Nostalgia Reader’s Reviews > The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero > Status Update

During the 20s, when eugenics was widespread, superpowered characters became much less popular (some diminishing their powers). They suggested there was still a more superior race that would take over & considering them heroes didn't jive. The Depression changed worries though and superheroes became hugely popular as escapist lit for people in the 30s.

Original superpowers were given to outcasts-- villains, mosters, artificial beings.

Werewolves are essentially lupine doppelgängers.

Compared to costumed avengers, Supermean weren't as common in lit of the Victorian era.

"The Man of Extraordinary Capabilities" = Larry Stu, so unfortunate :/

Dupin the first open-ended series hero (perpetually in second act).

Coates's Spring-Heel'd Jack the first with a costume that gives superpower.

Continues to be fuzzy on just how influential something can be to be considered a proto-inspiration. Level of violence is also fuzzy--just how much/what "crimes" are allowable for a hero to commit?

British fiction justice was seen as in the hands of the newly formed & capable police (1829), American's was in the hands of radical individuals, since police forces weren't widespread yet (1880s). (of course, leading to the idea that the KKK and discriminatory POVs in general provided the foundation for superheroes, yay America!)

Vidocq & Dupin are not superheroes, but heavily influenced the independent crime fighting/solving trait.

De Quincy's Klosterheim has The Masque, another hidden city master, who overthrows the government, something a modern superhero wouldn'y do (they uphold the status quo, even if it's corrupt).

"If more superheroes were true revolutionaries, superhero comics might look quite different."

Long Meg and Moll Cutpurse were the first modern protosuperheroines--crime fighters rather than military. They also intro'd the urban hero, but this was taken much further by "Venetian Batman" Count Rosalvo (Abällino Rugantino).

Räuberroman=robber (highwayman) novel

Geheimbundroman=secret society Gothic novel.

This book is awwwwe-someeee. Although the thesis is rocky-ish. On one hand, Nevens is saying if a protosuperhero doesn't have a selfless, heroic mission, they're automatically on the lower end of the superhero scale. But he's also saying that without that selfless mission, they're not heroes at all. Also, the stance on war heroes is sketchy right now, I'm looking forward to getting more clarification on that.