On February 16, Daniel Clowes wrapped up his strip, Mister Wonderful, for the New York Times Sunday Magazine. It was nominated today for an Eisner award for Best Short Story.
I titled this blog Where Stalks the Stiltman because the Stiltman (a clearly ridiculous Marvel Comics villain), like comics, lurks in the margins, hoping to be taken seriously. Will the heroes be intimidated by him? Will the other villains respect him? If he does everything right, he just might be taken seriously. But, even though he is never truly accepted, he endures. Junk or not (or somewhere in between), the comic book is an enduring cultural artifact, and it does what any cultural artifact does: it radiates meaning. The artifact is not without context. It is produced in an environment. Therefore, it can tell us something about that environment. Richie Rich speaks to our economically stratified social structure. Batman speaks to our need for justice and/or vengeance. The X-Men comics function as a platform for discussing racism, homophobia, and xenophobia. The list is endless.
Note: The Marvel Comics biography linked above places a hyphen in the character's name, like so: Stilt-Man. I use an unhyphenated spelling, as that is what appears on the cover of Daredevil #102.
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