SUPERHEROES IN COMICS STUDIES: A BIBLIOGRAPHY PLAN Jennifer Fuchikami LIS 601 Dr. Vanessa Irvin May 5, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………… 03 Search Strategy ………………………………………………………………………………03 Search Terms …………………………………………………………………………………03 Search Process ……………………………………………………………………..…………04 OPAC ……………………………………………………………………………….………..04 UH Voyager ………………………………………………………………………………….04 Databases ……………………………………………………………………………….……04 ProQuest ebrary ………………………………………………………………………...……04 Academic Search Premier…………………………………………………………….………05 MasterFILE Premier………………………………………………………………..…………05 Films on Demand……………………………………………………………….……………..06 Filmakers Library Online………………………………………………………………...……06 ProQuest Dissertations and Theses………………………………………………………...….06 Web Resources………………………………………………………………………….…….06 Comics Studies, Department of English, The University of Florida …………………………06 ComicsResearch.org………………………………………………………………………….07 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………..….07 Appendices ……………………………………………………………………...……………07 Sample Annotated Bibliography…………………………………………………………...…07 Search Results Relevancy Charts……………………………………………………………..10 Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………… 12 INTRODUCTION: Comic books originated as collections of comic strips in the early 20th century. According to Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, the first comic book with original material was The Funnies, published in 1929. As the new format grew in popularity, material was created specifically for comic books. In 1938, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman, the first superhero that would launch what is now known as the Golden Age of Comics in America and the creation of the popular superhero genre (Encyclopædia Britannica Online). Comics Studies, a formal study of comic books and graphic novels as literature has recently began to emerge as a field in the past decade or two. With the resurgence in popularity of superheroes thanks to recent film and television adaptations of classic and contemporary characters, I thought it apropos to create a bibliography plan for this topic. I chose the sub-topics of Asian American superheroes and female superheroes because of personal interest. The intended audience for this bibliography is university students, both undergraduate and graduate level, who wish to learn more about superheroes in comic books for formal or class research or personal interest. However, even high-schoolers or adults who have an interest in the topic may find this bibliography useful, though UH Manoa students or faculty will benefit the most, since most of the material can be found through their library system. The Chicago/Turabian citation style is used throughout this bibliography. Natural language search terms (NL) are lower case and italicized. Controlled vocabulary (CV) such as subject headings are in all caps. Boolean terms (AND/OR/NOT) are in all caps and truncation is indicated with an asterisk. SEARCH STRATEGY: A. SEARCH TERMS: Subject Headings: Controlled Vocabulary I initially gathered subject headings from the 4 volume, 26th edition of the Library of Congress Subject Headings in the LIS Information Commons. But some for terms, such as “superhero” I was told to use “hero.” When I checked online, the 37th Library of Congress Subject Headings included Superheroes as a subject heading, but depending when an item was cataloged, it might be worth it to try both. LOC Subject Headings: - ASIAN AMERICANS - ASIAN AMERICANS – COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. - GRAPHIC NOVELS - COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. - WESTERN COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. - SUPERHEROES - HEROES Natural Language terms: - Asian American - graphic novels - comic books - Asian Americans in comic books - Female superheroes - Superheroes - Graphic novel superheroes - comic book superheroes - Asian American superheroes Call numbers and their classification names: To browse with Library of Congress call numbers: PN6700-6790 is Literature (General) – Collections of general literature – comic books, strips, etc. B. SEARCH PROCESS: The databases are arranged chronologically in the order I accessed them. Searches were restricted to English language when the option was available. OPAC: UH Voyager Searching the UH Voyager OPAC, typing in SUPERHEROES gave me 172 results. Selecting the Batman, Vol. 4: Zero Year – Secret City by Scott Snyder gave me the subject headings: COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. –UNITED STATES, SUPERHEROES—COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. and GRAPHIC NOVELS. Searching Asian American comic books gave me the more specific LOC subject heading - ASIAN AMERICANS – COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. that might be more beneficial in other databases (in this OPAC, it turned up two Asian American comic book anthologies). DATABASE: ProQuest ebrary ProQuest’s ebrary seemed like a good place to start. It provides access to over 22,000 electronic books from many fields, including humanities. I thought it might be similar to the OPAC in that I would be able to get some relevant results for my unusual topic. I began with “asian american” AND “graphic novel” and limited results to any of the selected subjects: COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. This cut down 107 results to 9. Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle by Frederick Luis Aldama looked promising at first, but looking within the ebook, while there was a couple chapters on Asian American comic book creators, there wasn’t anything on my subtopic of Asian American superheroes. Similarly, Transnational Perspectives on Graphic Narratives: Comics at the Crossroads by Daniel Stein lacked Asian American superheroes, but one third of the book contained essays on superheroes, so it was relevant for my topic in general. Next I searched SUPERHEROES within the subject COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. which gave me 48 hits. WOMEN SUPERHEROES within the same subject gave me about the same results and heroes AND comic books turned up 58 results. DATABASE: Academic Search Premier (ASP) This database contains full text for 3,288 scholarly publishing in many subjects including humanities, arts & literature, and ethnic studies. Because of this, I thought it might be relevant to my topic. I first began by looking at the subject terms. ASP used subject headings ASIAN americans, SUPERHERO comic books, strips, etc., WOMEN superheroes, COMIC books, strips, etc., GRAPHIC novels. I limited the search to full text and searched and recorded the results in the appendix. Looking at the “help” section, I realized that this database utilized truncation, so I used that in my natural language searches. I also was reminded of the “power of NOT.” Searching superher* AND graphic novel NOT book review refined results to 54 from 120. My most successful search was WOMEN SUPERHEROES AND COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, etc. which gave me 5 results and several relevant articles such as Alex Link’s “The Secret of Supergirl's Success” published in the Journal Of Popular Culture. DATABASE: MasterFILE Premier Containing the full text of 2,000 periodicals on many subjects such as multicultural issues, it was another general database I was hoping would be relevant to my topic. I began browsing and compiling a list of MasterFILE Premier subject headings using the LOC headings I complied as a start: SUPERHERO comic books, strips, etc., COMIC books, strips, etc., WOMEN superheroes. Asian American would have to be a NL search. I searched and recorded the results in the appendix. I noticed that it didn’t seem like there was as many academic journals in this database. This makes sense, since the description of the database said it was geared toward public libraries. The only article that I found and felt was really useful was “Where No X-Man Has Gone Before! Mutant Superheroes and the Cultural Politics of Popular Fantasy in Postwar America” by Ramzi Fawaz. DATABASE: Films on Demand Allows streaming access to educational videos and documentaries in many fields such as humanities. I hoped that this database would provide me with some documentaries on superhero comic books. Searching by title, I searched superheroes and came up with 4 results. A three-part PBS documentary: Superheroes – A Never Ending Battle was the most relevant: Truth, Justice, and the American Way (1930's-1950's), With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility (1960's- 1970's), and A Hero Can Be Anyone (1980's-today). Since there weren’t a lot of results for superheroes, I didn’t think that there would be anything relevant to my sub topics. Indeed, asian american superhero and my third search, female superhero, did not return any results. DATABASE: Filmakers Library Online After my luck with Films on Demand, I wanted to try another multimedia database. This one claims to have award-winning documentaries across a broad curriculum. Unfortunately, based on the summaries of the videos, all four of my searches: superhero, superheroes, comic book, and graphic novel all turned up non-relevant results. However, as a librarian-to-be, Out of Print, directed by Vivienne Roumani sounded interesting. DATABASE: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses I selected this database to find research and scholarly works by students, especially since Comics Studies is an emerging field. It contains full text of material added since 1997 and selected full text prior to that year. I looked at the “tips” section and found that this database uses truncation. Using LOC subject headings as a starting point, I browsed subjects to find: ASIAN AMERICANS and COMIC BOOKS. Superheroes, and female or women would have to be NL searches. My initial search comic book AND