Reboot Culture: Comics, Film, Transmedia

ISBN-13: 9783031409110 / Angielski

William Proctor

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: A New Terminology? Discourses, Distinctions, Definitions

Chapter 3: Planet of the Capes: Archaeology of the Silver Age Comic Reboot

Chapter 4: Crisis Management: Archaeology of the Comic Book Pre-Boot

Chapter 5: Man of Steel Begins: Archaeology of John Byrne’s Superman Reboot

Chapter 6: The Darkest Knight: Archaeology of the Batman in Comics, Film & Transmedia

Chapter 7: Conclusion

O autorze

William Proctor is Associate Professor in Popular Culture at Bournemouth University, UK.

Blurb

"​William Proctor interrogates reboot culture like he’s leading a courtroom drama: marshalling evidence, challenging assumptions and exposing the careless thinking of previous work (including my own) through a series of fascinating case studies. His analysis is tough and tenacious, taking no prisoners, as he taxonomises the various categories of retcon, relaunch, revival, sequel, prequel and reboot (and deboot, and preboot, for good measure). Passionate, provocative and pedantic, this book provides an invigorating experience and a fierce, focused argument that should inspire media students and set a spark to scholarly debate."
— Will Brooker, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies, Kingston University, London

"A very enjoyable, readable ride on the history of film and comic reboots from an engaging academic perspective, including related phenomena like retconning, re-launches, spin-offs, and more. Proctor shows that these narrative strategies have deep historical roots, and have been used across the whole spectrum spanning high and low cultural forms, while overturning some commonly-held assumptions as well, essentially rebooting the conversation on rebooting itself."
—Mark J. P. Wolf, Professor in the Communication Department at Concordia University, Wisconsin

This book examines the reboot phenomenon from its historical emergence as a concept within the superhero comic book medium, specifically DC Comics, to its conceptual adaptation across media platforms into film and beyond in the new millennium.  It adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that holistically cojoins etymology, history, narrative and discourse as a way to develop a hermeneutics of rebooting. Throughout the book, the author develops a critical morphology to demonstrate the mechanics of the reboot phenomenon as a narrative technique and, also, by 'looking beyond the text itself' to consider economics, reception and, via paratexts, the interstices between.  In doing this the monograph examines the complex dialectical struggle occurring between production and consumption that provides an insight into the way culture industries engage with strategies of regeneration as a principle of franchising in the twenty-first century.

William Proctor is Associate Professor in Popular Culture at Bournemouth University, UK.