Gerber's new Foolkiller combined Bernie Goetz, the antiheroes of the Great Recession, and the Punisher in a compelling pathology that was unlike anything the company had ever published

The targets of Gerber's ire tend to exhibits failure in not just morality, but imagination

What makes the Foolkiller different from Gerber's other moralists is that he is not entirely wrong

The Foolkiller and the Punisher are both killers with a code; the difference lies within the code itself

Batman is larger than any of the city's now totally dysfunctional institutions. This is where vigilantism and fascism meet

The ubiquity of the perfect male superhero physique is part of the point

Chapter 2 is a mini-novel of mis-education by the media, failing social institutions, and deadbeat parents

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns will play with dualism, but comes down firmly on one side of the coin

The beginning of the book ultimately reinforces the Batman legend that it seems to dismantle

Whatever our personal politics, when we read Batman, we want to see him beating up the bad guy

The Dark Knight Returns represents a then-current understanding of urban life as a dystopia in the making

A basic fact about superheroes with secret identities: they are liars, and they are lying constantly

Vigilantes circumvent the very procedure that can be the object of fascination in the legal drama

Killgrave is a challenge because the use of his powers makes the law irrelevant

Daredevil’s entire life is defined by a double bind

Here the gap is between earnestness and camp

Resorting to brainwashing highlights the basic problem with both superheroes and this particular attempt to change the world

These characters are not designed to refrain from taking action, and will always choose intervention over introspection

The Squadron Supreme do not just fail to save their planet; they fail to show that there is much life left in the superhero concept

The Squadron Supreme could always be counted on to take a bad situation and make it worse