The Law through the Lens of Superheroes and Supervillains

I must have had a deprived childhood because I wasn't into comic books. Not that my parents wouldn't let me read them. I just wasn't into all that supperhero-supervillain stuff.

Could it have been because as a kid in the 1950s we practiced "duck and cover" drills in case of a nuclear attack in grade school? If you see the flash, no superhero is going to save you. You are dead, you just don't know that at the moment.

I was, however, a big fan of the 1950s Godzilla movies while being utterly clueless back then that Godzilla was a metaphor for nuclear war. But I digress... .

Now, I'm gaining a new appreciation for comics because of the blog, Law and the Multiverse: Superheroes, supervillains, and the law, by James Daily and Ryan Davidison. About their blog, they write:

If there’s one thing comic book nerds like doing it’s over-thinking the smallest details. Here we turn our attention to the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers.  Just a few examples: Are mutants a protected class? Who foots the bill when a hero damages property while fighting a villain? What happens legally when a character comes back from the dead?

On Administrative Law Prof Blog, Ted McClure writes

They examine the legal implications of comic book characters and situations, and sometimes similar movie characters and situations. Often I forward them to my faculty members as potential discussion or exam questions.

Ted, you might want to forward some of your findings to I’ve Got a Hit!, a new wiki which collects examples of legal research concepts found in movies, TV shows, songs and print. I'm thinking research assignments based on the law seen through the lens of superheroes and supervillains just might keep law school students' attention. See Illustrating Legal Research Concepts Using Examples from Pop Culture: There's a Wiki for That! Contributions are welcome.

Endnote. Wouldn't you know someone has recently published an annotated topical bibliography called 50 Best Books for the Comic Book Crowd. [JH]