell <https://www.ubcpress.ca/daniel-j-connell>
University Press of Mississippi

Contributions by Daniel J. Connell, Esther De Dauw, Craig Haslop, Drew
Murphy, Richard Reynolds, Janne Salminen, Karen Sugrue, and James C. Taylor
The superhero permeates popular culture from comic books to film and
television to internet memes, merchandise, and street art. *Toxic
Masculinity: Mapping the Monstrous in Our Heroes *asks what kind of men
these heroes are and if they are worthy of the unbalanced amount of
attention. Contributors to the volume investigate how the (super)hero in
popular culture conveys messages about heroism and masculinity, considering
the social implications of this narrative within a cultural (re)production
of dominant, hegemonic values and the possibility of subaltern ideas,
norms, and values to be imagined within that (re)production.
Divided into three sections, the volume takes an interdisciplinary
approach, positioning the impact of hypermasculinity on toxic masculinity
and the vilification of “other” identities through such mediums as film,
TV, and print comic book literature. The first part, “Understanding Super
Men,” analyzes hegemonic masculinity and the spectrum of hypermasculinity
through comics, television, and film, while the second part, “The Monstrous
Other,” focuses on queer identity and femininity in these same mediums. The
final section, “Strategies of Resistance,” offers criticism and solutions
to the existing lack of diversity through targeted studies on the
performance of gender. Ultimately, the volume identifies the ways in which
superhero narratives have promulgated and glorified toxic masculinity and
offers alternative strategies to consider how characters can resist the
hegemonic model and productively demonstrate new masculinities.
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