Prof. Eric Berlatsky Reviews Superheroes and Excess

Congratulations to Prof. Eric Berlatsky, Professor of English, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Ph.D. in Comparative Studies on publication of a new book review in International Journal of Comic Art Blog (May 11, 2022).

Berlatsky's piece—"Superheroes and Excess, an Oxymoron: A Review Essay"—reviews Superheroes and Excess: A Philosophical Adventure, edited by Jamie Brassett and Richard Reynolds.

Jamie Brassett and Richard Reynolds’ new book Superheroes and Excess (Routledge, 2022) has the significant benefit of bringing together two topics/discourses that have rarely, if ever, been previously wed. The concept of “excess” is, of course, a slippery but important one, particularly in philosophical circles, as the editor’s note in the introduction, invoking the names of Gilles Deleuze and Georges Bataille, among others, in order to define and clarify the term. Brassett, Reynolds, and other contributors assert confidently (and no doubt correctly) that “excess” is an integral element of the superhero genre--as superheroes inevitably have an “excess” of power, skill, size, strength, speed, and often morality, when compared to the “ordinary” human populace. It might likewise be said that superheroes “exceed” the law, as they frequently operate as vigilantes (breaking the law), even though they are typically understood to be in support of the “justice” that the law is purportedly meant to represent. Excess has also been used (perhaps paradigmatically by Bataille, but also through the Kristevan abject and the Freudian excremental) to that which exceeds the boundary of the body, or the unitary subject, or both. [ . . . ]

Read more of Berlatsky's review at the International Journal of Comic Art Blog.