Great Power and Great Responsibility is a thought-provoking collection of essays that delves into the philosophies that underlie many of the great comic series. From Watchmen to Bomb Queen, Douglas Mann considers a wide variety of comic storylines and characters, as well as the culture that both creates and enjoys them. A fascinating and unusual look at two pieces of society that do not generally appear on the same page.

Douglas Mann is a social and political theorist also interested in the philosophy of history, cultural studies, and contemporary Continental philosophy. He currently teaches in the Department of Sociology, the Department of English and the Media, Information and Technoculture Programme at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

Douglas Mann's profile page

"All in all, Great Power and Great Responsibility is really a book that has something for everyone, no matter the reader's familiarity with comics. If someone has never read a comic book before, it goes into how to read comics. For those who are comic book fans, it explores themes that you?ll find in various comic book series." - Once Upon A Bookshelf

"Make no mistake, Mann takes these comics seriously, and it's why I find this read so compelling. A cynical mind could reduce Civil War to Mark Millar and Steve McNiven destructively toying with action figures, but Mann gives the social debate a heft I didn?t know it could take on. In his essay, “Civil War and the Right to Revolt,? Mann aligns Captain America and Iron Man with historic philosophies, and examines how those insights inform the decisions of the story." - Comic Book Herald