Open AccessNot Superhero Accessible: The Temporal Stickiness of Disability in Superhero Comics
Author(s) -
Casey Ratto
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
disability studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2159-8371
pISSN - 1041-5718
DOI - 10.18061/dsq.v37i2.5396
Subject(s) - comics , joke , sign (mathematics) , visibility , psychology , inclusion (mineral) , wheelchair , white (mutation) , aesthetics , sociology , social psychology , art , literature , computer science , biochemistry , chemistry , world wide web , gene , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , optics
For this article, I will be examining the relationship between stickiness and visibility in the construction of disability in The Killing Joke, Hawkeye (2012) and Uncanny X-Men, specifically looking at how the practice of retroactive continuity both erases and cements disability. I argue through the use of retroactive continuity that the stickiness of disability in superhero comic books is dependent on visible signs of disability and those without a visible sign (wheelchair, white cane, etc ) are either "cured" of the disability or it is erased via a retcon.