The Posthuman Body in Superhero Human, Superhuman, Comics Transhuman, Post/Human

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS THE POSTHUMAN BODY IN SUPERHERO HUMAN, SUPERHUMAN, COMICS TRANSHUMAN, POST/HUMAN Scott Jeffery Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels Series Editor Roger Sabin University of the Arts London London , United Kingdom This series concerns Comics Studies—with a capital “c” and a capital “s.” It feels good to write it that way. From emerging as a fringe interest within Literature and Media/Cultural Studies departments, to becoming a minor fi eld, to maturing into the fastest growing fi eld in the Humanities, to becoming a nascent discipline, the journey has been a hard but spec- tacular one. Those capital letters have been earned. Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels covers all aspects of the comic strip, comic book, and graphic novel, explored through clear and informative texts offering expansive coverage and theoretical sophistica- tion. It is international in scope and provides a space in which scholars from all backgrounds can present new thinking about politics, history, aes- thetics, production, distribution, and reception as well as the digital realm. Books appear in one of two forms: traditional monographs of 60,000 to 90,000 words and shorter works (Palgrave Pivots) of 20,000 to 50,000 words. All are rigorously peer-reviewed. Palgrave Pivots include new takes on theory, concise histories, and—not least—considered provocations. After all, Comics Studies may have come a long way, but it can’t progress without a little prodding. Series Editor Roger Sabin is Professor of Popular Culture at the University of the Arts London, UK. His books include Adult Comics: An Introduction and Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels, and his recent research into nineteenth-century comics is award-winning. He serves on the boards of the main academic journals in the fi eld and reviews graphic novels for the international media. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14643 Scott Jeffery The Posthuman Body in Superhero Comics Human, Superhuman, Transhuman, Post/Human Scott Jeffery Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands , Perth , UK Palgrave Studies in Comics and Graphic Novels ISBN 978-1-137-57822-8 ISBN 978-1-137-54950-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54950-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016955733 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover image © CSA Images/Mod Art Collection Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book would not have been possible without the help and support of too many people to list. My thanks go to everyone, but a few people are deserving of a special mention. Firstly, thank you to my brother Craig Jeffery and my friend Tom Casey for allowing me to use a series of living rooms and kitchens as makeshift offi ces. I couldn’t have done this without you. Secondly, I am grateful to Drs Ian McIntosh, Sharon Wright and Roger Sabin for their support and encouragement during the long gesta- tion of this book. Thank you, too, to my editor for being patient above and beyond the call of duty. This book is dedicated to my muse, without whom it would never have existed. And fi nally, perhaps especially, it is dedicated to my son, who may very well live his life out in a posthuman age of gods and monsters. The lucky duck. v CONTENTS Introduction: Human, Superhuman, Transhuman, Post/Human 1 What Is Posthumanism? 11 The Rhizome of Comic Book Culture 37 The Perfect Body 69 The Cosmic Body 93 The Military-Industrial Body 115 Animal Bodies and Artifi cial Bodies 137 Reading the Superhuman 155 Readers on Transhumanism and Post/Humanism 175 Towards a Theory of Reader-Text Assemblages 205 vii viii CONTENTS The Posthuman Body in Superhero Comics 227 Bibliography 239 Index 259 Introduction: Human, Superhuman, Transhuman, Post/Human In issue ten of All Star Superman 1 the titular hero attempts to discover what a world without Superman would look like by creating a miniature universe, complete with a miniature Earth whose development he can observe from the outside. In the glimpses of this alternate Earth afforded the reader, we move swiftly from early humankind to the Renaissance thinker Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola delivering his 1486 “ Oration on the Dignity of Man ”, in which he stated that instead of yielding sover- eignty to gods and angels we should instead “become like them”, and, “if we but will it, surpass even imagination’s greatest paragons”. Later in this Earth’s history we see the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche writing by candlelight, “behold! I teach you the superman”. This is swiftly fol- lowed by a glimpse of the studio of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel (though both off-panel) at the moment they create the fi rst comic book superhero: Superman himself. The world that Superman has created is, clearly, our world. The impli- cation is clear; in a world where Superman did not exist, we would need to create him. From the Classical myths of Icarus or the Minotaur, forms that blurred the line between the human and technology and the human and animal, through to the modern superhero comic, humans have enter- tained themselves with posthuman visions and engaged in arguments about the very category of the human itself. The scientifi c advances of the last century—in plastic surgery and prosthetics; neuropharmacology and robotics; genetics and information technology—have bought us ever © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 1 S. Jeffery, The Posthuman Body in Superhero Comics, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54950-1_1 2 S. JEFFERY closer to actualising these visions with the implications being a source of debate for philosophers, scientists and, increasingly, a topic of interest for politicians, policy makers and the public. New technologies continue to be produced, themselves producing ever more cyborgian realities. Meanwhile, the fi ctions of superhero comic books continue to migrate from their “ghetto” in comic book fandom onto the big and small screens of “mainstream” audiences. The thirst for the posthuman, in both science and science fi ction, has become popularised. However, as Brown points out, any analysis of comic books, “often comes down to a privileging of the critic’s own reading rather than a realistic consideration of how the text actually works for audiences”, and as such, “the intentions and prac- tices of both the creators and the consumers must be incorporated into the inquiry”. 2 To address this issue the book also incorporates interviews with comic book readers about their views of the posthuman body, not only in the form of the superhero, but also in terms of Trans and Post/ Humanism. This book concerns itself with the same developmental trajectory of posthumanist thought suggested by All Star Superman . Nevertheless, this is no simple linear progression; if Mirandola, Nietzsche and Siegel and Shuster each articulated a vision of the posthuman they each did so in very different ways. For this reason, the book that follows refers to the general idea of the posthuman (or more specifi cally, the posthuman body) as a rhizome formed from three overlapping yet distinct discursive realms. The realm of the Superhuman encompasses fi ctional representations of posthuman bodies, with particular emphasis placed on its manifestation in comic books. The realm of transhumanism refers generally, though certainly not exclusively, to a philosophy and practice of human enhancement that runs from the Renaissance humanism of Mirandola and the Enlightenment conception of the human as rational, autonomous subject, to the increasingly popularised ideology of Transhumanism proper, which calls for the active use of science and technology to improve the cognitive and physical abilities of human beings. Nietzsche’s concept of the Ubermensch diverges from this Transhumanist lineage to create the discursive realm this book refers to as Post/Humanism. Post/Humanism differs from Transhumanism as Nietzsche’s Ubermensch differs from Humanism: by interrogating and undermining the self- proclaimed qualities of reason, autonomy and even morality on which humanism presumes to position itself. Thus, while it is possible to talk of “posthumanism” in general terms and, as All Star Superman implies, there INTRODUCTION: HUMAN, SUPERHUMAN, TRANSHUMAN, POST/HUMAN 3 is a history of posthumanist thought, the various connections between these modes are not strictly linear. It is these non- linear connections, or “underground root-systems”, between the human, Transhuman, Post/ Human and Superhuman that this book explores. WHAT THE BOOK DOES NOT DO It would be worth acknowledging two theoretical schools that are not fully elaborated upon within this book, but lie dormant within its theoretical approach and subject matter.

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