Our Gods Wear Spandex
Chris Knowles (Author)
Was Superman's arch nemesis Lex Luthor based on Aleister Crowley? Can Captain Marvel be linked to the Sun gods on antiquity? In Our Gods Wear Spandex, Christopher Knowles answers these questions and brings to light many other intriguing links between superheroes and the enchanted world of estoerica. Occult students and comic-book fans alike will discover countless fascinating connections, from little known facts such as that DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz started his career as H.P. Lovecraft's agent, to the tantalizingly extensive influence of Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy on the birth of comics, to the mystic roots of Superman. The book also traces the rise of the comic superheroes and how they relate to several cultural trends in the late 19th century, specifically the occult explosion in Western Europe and America. Knowles reveals the four basic superhero archetypes--the Messiah, the Golem, the Amazon, and the Brotherhood--and shows how the occult Bohemian underground of the early 20th century provided the inspiration for the modern comic book hero. With the popularity of occult comics writers like Invisibles creator Grant Morrison and V for Vendetta creator Alan Moore, the vast ComiCon audience is poised for someone to seriously introduce them to the esoteric mysteries. Chris Knowles is doing just that in this epic book. Chapters include Ancient of Days, Ascended Masters, God and Gangsters, Mad Scientists and Modern Sorcerers, and many more. From the ghettos of Prague to the halls of Valhalla to the Fortress of Solitude and the aisles of BEA and ComiCon, this is the first book to show the inextricable link between superheroes and the enchanted world of esoterica. * Chris Knowles is associate editor and columnist for the five-time Eisner Award-winning Comic Book Artist magazine, as well as a pop culture writer for UK magazine Classic Rock. * Knowles worked with Robert Smigel on The X Presidents graphic novel, based on the popular Saturday Night Live cartoon, and has created designs and artwork for many of the world's top superheroes and fantasy characters. * Features the art of Joe Linsner, creator of the legendary Dawn series, and more recently a collaborator with comics maestro Stan Lee
Comics & Graphic Novels; Comics & Graphic Novels
1 online resource
9781609253165, 1609253167
968115885
I want to believe
Part 1: Superheroes, Reborn
1: Look, up in the sky
Invocation
Decline and fall
2: Kingdom come
Hero as Messiah
Hollywood's homegrown heroes
3: Cult of the superhero
Part 2: Ancient Mysteries
4: Dawn of the Gods
Sumer and Egypt
Greece and Rome
People of the book
Norse sagas
5: Empire of the mind
Fruits of empire
Radicals
Spiritualism
6: Secret sects
Rosicrucians
Freemasonry
Other Christs
7: Victorian occult explosion
Coming race: Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Vril
Madame Blavatsky and Theosophy
Golden Dawn
8: Occult superstars
Friedrich Nietzsche
Aleister Crowley
Harry Houdini
Edgar Cayce
Part 3: Pulp Fiction
9: Literary luminaries
Edgar Allan Poe
Arthur Conan Doyle
Jules Verne
H G Wells
Bram Stoker
10: Pulps
Hard boiled
Tarzan
Gladiators: the Pulp superheroes
Amazing stories
Weird tales
11: Raconteurs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Sax Rohmer
H P Lovecraft
Robert E Howard
Dion Fortune
Jack Parsons: rocketman
Part 4: New Gods
12: Famous funnies
High adventure
Dirty dealings
Founding fathers
13: Who will save us?
Magic men
Mandrake the magician
Doctor Occult
14: Messiahs
Superman
Captain Marvel
Captain Clones
Super-Horus: Hawkman and the Falcon
Captain America
15: Silver age science heroes
Pornography of violence
Seduction
Code
Silver age
Spider-man
Silver surfer
16: Golems
Batman
Dark Knight: the god of vengeance
Bat-clones
Kirby's rage: the Thing and the Hulk
Death dealers
17: Amazons
Wonder Woman
Others just like her
Complex Elektra
18: Brotherhoods
Teen teams: the Legion and the Titans
Fantastic Four
X-Men
Illuminati
19: Wizards redux
Ibis the invincible
Doctor Fate
Doctor Strange
Constantine
Mad scientists
Part 5: Gods And Men
20: Visionaries
Jack Kirby
Steve Englehart
Alan Moore
Neil Gaiman
Grant Morrison
Mike Mignola
Alex Ross
21: Dream lab: comics and the future
22: Conclusion: Gods within us
Spirit in the sky
Bibliography
Index