1st Edition

Graphic Justice Intersections of Comics and Law

Edited By Thomas Giddens Copyright 2015
286 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

272 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

272 Pages 20 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The intersections of law and contemporary culture are vital for comprehending the meaning and significance of law in today’s world. Far from being unsophisticated mass entertainment, comics and graphic fiction both imbue our contemporary culture, and are themselves imbued, with the concerns of law and justice. Accordingly, and spanning a wide variety of approaches and topics from an international... Read more

Introduction

Thomas Giddens

1 Lex Comica: On Comics and Legal Theory

Thomas Giddens

Part 1: Introducing Comics and Law

2 Holy Blurring of Core Copyright Principles, Batmobile!

Kimberly Barker

3 Devil’s Advocate: Representation in Heroic Fiction, Daredevil and the Law

Graham Ferris and Cleo Lunt

4 I am the Law Teacher!: An Experiential Approach using Judge Dredd to Teach Constitutional Law

Richard Glancey

5 Not Foresighting and Not Answering: Using Graphic Fiction to Interrogate Social and Regulatory Issues in Biomedicine

Shawn HE Harmon

6 Law and the Machine: Fluid and Mechanical Selfhood in The Ghost in the Shell

Thomas Giddens

Part 2: Graphic Criminology

7 When (Super)heroes Kill: Vigilantism and Deathworthiness in Justice League, Red Team, and the Christopher Dorner Killing Spree

Nickie D Phillips and Staci Strobl

8 Extreme Restorative Justice: The Politics of Vigilantism in Vertigo’s 100 Bullets

Angus Nurse

9 Violent Lives, Ending Violently? Justice, Violence and Ideology in Watchmen

James Petty

10 Stepping off the Page: ‘British Batman’ as Legal Superhero

Nic Groombridge

Part 3: Graphic Justice International

11 The Hero We Need, Not the One We Deserve: Vigilantism and the State of Exception in Batman Incorporated

Chris Comerford

12 Judge, Jury and Executioner: Judge Dredd, Drones, Jaques Derrida

Chris Lloyd

13 Crimes against (Super)Humanity: Graphic Forms of Justice and Governance

Chris Boge

14 Graphic Reporting: Human Rights Violations through the Lens of Graphic Novels

Jérémie Gilbert and David Keane

Biography

Thomas Giddens is Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Law and Culture at St Mary’s University. He researches in cultural legal studies, focusing on the use of comics and graphic fiction in legal studies, as well as criminal justice and legal philosophy.

"In the words of the editorial team, the book brings comics and graphic fiction ‘into the range of critical resources available to the academic study of law’ and is apparently the first book to do so. Almost undoubtedly, it is the first book to present such an amazingly wide spectrum of legal issues that emerge from -- or are influenced by -- graphic fiction. These include not just copyright, but legal ethics, education and social and regulatory issues -- for example, in biomedicine -- as well as such areas as human rights abuses and much more." - Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers