About the Author

Chris Gavaler is an assistant professor of English at Washington and Lee University, where he has taught a seminar on superheroes since 2009. His essays on the topic appear in The Journal of American Culture, PS: Political Science & Politics, Image TexT, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, and Hooded Utilitarian.com. He is the author of the novelinstories School for Tricksters and the romantic suspense novel Pretend I’m Not Here. He lives with his family in Lexington, Virginia.

Reviews

"Chris Gavaler has permanently changed the way I think about the emergence of the superhero and bridges the frontier that divides proto-superheroes from superheroes. He innovatively traces the prehistory of the superhero, demonstrating that the superhero's roots are planted in the soil of myth and legend and watered by the philosophy of the u]bermensch with eugenics as fertilizer. The surprising connections that emerge throughout kept me constantly wondering what was going to come next and made the book feel like a detective story."--Peter Coogan, author, Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre

"I've been reading superhero comics my whole life and this book made me realize I'd never known what they were. This is the book that reveals Superman's strange cultural DNA and the dark prehistory that shadows Action Comics No. 1."--Austin Grossman, author, Soon I Will Be Invincible

"Superheroes are everywhere now, but Gavaler shows that that's nothing new. From Zeus to Zorro, he looks at why we love the superhero, and why maybe sometimes we shouldn't. Eclectic, entertaining, and surprisingly personal, On the Origin of Superheroes will grant new super-knowledge to scholars, fans, and casual readers alike."--Noah Berlatsky, author, Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics, 1941-1948