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The extent to which the medieval has in many ways played a crucial role in the construction of the modern is an area of investigation that has attracted increasing attention from scholars in recent decades. Focussing on a range of American comic books, Chris Bishop examines the reception history complexities of their impact on popular culture. The Arthurianism of Prince Valiant, the Robin Hood origins of The Green Arrow, the response to Germanic immigration of The Mighty Thor, the underlying feminist discourse of Red Sonja, and the modernity transported to the Middle Ages of Northlanders can all be understood as a search for contemporary identity, one in which the pressures of consumerism and socio-political realities are underlying forces. Medievalist Comics and the American Century breaks new ground in our understanding of the cultural history of western societies and does so in a way that is both enlightening and provocative. Martin Arnold, reader in Old Northern Studies at the University of Hull and author of Thor: Myth to Marvel, a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, 2011

The extent to which the medieval has in many ways played a crucial role in the construction of the modern is an area of investigation that has attracted increasing attention from scholars in recent decades. Focussing on a range of American comic books, Chris Bishop examines the reception history complexities of their impact on popular culture. The Arthurianism of <i>Prince Valiant</i>, the Robin Hood origins of <i>The Green Arrow</i>, the response to Germanic immigration of <i>The Mighty Thor</i>, the underlying feminist discourse of <i>Red Sonja</i>, and the 'modernity transported to the Middle Ages' of <i>Northlanders</i> can all be understood as a search for contemporary identity, one in which the pressures of consumerism and socio-political realities are underlying forces. <i>Medievalist Comics and the American Century</i> breaks new ground in our understanding of the cultural history of western societies and does so in a way that is both enlightening and provocative. --Martin Arnold, reader in Old Northern Studies at the University of Hull and author of <i>Thor: Myth to Marvel</i>, a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, 2011</p>

-The extent to which the medieval has in many ways played a crucial role in the construction of the modern is an area of investigation that has attracted increasing attention from scholars in recent decades. Focussing on a range of American comic books, Chris Bishop examines the reception history complexities of their impact on popular culture. The Arthurianism of Prince Valiant, the Robin Hood origins of The Green Arrow, the response to Germanic immigration of The Mighty Thor, the underlying feminist discourse of Red Sonja, and the 'modernity transported to the Middle Ages' of Northlanders can all be understood as a search for contemporary identity, one in which the pressures of consumerism and socio-political realities are underlying forces. Medievalist Comics and the American Century breaks new ground in our understanding of the cultural history of western societies and does so in a way that is both enlightening and provocative.---Martin Arnold, reader in Old Northern Studies at the University of Hull and author of Thor: Myth to Marvel, a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, 2011

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Chris Bishop, Canberra, Australia, teaches classics at the Australian National University. He has published widely on the history of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, as well as on comic book studies. In 2012 Bishop was awarded a Kluge Fellowship at the Library of Congress for his research.

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