Comic Book Crime (2013) by Nickie Phillips and Staci Strobl

When

I read this within the past two years.

Why

Since my superhero scholarship largely centers on the distinction and relationship between moral (e.g., welfare, justice, human rights), and societal (e.g., authority, legality, social order) concepts, Phillips’ and Strobl’s analysis of crime within superhero comics is very relevant to my work.

How

In addition to the content match, their book also informs my scholarship due to its multifaceted research methodology. They combine content analyses with ethnographic data from their time spent immersed within comic book fan culture to provide a robust portrait of why questions about what is moral, legal, and criminal animate readers’ engagement with superhero comics.