Any comic book fan probably can easily name more than a handful of superheroes of the Silver Age, the time from roughly the mid-1950s until the early 1970s. And to know the superheroes also means to know their antagonists, featured in the endless battles of Batman/The Joker, Thor/Loki, The Flash/Po-Siden, or Spiderman/Green Goblin where the action heroes very often meet their nemesis. Over time, both may come up with new abilities, gear or sidekicks, and sometimes, there are several antagonists, such as the trio Spiderman/Green Goblin/J. Jonah Jameson.
Most titles on superhero comic books emphasize the skills, history, legend or critical aspects of the avengers. The book in focus here, however, has a very different perspective as it interprets and analyses the superhero’s antagonists, the “superevil” ones.
And as the book is about American superheroes of a certain period, mostly from publishers Marvel and DC, here naturally, another pair of opponents comes to mind immediately, as the comics under analysis portray oversimplified battles. In that situation, it means clashes of ideology, as comic books, especially in times of war, were used as propaganda and patriotic pamphlet, one could argue.
“As ideal opponent to the United States, the Soviet Union, and communism in general, invite cultural products like the superhero comic to make use of it to examine what it means to be American.” And generally, “… superheroes have always had a political function,” says author Anke Marie Bock. “Superheroes defend a world which is good and just for them from their respective perspective.”
Accordingly, the majority of publications muse on the heroes, their powers, character and times. The supervillains, by contrast, have received only very little attention in comic book studies so far, actually, they have been largely neglected, and seemingly they exist for the sole purpose to keeping the superhero busy, in a way. This definitively is wrong, according to Bock, as the supervillains have miscellaneous functions in the comic books. For example, they openly criticize gender roles, Cold War politics, racism, American supremacy and point to flaws in the political system of the US. And by taking a closer look at some supervillains, like Doctor Doom, Bock argues that the simple good/evil distinctions didn’t always work successfully, as certain points a villain makes or eagerly defends in those brief comic speech panels are rather democratic in essence. They are the contemplations of free spirits. Often audiences probably could imagine that both, he and the hero, actually could coexist, as they did not differ that much.
With respect to the usually prevailing Cold War discourse in the bulk of the comics under inspection, interestingly the US is openly criticized by the villains (while they address the superhero who, in turn, represents the government). A recurring point of critique in such speeches is the air of superiority and decadence the superhero (and the US) emanate.
The supervillains, no matter in what comic book line they first surface, have diverse origins and legends. Often, they are humans with extraordinary powers. Alternatively, they could also be smart scientists or those whose experiments went wrong; they could be aliens, gods, mythological creatures from space, or simply rich and powerful businessmen or politicians. Then again, the villain could be an average person, differing only in his political (i.e. socialist/communist) views.
Even though the title promises a study of comic books from the Silver Age, additionally, both the Golden Age and the Bronze Age will be consulted here very often. Naturally to unveil the differences in political discourse and zeitgeist, depending on the date of publication, when, for example, American exceptionalism would be portrayed differently. The greater part of the book is devoted to the supervillains, as they would create unrest and danger in an otherwise calm and orderly universe.
However, not just the supervillains would have the power to disturb the peace in the US. As the generally white/male superhero image was dominant in the major comic book publishers’ programs, certain members of a marginalized group would cause some turmoil too, although they were not villainous. In the Silver Age of comics those characters would be women or African Americans. To them, the last chapter of Bock’s title is devoted, enter Black Panther, Invisible Girl and Wonder Woman.
Concerning the supervillains, the stars of this publication, Bock proves that, compared to other comic book ages, the Silver Age finally allowed them to become extremely varied characters who could even possess positive traits, a development impossible in the Golden Age. Nevertheless, in the Silver Age the “… villain occupies almost as much space as the hero, which emphasizes his relevance and value for the comic. … They also show more weaknesses and struggles, yet deviate strongly from the hero type in more regards than the difference between good and evil.” Bock sees a similar change in the representation of the good guys: “The hero, in turn, develops into a more human type, struggling not only with this new responsibility but also with daily-life problems.“
Superevil is very academic in style, but still an easy read. Rest assured that any terminology, philosophical aspect of villainous or superhero action and even the original concepts of what we experience as either “good,” “evil,” “bad,” “just” and so forth will be traced back to any number of philosophers, writers or sociologists, as are ideas of civil religion, the national character or democracy.
The volume comes with dozens of color pictures. Unfortunately, an index is missing.
Review by Dr. A. Ebert © 2024
Anke Marie Bock. Superevil: Villains in Silver Age Superhero Comics. Logos Verlag Berlin, 311 p., 2023