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Palgrave Macmillan

A New Gnosis

Comic Books, Comparative Mythology, and Depth Psychology

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Editors:
  1. David M. Odorisio

    1. Mythological Studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, USA

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  • Explores 'the superhero' as representative of a uniquely emergent modern mythology
  • Uncover what the (re)emergence of these perennial goddesses and gods have to say to us about our secret super selves
  • Applies the analytical tools of comparative mythology and depth psychology to the superhero genre

Part of the book series: Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture (CRPC)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. A New Gnosis: The Comic Book as Mythical Text

    • David M. Odorisio
    Pages 1-11

  3. A New Gnosis: Comic Books as Modern Mythology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13
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    2. Dreaming the Myth Onward: Comic Books as Contemporary Mythologies

      • Craig Chalquist
      Pages 15-24

    3. From Horror to Heroes: Mythologies of Graphic Voodoo in Comics

      • Yvonne Chireau
      Pages 25-57

    4. Mystico-Erotics of the “Next Age Superhero”: Christian Hippie Comics of the 1970s

      • Amy Slonaker
      Pages 59-81

    5. The Flying Eyeball: The Mythopoetics of Rick Griffin

      • Erik Davis
      Pages 83-111

    6. Graphic Mythologies

      • Evans Lansing Smith
      Pages 113-137

  4. Archetypal Amplifications: Comic Books, Comparative Mythology, and Depth Psychology

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 139-139
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    2. Archetypal Dimensions of Comic Books

      • Jeffrey T. Kiehl
      Pages 141-159

    3. All-Female Teams: In Quest of the Missing Archetype

      • Jennifer Maile Kaku
      Pages 161-180

    4. Infirm Relatives and Boy Kings: The Green Man Archetype in Alan Moore’s The Saga of The Swamp Thing

      • John Bucher
      Pages 181-195

    5. The Shadow of the Bat: Batman as Archetypal Shaman

      • John Todd
      Pages 197-220

    6. “To Survive and Still Dream”: Ritual and Reclamation in Little Bird

      • Jennifer Tronti
      Pages 221-231

    7. Graffiti in the Grass: Worldbuilding and Soul Survival Through Image, Immersive Myth, and the Metaxis

      • Li Sumpter
      Pages 233-241

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 243-260
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Keywords

About this book

Superhero phenomena exploded into 20th- and 21st-century popular culture by way of the visual medium of comic books. In an increasingly secular (yet spiritual) culture that has largely renounced “the gods” (and even religion), what does the return of the superhero through our own pop cultural mythologies say to us—or even about us? This collection of essays from leading and up-and-coming scholars in the fields of comparative mythology and depth psychology considers the return of the superhero as representative of our own unique emergent modern mythology: a wildly diverse pantheon that reflects back to us our most far-reaching hopes and (im)possible (super)human desires. In placing the interpretive tools of comparative mythology and depth psychology alongside the comic book phenomenon, a super-powered palette emerges that unveils the hidden potential of modern readers’ own heightened imaginations. The essays in this anthology examine select comic book and superhero characters from the “Silver Age” 1960s through contemporary 21st-century adaptations and innovations, as readers are invited to discover and uncover what the (re)emergence of these perennial gods and goddesses have to say about our own secret super selves today.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Mythological Studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, USA

    David M. Odorisio

About the editor

David M. Odorisio, is Associate Core Faculty and Co-Chair of the Mythological Studies program at Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA. He is editor of Merton and Hinduism: The Yoga of the Heart (2021), and co-editor of Depth Psychology and Mysticism (2018). David teaches in the areas of psychology and religion, and comparative mysticism, and has published in numerous journals in the fields of Jungian and transpersonal psychology.


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