Comic Connections

Comics are all around campuses everyday, and with students arriving less prepared to tackle basics like reading, writing, and analyzing, this text helps connect what students enjoy to the classroom. Comic Connections: Analyzing Hero and Identity is designed to help teachers from middle school through college find a new strategy that they can use right away as part of their curricular goals.
Each chapter has three pieces: comic relevance, classroom connections, and concluding thoughts; this format allows a reader to pick-and-choose where to start. Some readers might want to delve into the history of a comic to better understand characters and their usefulness, while other readers might want to pick up an activity, presentation, or project that they can fold into that day's lesson.
This book focuses on defining heroic traits in popular characters such as Superman, Batman, or Daredevil, while offering a scholarly perspective on how to analyze character and identity in ways that would complement any literary classroom.

Sandra Eckard is an associate professor of English at East Stroudsburg University, where she teaches writing, works with English Education students, and directs the Writing Studio, a tutoring spot for students. She specializes in teaching writing, tutoring writing, and using popular culture in the classroom.

Introduction
Chapter 1: Superman Made "Real": Teaching the Hero Cycle with Kingdom Come
Carissa Pokorny-Golden and Karen Sahaydak
Chapter 2: The Man With Identities: Utilizing Daredevil as an Artifact for Literary Analysis
Alex Romagnoli
Chapter 3: Who is the Greatest Superhero? Using Comics to Explore the Concept of Heroism
Gian S. Pagnucci
Chapter 4: Truth, Justice, and the American Way: Exploring American Identity Throughout
History in Superman Narratives
J. Eric Hasty
Chapter 5: Who We Are vs. Who We Wish To Be: Examining Heroism through Comics and Canonical Literature
Eric Federspiel and Luke Rodesiler
Chapter 6: Visualizing the Hero Complex: Using Batman Year One for Visual and Character Analysis
Michael Cook and Jeffrey S. J. Kirchoff
Chapter 7: Teaching the Body of the Nation: Captain America and Masculinity
Lee Easton
About the Author