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Resource type: Web Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed BibTeX citation key: Brinker2020 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: Fandom, Marvel, Reception, Seriality, Superhero, USA Creators: Brinker Collection: Participations |
Views: 27/1187
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Attachments | URLs https://www.partic ... 7/Issue%202/13.pdf |
Abstract |
This article examines Marvel superhero comic books of the 1970s and their mobilization of fannish consumption practices. It argues that the 1970s Marvel comic book is best understood as a multi-purpose medium that, in addition to carrying narrative content, served as a mail-order catalog for comics and novelty products, as a forum for the moderated exchange between producers and consumers, and as a starting point for an ongoing engagement with comics fandom and a larger commodity culture that clustered around superhero comics. To make this case, the article considers the non-human agency of comics, takes stock of period comic books’ references to other issues and media, surveys different types of advertisements, discusses the role of letters pages and editorials, and addresses parallels between the practices of 1970s comic books and the intentional courting of fan audiences in the digital era.
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