[Commlist] Digital Superheroes Call for Papers

        The Digital Age of Superheroes: Superheroes and Data
        Superhumans have long been leading stars of popular culture, 
from their
    inception as the masked vigilantes of the early 1900s to the recent
    blockbuster Marvel and DC film series and accompanying media. With the
    recent closure of Marvel’s Phase 3, and the seemingly unavoidable
    permeation of superhero genre elements to a variety of visual 
media, it is
    an apt time to look back on the genre’s explosion to prominence 
over the
    last decade.
        Following Peter Coogan’s proposal that superhero texts 
constituted a genre
    of its own, the superhero’s connection to nationalism (Dittmer, 2013;
    Murray, 2011), identity (Robbins, 1996; Brown, 2011; Easthope, 1990),
    mythology (Reynolds, 1992; Eco, 1972), and fan culture (Jenkins,
    Shresthova, Kligler-Vilenchik, and Gamber-Thompson, 2016. Brown, 
2012) has
    been explored. The development of the superhero may be charted 
through its
    engagement in different posthuman expressions (Jeffery, 2016), and 
focus on
    social developments (Gibson, Ormrod, and Huxley, 2015).
        In reacting to the zeitgeist, or prevailing focus, of an era, 
the superhero
    has previously fought Nazis, participated in Cold War tensions, and
    addressed the careful balance of government oversight and civilian
    independence following acts of terrorism and subsequent 
legislation. How,
    though, are superheroes reacting to our zeitgeist, the age of digital
    media? How have superheroes adapted to this new world, and how 
might they
    help us understand it and our place within it?
        While superheroes as depicted in comics, film, and television 
are popular
    scholarly areas of inquiry, less attention has been paid to the
    intersection of the digital and the superhuman. Digital elements 
not only
    provide the tools or backdrops for the superhero, digital pieces 
can also
    permeate and compose the superhuman body. Superhumans can be digital
    themselves, their stories are increasingly delivered in digitized 
ways, and
    their use of technology can be prominent features of their superhero
    identity (e.g. Iron Man, Batman).
        We invite article abstracts on the theme of digital superheroes 
and their
    relationship with the internet and data to form a collection of essays
    addressing this unexplored intersection.
        We are particularly interested in topics that explore:
               -
           Digital superhumans
                   -
           Transmedia/platform superhuman storytelling
                   -
           Superhero video games
                   -
           Digital distribution of superhuman genres
                   -
           Importance and use of new/digital media and digital media 
aesthetics in
       superhuman genres (how do these effects change the ethos of the 
super?)
                   -
           Superhero fan cultures and the internet
                   -
           Surveillance and/or privacy and the superhuman.
                   -
           Hauntology of the web and its expression in superhero texts.
                   -
           Connection, community, and crisis
            We encourage contributions from all disciplines and 
interdisciplinary
    approaches as we aim to address a wide spectrum of angles on this
    intersection. Article abstracts of 300 words and a short author 
biography
    should be submitted to (freyja.mccreery /at/ york.ac.uk) and 
(sarahyoung /at/ arizona.edu) by
    5pm GMT on Friday 19th November 2021 with the subject line “SuperData”.
    Manuscripts of approximately 5000 words will be due the following 
June 2022.


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