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This book aims to study the Batman narrative, or Bat-narrative, from the point of view of its nodal relationship to modern narrative. To this end, it offers for the first time a new type of methodology adequate to the object, which delves both into materials scarcely studied in this context and well-known materials seen in a new light. This is a multidisciplinary work aimed at both the specialist and the global reader, bringing together comic studies, philosophical criticism, and literary criticism in a debate on the fate of our current global civilization.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Batman and the Superhero Comics: A Contribution to the Hermeneutics of the Genre
The Object of the Analysis
On Superheroes and Ideologies
The Batman Canon and the Category of Genre
The Method of Analysis
Towards the Specificity of the Object
How is Knowledge Possible in the Case of Comic Book Hermeneutics?
Chapter 2: Gotham and the Soul of the Contemporary City
Batman: from the City to the Panel
Gotham City, the Crime and the Identity: "I Shall Become a Bat"
Elseworlds: Batman in Moscow
Chapter 3: Batman and "the Political": Tonight, He is the Law
Constitutionalist State and State of Exception
Action and Inequality: Thomas Hobbes and the Founding of Modern State
Crisis, Power, and Decisionism: Carl Schmitt and the Suspension of Law
Superheroes and American Exceptionalism
Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Fascism!
Political Technologies of the Body: Reactionarism and its Methods
Punishment and Political Body
Utilitarianism and Power-knowledge
"Whodunit?": Batman, Holmes, and the Hermeneutics of Detection
Induction and Hyperspecialization
Hyperspecialization and Discipline
Batman and the Panopticon: Surveillance and Punishment
Between Biopolitics and Sovereignty: The Superhero and Governance
Chapter 4: The Savior and Nihilism
About Nihilism
I. S. Turgenev: Fathers and Sons and the Generational Break
F. M. Dostoevsky: Nihilism as Split
F. Nietzsche: Nihilism as the Death of References
Modern Hero as a Terrorist
The Knight-errant vs. the Displacement of the Modern Episteme
From Dostoevsky to Batman
Avengers: Resentment and Reaction
Excursus: Batman Gothic (Variations on a Romantic Theme)
Chapter 5: On Villains and Supermen
The "Last Man" vs. the "Meaning/Sense of Earth"
The Supervillain Affair
In the Gallery of Mirrors
Joker: "This is my Card"
Madness and Otherness
Towards a Genealogy of Madness
From the Tragic to the Classical Experience of Madness
The Medicalization of Madness
The Doctor, the Vigilante, and the Asylum
Visions of Madness
Diderot's Rameau's Nephew: Towards a Typology of the Underground
Dostoevsky's Underground Man: The Great Resistance
The Joker, the Camel and the Lion
"Let's Put a Smile on that Face": Towards a Philosophy of the Carnival
Chapter 6: Joker and the Carnival of Laughter
Joker and "Grotesque Realism"
The Polyphonic Novel
Discourse in the Comic
An Exercise in Polyphonic Reading in the Superheroic Comic-book (I): Arkham Asylum. A Serious House on Serious Earth
An Exercise in Polyphonic Reading in the Superheroic Comic-book (II): Luthor... You Are Driving Me Sane
Report
"[...] Batman and the Shadows of Modernity offers a significant contribution to both superhero studies and broader philosophical discourse. By positioning Batman as a figure intertwined with the moral uncertainties and existential struggles of the modern world, Carrión-Arias transcends typical superhero analysis and opens up new avenues for understanding the character's cultural relevance. This book not only deepens our appreciation for Batman as a reflection of modern nihilism but also lays the groundwork for future scholarship on how superheroes function as ideological symbols in an era marked by fragmentation and crisis. As both a cultural critique and a philosophical treatise, Batman and the Shadows of Modernity stands as an essential text for scholars, philosophers, and comic book enthusiasts alike, one that will likely shape future discussions on the intersection of power, identity, and morality in the superhero genre."
Felipe Rodolfo Hendriksen, International Journal of Comic Art
"The book seeks to trace a genealogy around the conception of the modern hero, in clear relation to a nihilistic reading of it, trying to locate in it the figure of Batman as the foundational superhero of modern heroism. To do so, he tries to analyze the elements that nurture the character and that elevate him to this category in a masterful way [...]."
Andrea Hormaechea Ocaña, CuCo, Cuadernos de cómic
["[E]l libro busca trazar una genealogía en torno a la concepción de héroe moderno, en clara relación con una lectura nihilista del mismo, tratando de ubicar en ella a la figura de Batman como superhéroe fundacional de la heroicidad moderna. Para ello, trata de analizar los elementos que nutren al personaje y que lo elevan a esta categoría de forma magistral [...]."
Andrea Hormaechea Ocaña, CuCo, Cuadernos de cómic]
