Superhero Social

Enter our heroes. Dark Guardian chases off an angry drug dealer in Manhattan. Mr. Xtreme charges in and breaks up a San Diego bar brawl. T. O. Ronin hugs a homeless man on the snowy streets of Toronto. These aren't the big-screen or comic-book heroes that have been increasingly dominating pop culture. They're real-life superheroes: individuals who take on masked personae to fight crime and help the helpless. They don't have superpowers, but they do try to make the world a better place.

In recent years, cosplay—the practice of dressing up in costume as a character—has exploded, becoming a mainstream cultural phenomenon. But what are the circumstances that made its rise possible? Andrew Liptak—a member of the legendary 501st Legion, an international fan-based organization dedicated to the dark side of Star Wars—delves into the origins and culture of cosplay to answer this question. Cosplay: A History looks at the practice’s ever-growing fandom and conventions.

Award-winning writer Bill Schelly relates how comics and fandom saved his life in this engrossing story that begins in the burgeoning comic fandom movement of the 1960s and follows the twists and turns of a career that spanned 50 years. Schelly recounts his struggle to come out at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, how the egalitarian nature of fandom offered a safe haven for those who were different, and how his need for creative expression eventually overcame all obstacles.

Katie was Jude's favorite person in the world. And not many brothers say that about their sister and mean it. But to Jude, Katie was everything - the person who made him learn how to say "I love you" in every language, who performed dramatic readings of Romeo and Juliet, who obsessed over every item on the diner menu looking for the most authentic diner meal. The one who called him "Jude Banks, Superhero," because to her, Jude was the best.

HELLO! My name is Pizazz. As a 9½-year-old superhero , I have a LOT going on. And thanks to super baddie CopyCat and her SuperPower Duplicator™, I now have FIVE Demon Pizazzes to deal with. Five. ‘How are you going to defeat yourself, Pizazz?’ I hear you ask. Well, that’s a good question!

For more than 75 years, Catwoman has forged her own path in a clear-cut world of stalwart heroes, diabolical villains, and damsels in distress. Her relentless independence across comic books, television, and film set her apart from the rest of the superhero world. When female-led comics were few and far between, Catwoman headlined her own series for over 20 years. But her unique path had its downsides as well.

After battling monsters all night, a sleepy Princess in Black decides that she needs a vacation. After all, the Goat Avenger, a new hero who looks oddly familiar, has offered to protect the goats while she takes a much needed break. The very next day Princess Magnolia rides her bicycle to the seaside, where the air is salty, the sun is shiny, and the sea is as blue as monster fur. But just as Princess Magnolia is about to take a nap on her hammock, she hears a ROAR! Seriously? A monster? On the perfect beach? Impossible!

Some months have past since Aldrin Adams discovered his extraordinary SUPERPOWER. When he eats CHEESE, just before he goes to sleep, he can enter into other people's dreams...and their nightmares! He's learned when to eat blue cheese (to help with nightmares about KILLER toys), smoked cheese (to help him recover from using his powers) and good old Cheddar (TOP SECRET). He's also come face to face with his nemesis—A MYSTERIOUS SUPERNATURAL VILLAIN who creates NIGHTMARES for millions of children every night.

Every 12-year-old kid feels like they don't fit in sometimes—but Noah takes it to a whole new level. When a meteor crashed to Earth on his seventh birthday, the whole planet got superpowers...except for Noah. Thanks to his tin foil superhero costume, Noah's powers got deflected—onto his little sister.

When Mott finds a puppy abandoned in a recycling bin, she’s ready to do everything she can to protect him. What she doesn’t realize, however, is that this is the legendary wolf Fenris, who’s prophesied to bring about the end of the world by eating the moon. Now Mott has found herself in charge of making sure the hungry pup—who’s busy munching on lampposts, cars, and water towers—doesn’t see all of California as an appetizer, while also hiding him from the Norse gods who are hot on his trail, determined to see the prophecy come true.

Abraham Isdale was a normal eight-year-old kid who did his best to avoid the school bully. He was pretty successful until one day he was cornered, with nowhere to hide. Then something remarkable happened, transforming him into one of the world's greatest superheroes - Abrahammer. The Making of Abrahammer examines the very serious issue of bullying and explains why kids deserve to be empowered, especially when they're at their most vulnerable.

Almost everything has been invoked to account for Trump's victory and the rise of alt-right, from job loss to racism to demography - everything, that is, except popular culture. In The Sky Is Falling best-selling cultural critic, Peter Biskind, dives headlong into two decades of popular culture - from superhero franchises such as the X-Men and the Avengers and series like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones to thrillers like Homeland and 24 - and emerges to argue that these shows are saturated with the values that are currently animating our extreme politics.

Long before Superman or Batman made their first appearances, there was Zorro. Born on the pages of the pulps in 1919, Zorro fenced his way through the American popular imagination, carving his signature letter Z into the flesh of evildoers in Old Spanish California. Zorro is the original caped crusader, the first hero to have a band called the Avengers, and the character who laid the blueprint for the modern American superhero. In Zorro's Shadow, historian and Latin American studies expert Stephen J. C. Andes investigates the legends behind the mask of Zorro.

Find out why it's not easy being green in the hilarious new story from Frank Cottrell Boyce: The Astounding Broccoli Boy! Rory Rooney likes to be prepared for all eventualities. His favourite book is Don't Be Scared, Be Prepared, and he has memorized every page of it. He could even survive a hippo attack. He knows that just because something is unlikely doesn't mean it won't ever happen.... But Rory isn't prepared when he suddenly and inexplicably turns green.

A masked vigilante stalks the streets of downtown Los Angeles, disrupting crime and creating havoc. After being spotted on security cameras and thrust into the national spotlight, he is pursued by both the media and powerful new enemies. Little does the world know the Outlaw is just High School junior Chase Jackson wearing a mask and wondering why his body is suddenly...extraordinary.

A superpowered sequel to Matthew Cody’s popular debut novel, Powerless! Daniel Corrigan is as regular as can be, especially when compared to the Supers: Kids in his new hometown with actual powers like flight and super-strength. But Daniel’s not powerless. Only he was able to stop the Shroud, a supervillain bent on stealing his newfound friends’ powers. And thanks to him, his friends got to keep those powers. Now Daniel himself is starting to display powers, while at the same time his friends are losing theirs.

Meet the women and female-identifying heroes who have defied death, flouted cultural norms, and risen above poverty to become CEOs, entrepreneurs, activists, role models, media moguls, and movement creators. This collection of stories, essays, and interviews celebrates their superpowers: love, determination, vision, and grit. These 50 women share their wisdom and advice in ways that will inspire you to discover your own superpower.

In this insightful and provocative book, comics-industry veteran Danny Fingeroth explores the backgrounds of the most well-known superheroes and their creators—largely young American Jewish men from Eastern European backgrounds. These innovators include Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Will Eisner, and Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In Disguised as Clark Kent, Fingeroth explores how the creators’ Jewish backgrounds helped make superheroes the most familiar popular-culture icons of all.

Super Black places the appearance of black superheroes alongside broad and sweeping cultural trends in American politics and pop culture, which reveals how black superheroes are not disposable pop products, but rather a fascinating racial phenomenon through which futuristic expressions and fantastic visions of black racial identity and symbolic political meaning are presented.

Magnificent Kids! showcases 23 incredible young people who are making the world a better place for humanity, animals and the planet. The book contains ideas, inspiration and tools for anybody to get started with their own world-changing project.