by Michelle Phipps
[Superhero action figures. Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license.]
ENG 206 American Superhero is an English course at Stevenson University taught by Nic Anstett that explores the evolution of superheroes in American comics, starting from the 1930s all the way to the 2020s. The curriculum includes significant comic book issues, such as the inaugural appearances of Superman, Batman, and Captain America, as well as the first 20 issues of Spider-Man, Spider-Man: The Night Gwen Stacy Dies (1973), X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (1982), The Dark Knight Returns (1986), Watchmen (1986-1987), Kingdom Come (1996), Civil War (2006-2007), and Far Sector (2019-2021). Including several movie adaptions such as Superman (1978), Batman (1989), X-Men 2 (2003), and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018). In her course, Prof. Anstett assigns students to deliver presentations on American superheroes that are not typically covered in the course giving students their own hero to talk about in front of the class.
What made you want to teach this course in Stevenson?
Prof. Anstett: “Many critics consider the superhero to be one of the most uniquely American contributions to global popular culture. Superheroes, as we have come to understand them, feel drawn from American sentiments and ideologies and I think it’s valuable to study the genre as a national cultural artifact. You can also break down the history of American comics into very distinct ages that mark stylistic and tonal changes in the medium. In a way, this mirrors how certain literary movements comment on and subvert the core ideas of their predecessors, which to me is one of the most interesting parts of studying English at an academic level. I figured that most students at Stevenson likely have at least a passing familiarity with superhero comics and that the class could be a good opportunity to look at the intersection of politics, art, and business when it comes to American storytelling.”
How did you choose the selection of books?
Prof. Anstett: “I mostly selected the books for this class based on the impact they had on the genre and broader popular culture. You can’t really talk about American superheroes as a literary genre without touching on Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, or The Amazing Spider-Man. Others like Kingdom Come, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, or Civil War were selected for how they demonstrated broader industry trends or American cultural conversations. My one regret in the designing of this course is that due to the historical/chronological approach I took with the syllabus, I ended up not teaching many texts written by women or people of color. American superhero comics is still a genre that’s dominated by creative teams of white men, and it’s only been recently that we’ve seen a genuine effort to change that. Because of this, I wanted to make sure that we ended the course by handing off the microphone to writers and artists from different perspectives, which is how I landed on Far Sector by NK Jemisin.”
Would you teach the course again?
Prof. Anstett: “I hope to teach this class again. There are few things better than getting to spend a few hours a week talking about comic books. I do want to try out some other classes so it may be another year or two before I offer it again, but I’d be happy to give it another go.”