The one where it's hard to be a superhero, whether dating a school of eels or applying for a job at a fast food restaurant or letting your therapist alter your memories. Robots from outer space and dastardly plots collide with superfans and a girl who is terrific. What else do you need in a play? Comedy One-act. 30-35 minutes 8-28 actors, gender flexible

Super Black places the appearance of black superheroes alongside broad and sweeping cultural trends in American politics and pop culture, which reveals how black superheroes are not disposable pop products, but rather a fascinating racial phenomenon through which futuristic expressions and fantastic visions of black racial identity and symbolic political meaning are presented. Adilifu Nama sees the value—and finds new avenues for exploring racial identity—in black superheroes who are often dismissed as sidekicks, imitators of established white heroes, or are accused of having no role outside of blaxploitation film contexts. Nama examines seminal black comic book superheroes such as Black Panther, Black Lightning, Storm, Luke Cage, Blade, the Falcon, Nubia, and others, some of whom also appear on the small and large screens, as well as how the imaginary black superhero has come to life in the image of President Barack Obama. Super Black explores how black superheroes are a powerful source of racial meaning, narrative, and imagination in American society that express a myriad of racial assumptions, political perspectives, and fantastic (re)imaginings of black identity. The book also demonstrates how these figures overtly represent or implicitly signify social discourse and accepted wisdom concerning notions of racial reciprocity, equality, forgiveness, and ultimately, racial justice.

The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman! The comic book that started it all. Superman’s very first appearance! In Action Comics #1 Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster not only launched one of the longest running comic book series of all time, they also captured the hearts of America as for the very first time they introduced the Man of Steel, the world’s most iconic superhero! Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! The Man of Steel burst into the comic book world with a bang, kicking off the golden era of superheroes, paving the way for the hundreds if not thousands of super-powered heroes who have come since. As a distant planet takes its final breath, a scientist places his infant son into a space ship sending it to the planet Earth! Crash landing in rural Kansas, the boy is found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, where the couple take in the boy as their own. Unbeknownst to them the boy will one day grow up to be Earth’s mightiest champion, Superman!

"What if there's an alternative universe with a different moral code? What if we are being deceived by an evil genius? Examining the deep philosophical topics addressed in superhero comics, this entertaining book reads plot lines for the complex "thought experiments" they contain and analyzes their implications as if the comic authors were philosophers. In doing so, authors Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg--a comics expert and a philosophy scholar, respectively--find that superhero comics often depict philosophical thought experiments more fully than philosophers do, and with surprising results. For example, René Descartes briefly worries that we are being deceived by an evil genius, but Marvel Comics explores this concern--and its consequences--over decades. Similarly, in a few paragraphs philosophers Terry Horgan and Mark Timmons imagine a "moral twin earth" with deviant morality, while DC Comics dedicates multiple comics to different moral twin earths in which readers see multiple deviant moralities play out"--

Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, the Avengers, the X-Men, Watchmen, and more: the companion volume to the PBS documentary series of the same name that tells the story of the superhero in American popular culture. Together again for the first time, here come the greatest comic book superheroes ever assembled between two covers: down from the heavens—Superman and the Mighty Thor—or swinging over rooftops—the Batman and Spider-Man; star-spangled, like Captain America and Wonder Woman, or clad in darkness, like the Shadow and Spawn; facing down super-villains on their own, like the Flash and the Punisher or gathered together in a team of champions, like the Avengers and the X-Men! Based on the three-part PBS documentary series Superheroes, this companion volume chronicles the never-ending battle of the comic book industry, its greatest creators, and its greatest creations. Covering the effect of superheroes on American culture—in print, on film and television, and in digital media—and the effect of American culture on its superheroes, Superheroes: Capes, Cowls, and the Creation of Comic Book Culture appeals to readers of all ages, from the casual observer of the phenomenon to the most exacting fan of the genre. Drawing from more than 50 new interviews conducted expressly for Superheroes!—creators from Stan Lee to Grant Morrison, commentators from Michael Chabon to Jules Feiffer, actors from Adam West to Lynda Carter, and filmmakers such as Zach Snyder—this is an up-to-the-minute narrative history of the superhero, from the comic strip adventurers of the Great Depression, up to the blockbuster CGI movie superstars of the 21st Century. Featuring more than 500 full-color comic book panels, covers, sketches, photographs of both essential and rare artwork, Superheroes is the definitive story of this powerful presence in pop culture.

"THE END OF ALL THINGS," Conclusion Final issue. Everything since issue one has been building to this. Nothing can prepare you.