As a further aid to our session this week, I include the abstracts of the three papers and biographies of the presenters and additional panelists for the concluding round table:
3286 Fri. 4/13 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
The Comics Get Medieval 2012: A Celebration of Medieval-Themed Comics in Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of Prince Valiant
Chair: Michael A. Torregrossa, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
“Integrating Ideologies: Monarchy and Democracy in Hal Foster’s
Prince Valiant”
Nathan A. Breen, College of Lake County
Nathan Breen is associate professor of English at the College of Lake County, in Grayslake, Illinois, where he teaches composition, British and world literature. Trained as a medievalist, Nathan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses and published several articles on Old English poetry and Anglo-Saxon culture, and he is currently researching twentieth-century adaptations of Beowulf in comics and graphic novels. His interest in medieval studies stems from a lifelong love of Prince Valiant, which was introduced to him at age six.
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hal
Foster’s Prince Valiant, we cannot
help but marvel at the consistent beauty of the illustrations, the brilliance
of its creators, and the complexity of its storylines. In this paper, I argue
that one of the key elements in the
success of Prince Valiant is the way that
Foster nearly seamlessly integrated the vastly disparate political ideologies
of monarchy and democracy. On one hand, readers are enticed with the
aristocratic hierarchy of Arthur’s
court; on the other, they are intrigued by the democratic meritocracy among
Arthur’s knights. As an analysis of some of the strips that were published in
the first year (1937-38) shows, Hal Foster incorporated this blend of monarchy
and democracy from the very beginning, juxtaposing Valiant’s rise in stature
within Arthur’s court – based on his inherent nobility and his early acts of
valor –with the rigid structure of obeisance to the authority of the king.
The complexity of the storylines allowed Foster to
interpret the Arthur legend in a manner that simultaneously satisfies a desire
for the otherness and awe inspired by Camelot and the competing, yet
conflicting, desire for familiarity manifest in witnessing characters who seem
contemporary in the way that they succeed and rise in stature according to
their heroic deeds. While Foster researched his topic extensively and made
sustained and serious attempts to adhere to his perception of the of early
medieval Britain (which gives Valiant
a sense of historical and monarchical grandeur), he simultaneously conceded, at
times, to his audience’s preconceptions and to the legend of Arthur (including
their desire to see the character of Val as someone identifiable – a husband, a
father, a knight – who is valued and promoted because of his work ethic). This
is not to say that Foster compromised his material; to the contrary, his
ability to merge these divergent approaches to history is what made Prince Valiant so popular with
audiences.
In short, Foster satisfies the dual urges toward
antiquity and modernity in the complex reaction that 20th and 21st
century audience have toward medieval topics. From the very first strip
published, Foster develops Arthur’s knights (and especially Val) as the stuff
of legends, but also as very identifiable and believable characters. In the
strips published between 1937-38, we see this most notably in the way young
Valiant himself, the descendent of beleaguered royalty, initially struggles to
conform to the social structure of Camelot (in fact, he is nearly exiled for
fighting with other page boys while drunk), yet eventually rises to become one
of Arthur’s most trusted knights. It is Val’s royal lineage that distinguishes
him from the modern audience and makes him seem medieval, yet it is his quest
for recognition according to his merit and service that makes him seem modern
and identifiable, and endears him to audiences. By appealing to these divergent
expectations in his audience, Foster ensured the enduring success of Prince Valiant.
“Excalibur as Science Object: Democratizing the Power behind the Arthurian Throne in Camelot 3000” Michelle Braun, Mount Royal University
Michele Braun teaches in the English and General Education departments at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. She is also the Vice-President of the Popular Culture Association of Canada, which will be holding its second conference in Niagara Falls, Ontario, this May. Her paper demonstrates Michelle’s ongoing consideration of the representation of technology in contemporary literature as well as her interest in Arthuriana.
Magical objects frequently appear in
Arthurian narratives and the object that appears most frequently in stories
about King Arthur is his sword, Excalibur.
In medieval and other Arthurian texts, Excalibur is a magical object,
but in some contemporary iterations of the legend, Excalibur becomes a
technological object, whose function can be explained by scientific principles. This paper will describe the use of science
and technology as a means for explaining the king-making events involving
Excalibur in Camelot 3000. It will
draw upon observations about the relationship between magical and scientific
explanations of phenomena, including the relationship between the practitioners
of science and magic: Merlin and Morgan and the magical and scientific sources
of their power. The personal relationship to power that Merlin and Morgan
possess in their manipulation of magic and science is countered by the power
that Arthur and Mordred wield, which is located in the artefacts they possess,
namely the sword Excalibur and the Holy Grail. Thus power in some instances is
understood to be diffuse and complex in the novel, but in others, it inheres in
particular artefacts, including Arthur’s sword.
The graphic novel, Camelot 3000 (1988), follows the traditional presentation of
Excalibur as symbol of Arthur’s right to rule, but it also reimagines Excalibur
as a nuclear powered weapon. Introducing a potential scientific or technical
component to the power of the sword introduces complexity into the relationship
between Excalibur and power. In translating Excalibur as a technical object,
the reader is invited to share in the understanding of its power and
democratize the process of king-making by revealing it to potentially be
facilitated by science. By re-imagining Excalibur as a technological, rather
than a magical or symbolic object, the graphic novel reflects the tastes and
interests of its twentieth century readers.
“The Myth of the Death of the Hero: Eternal Return in Arthurian Literature and Neil Gaiman’s
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?”
Hannah Means-Shannon, Georgian Court University
Hannah Means-Shannon teaches English at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey. She, too, is a medievalist by background and has published articles on the works of both Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman in the
International Journal of Comic Art,
The Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and
Studies in Comics. She is currently writing on a book about Gaiman’s early works.
This study will investigate the ways in
which the poetry of Wace, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Brittaniae, and Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur present the concept of
the hero’s miraculous return from death in comparison to Neil Gaiman’s recent
Batman story arc Whatever Happened to the
Caped Crusader? (2009). Rebirth itself will be examined in terms of Carl
Jung’s consideration of the “child-hero” archetype, both a “beginning and an
end” to the heroic process, and in terms of Jung’s archetype of “rebirth”
following specific psychologically significant patterns in the elucidation of
developing “immortal” selfhood in the heroic role. Jung’s interpretation of Buddhist
reincarnation present in Psychology and
the East (2008) will also be considered in terms of its psychological
impact on modern heroic mythology.
Major factors concerning the death of the
hero in Arthurian texts and Gaiman’s narrative will be explored, including the
role of betrayal, and fundamental flaws in characterization that make a
“cyclical” pattern necessary. Celtic mythological motifs that may inform the
“eternal return” concept in Arthurian Literature will be examined, including
the mythology of Taliesin and Merlin, as well as varying Buddhist-inspired
concepts of reincarnation present in Gaiman’s text. Rebirth itself will be
considered in terms of a concern for multiple versions of the
death/resurrection motif, and degree of uncertainty concerning the exact
process whereby a hero will be reborn to “return”. Within this ambiguous
narrative, accompanying, guiding figures play a significant role in suggesting
the positive nature of the “rebirth” outcome, including Merlin, the “queens” of
Avalon, Alfred and Bruce Wayne’s parents. Application of key Jungian concepts
of the “child-hero” archetype and “rebirth” will highlight the manner in which
both Arthurian texts and Neil Gaiman’s Batman narrative represent a concern for
the development of the heroic role in psychological terms, culminating in an
affirmation of the “return” motif as an expression of the development of
empowered unified selfhood in the central hero.
Additional panelists for the round table:
Nicole Freim, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Nicole is the current chair of the Comic Art & Comics Area, a position she has now held for nine years. She is also on the editorial board of the
International Journal of Comic Art and is currently in the process of finishing her dissertation.
Jason Tondro, University of California Riverside
Jason Tondro is the author of
Superheroes of the Round Table: Comics Connections to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, published last October from McFarland. For years, he has taught comics, composition, and Arthurian literature at University of California Riverside and neighboring city colleges, but this fall Jason will begin work as an Assistant Professor at the College of Coastal Georgia. He is also an avid blogger and can be followed at
Doctor Comics at Blogspot.com.
Michael A. Torregrossa, The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages
Michael A. Torregrossa is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs). His research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, vampires, and wizards. Michael is currently Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Legend Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association. He is also founder of The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Villains of the Matter of Britain, founder of The Institute for the Advancement of Scholarship on the Magic-Wielding Figures of Visual Electronic Multimedia, and co-founder, with Carl James Grindley, of The Virtual Society for the Study of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages; he also serves as editor for these organizations various blogs. Michael has presented his research at regional, national, and international conferences and has been published in
Adapting the Arthurian Legends for Children: Essays on Arthurian Juvenilia,
Arthuriana,
The Arthuriana / Camelot Project Bibliographies,
Cinema Arthuriana: Twenty Essays,
Film & History,
The 1999 Film & History CD-Rom Annual, T
he Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy, and the three most recent supplements to
The Arthurian Encyclopedia.
