The Ever-Ending Battle Project: Superhero Comics and Thanatology

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The Ever-Ending Battle Project Superhero
Comicsand Thanatology

• with A. David Lewis
• As part of Comic Art Comics IV The Quick and
  the Dead Death, Revenge, and the Undead
• 2005  National Meeting of the PCA/ACA - San
  Diego, CA
• March 23 - 26, 2005

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SuperheroesDeath Becomes Them

• X-Men Death Becomes Them flash file
• Didnt I just kill you four months ago?
• No, that was the second time you died...
• How did I die this time?
• Oh, and you killed Jean. Shes dead again?
• Like none of you have ever died before...
• I havent died either...At least, not to the
  best of my recollection.

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Hydrogen Age

• From BrokenFrontier.com columns, The Library of
  Babble
• 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths, Dark Knight
  Returns, Watchmen, Secret Wars II
• Morality (Golden), Authority (Silver), Autonomy
  (Bronze), Mortality (Hydrogen)
• Death of Illyana Rasputin, Superman, and
  Metmorpho passing of Starman mantle, the quantum
  bands, the Green Lantern legacy, the Star Brand,
  and the Fantastic Four roster reboots of
  Onslaught. Heroes Reborn and Heroes Return the
  Ultimate line, the All-Stars line new JLA, the
  New X-Men, a reborn JSA, the return of Hawkman,
  the Astonishing X-Men, the New Avengers the
  resurrection of Green Arrow, the rebirth of Green
  Lantern the murder of Sue Dibney in Identity
  Crisis and a purported second DC Crisis etc.

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Thanatology

• Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
• 5 Stages of Grieving
• Hospice Care
• Ernest Becker
• Denial of Death
• Role of Heroism

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EEB Questionaire

• Launched January 27, 2005 via the International
  Comic Arts Association (ICAA) website
• ICAA membership notified online comic book news
  sources alerted.
• Made available in print form.
• Over 200 responses to date (150 prepared for
  PCA/ACA analysis)

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EEB Questionaire

• Anonymous
• Personal Data
• Immigrant (D. Fingeroth)
• Orphan (D. Fingeroth)
• Religious background
• Sexual Orientation
• Place of birth, Citizenship
• Recent Loss(es)
• Morbid?
• Concerned with Death?

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SHI Superhero Index

• Participants asked
• For approximately how many years have you been
  reading comic books on at least a consistent
  monthly basis?
• Roughly what percent of your current comic book
  reading consists of the superhero genre?
• How many superhero titles do you currently buy
  per month, on average?
• Also asked comic book news sources, message
  boards, and comic book properties they frequent,
  if applicable not factored into SHI.

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SHI Superhero Index

• SHI calculated as
• 4 factors
• Age (2005-D.O.B.)
• YearsReading and YearsNotReading
  AgeYearsReading
• PercentageSuperheroes
• NumberSuperheroTitles and TotalTitles
  (NumberSuperheroTitles 1)/PercentageSuperheroes
  
• YearsReading/YearsNotReading A
• NumberSuperheroTitles/TotalTitles B
• SHI A x B

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Revised Collett-Lester Scale
Death Dying
Yours Your Own Death Your Own Dying
Others The Death of Others The Dying of Others

• Death Studies 14451-468, 1990
• Determined to be valid and over various
  scenarios.
• Four sections, 8 questions each

• How disturbed or made anxious are you by the
  following aspects of death and dying? Read each
  item and answer it quickly. Don't spend too much
  time thinking about your response. We want your
  first impression of how you think right now.
  Circle the number that best represents your
  feeling. (5 Very, 3 Somewhat, 1 Not)

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Initial Evaluations

• Education levels needed general reading needed
• Control group needed Consisting of...?
• Statistical difference between
• Dying Death trends?
• Personal and Other trends?
• Loss and No Loss trends?
• Disenfranchised grief
• Causation

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The Ever-Ending Battle Project Superhero
Comicsand Thanatology

• www.EverEndingBattle.com
• www.ComicArts.org/study_eeb.php