The Comics Professor

Call for abstracts: Wonder Woman and Philosophy

I just realized I never posted this call for abstracts for what is a long-overdue and much-needed book. My abstract is in, and if you're a philosopher who's also a Wonder Woman fan, you should submit one too. (The deadline is February 1!)

 

Call for Abstracts

 

Wonder Woman and Philosophy

 

Edited by Jacob M. Held

 The Blackwell Philosophy and Popular Culture Series

 

To propose ideas for future volumes in the Blackwell series please contact the Series Editor, William Irwin, at [email protected]

 

If you have comments or criticisms for the series, please contact the series editor after reading “Fancy Taking a Pop?” and  “Writing for the Reader: A Defense of Philosophy and Popular Culture Books”

 

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be philosophically substantial but accessible, written to engage the intelligent lay reader. Contributors of accepted essays will receive an honorarium.

 

Possible themes and topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:

Man’s World vs. Themyscira: Wonder Woman as feminist icon; Is Wonder Woman a feminist; Amazons, nature, domination and ecofeminism; God vs. Goddess of War: War and Peace studies; Does Wonder Woman have to be so sexy? Gender, Empowerment, and DC Comics; Wonder Woman as Archetype? Beauvoir, Butler, and Gender; Kant and the Lasso of Truth; Truth telling and Deception; Are these Gods worth worshipping: Zeus, Ares, Piety and the Nature of Faith, Religious Devotion; Pantheons, Religion, and Reason; WWWWD: Can Wonder Woman be a role model; Which Wonder Woman is the real Wonder Woman: Infinite Earths, Personal Identity, and Possible Worlds; Narrative and Personal Identity, Or That’s not the True Wonder Woman (Golden age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and the New 52); Origin Stories and Identity;  Could we/Should we create Wonder Women: Amazonians as Transhumanists; The Killing of Maxwell Lord: Killing and Self-Defense; Cat Fights: Cheetah vs. Wonder Woman, Must the villain be female; Eroticism in literature: The Aesthetics of Women in Graphic Novels; Is the Justice League a hostile work environment: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; Gifts from the Gods and Moral Luck; Natural gifts and superiority: Are all of us truly equal;  Wonder Woman and Nietzsche: Ubermädchen?; Does Wonder Woman have an obligation to help: Altruism, Egoism, Wonder Woman Shrugged?; Ethics of Care and Wonder Woman; Propaganda, Art, and Wonder Woman: From WWII to today; Marston’s vision of women and men, and the crafting of a heroine; Can Blind Wonder Woman be in the Justice League? Disability studies and superheroes; Adaptations and Integrity: Lynda Carter is/is not Wonder Woman; Wonder Woman as the Secretary of the Justice League, and Diana Prince the Nurse, Secretary…: Can Wonder Woman Shatter the Glass Ceiling?

 

Submission Guidelines:

1. Submission deadline for abstracts (100-500 words) and CVs: February 1, 2016.

2. Submission deadline for drafts of accepted papers: June 1, 2016.

 

Kindly submit by e-mail (with or without Word attachment) to: [email protected]

Earth 2: The return of dignity and heroism to the DCU, or its death knell?

OK, the title is a little melodramatic, but I think this book deserves it. Earth 2 #1, written by James Robinson and drawn by the incomparable Nicola Scott, has me wishing (with qualifications) that this new Earth 2 were the mainstream DC Earth. (Its companion book, Worlds' Finest, by Paul Levitz, George Pérez, and Kevin Maguire, was also excellent, but pales in comparison to the cinematic bombast of Earth 2.)

I can't discuss this book without massive spoilers, so proceed with caution! More below the jump...

DC changes Batman's origin: Thomas and Martha Wayne to have been Nazi sympathizers

ASSOCIABLE PRESS: April 1, 2012

Following the huge success of their revision of Wonder Woman's origins--first making her the daughter of the Greek god of philanderers, Zeus, and then "interpreting" Hippolyta and Amazons as rapists and baby-murderers--DC Comics announced at Emerald City Comicon today that they will soon reveal that Batman's deceased parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, were Nazi sympathizers during World War II. Asked about the change, representives of the firm of Didio, Johns, and Lee explained that "they simply didn't think Batman was angry enough."

When they hinted that a young Jim Gordon may have been the one to shoot the Waynes, a fan stood up to point out the similarity of the new origin to that of the Wrath from 1984's Batman Special #1. In response, Didio threw up his hands and shouted, "Who remembers that? It's the New 52, baby! Everything's fair game now!" before high-fiving Johns and Lee.

The reveal will occur in a special one-shot, Alfred: The Remains of the Day.

Sources at DC who shall remain unnamed suggested that if this proves as successful as the Wonder Woman revamp, the Kents may be retconned as members of the Manson family, Barry Allen's parents would be reimagined as running a meth lab, and Hal Jordan's dad will have been a big douchebag.