Superheroes at the Library

 by Hope Loman Rowan Public Library

Superheroes have quickly become an intrinsic part of our popular culture; they’re the subject of the biggest summer blockbusters, appear nightly on our television screens or Netflix queues, and are playable characters in some of our favorite video games.  But what happens when you’ve exhausted all these avenues, yet still want to see more of your favorite crime-fighters? Never fear: the Rowan Public Library is here!

For Batman fans, the library has a number of graphic novels that come highly recommended.  Jeph Loeb’s Dark Victory, The Long Halloween, and Hush are each action-packed tales with plenty of mystery and suspense to keep the reader guessing until the very last page.  There is also Frank Miller’s classic, The Dark Knight Returns, which has been praised for reinventing the Batman character from a cartoon to a hero for our times.  For those that want something more unusual, there is also the new title Bat-manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan, a collection of Batman-manga comics translated from their original Japanese.

Fans of Superman might want to read graphic novels like All-Star Superman or Superman: Secret Identity, or rent all ten seasons of the popular Smallville series, which focuses on a younger Clark Kent’s life in Kansas before he dons the cape. There is also The Superman Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Saving the Day, which promises to teach any superhero-in-training valuable lessons such as how to knock out a villain, stop a runaway car, or even rescue a kitten stuck in a tree.

If you lean more towards Marvel Comics, there’s plenty for you too!  Perhaps you are more interested in the art aspect of comics, in which case you can look at Alan Cowsill’s Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art, or try your hand at drawing the Avengers with Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Younger patrons can download different issues of the Marvel Adventures series from the NC Digital Library and read about beloved characters like Spider-man and The Fantastic Four.

Finally, if you still prefer watching your superheroes save the day instead of reading about it, the Rowan Public Library has got you covered there, too. We have everything from Ant-Man to (Avengers: Age of) Ultron available for checkout, as well as comic book adaptations, old animated series, and even documentaries about the history of comics.  You might even want to head over and see what the NC Live has to offer with its Films on Demand database.

This is just a small sampling of what the library has to offer if you are interested in the subject of superheroes.  Please stop by or go online to view our catalog and check out all that the Rowan Public Library has to offer!