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Brogan, Jacob. "Masked Fathers: Jimmy Corrigan and the Superheroic Legacy." The Comics of Chris Ware. Drawing is a Way of Thinking. Eds. David M. Ball and Martha B. Kuhlman. Jackson: Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2010. 14–27. Added by: joachim (7/22/10, 9:28 AM) Last edited by: joachim (7/29/14, 2:26 PM) |
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| Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English DOI: 10.14325/mississippi/9781604734423.003.0002 BibTeX citation key: Brogan2010 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: "Jimmy Corrigan", Intertextuality, Psychoanalysis, Superhero, USA, Ware. Chris Creators: Ball, Brogan, Kuhlman Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi (Jackson) Collection: The Comics of Chris Ware. Drawing is a Way of Thinking |
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A constant concern in Chris Ware’s oeuvre is the role of the superhero in contemporary comics. Ware is troubled by the notion that superheroes are the forefathers of all new comics texts. In his graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, he establishes a parodic connection between the figure of the superhero and the eponymous protagonist’s long-absent father. A psychoanalytic investigation of the way fatherhood is represented throughout Jimmy Corrigan shows that superheroes sometimes seem to put oppressive pressure on the comics medium as a whole. This chapter argues that Jimmy Corrigan is an attempt to re-imagine the position of the superhero in American comics without granting it a central or otherwise foundational role. It examines Jimmy Corrigan’s struggle to come to terms with his father, as well as his alienation from his sexuality, as an allegory of the status of comics. The chapter also considers how Ware expresses his resistance to the superheroic legacy through genealogy, with reference to Jimmy Corrigan’s investigation of the real complexities of family history.
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