I have the right to not take off my mask!
The Law of Superheroes
by James Daily and Ryan Davidson
Remember when "The Science of..." books were all the rage? Well, this is kind of like that, but of course, for the law. The notable difference is that the law can be a little more mutable than science. However, there are still points they're not going to get around so matter how much creative thinking they engage in, but they'll at least explain why. They cite real laws and real cases in this (using the Bluebook format), as well as pointing out significant differences in real law and the laws as they exist in the comics (for example, the DC Universe has a different 12th Amendment). The breath of material they draw from is pretty broad but not really expansive-with one exception they've restricted themselves to DC and Marvel comics, partly due to the fact that those two companies hold the trademark on the word "superhero"-which is a shame, since there's probably a good wealth of interesting examples to be drawn from other works like Invincible.
In the introduction the authors point out how studying real law can be quite boring, but if you spice up the examples it gets way more interesting. And the thing is, they're right. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for serious study, I think for the layman it does a good job of explaining many basic points of law, and there were a lot of things I learned or understand better as a result of this book. Their style is very casual but clear, giving you just enough background in particular points before bringing up their particular superhero example and explaining how it would or wouldn't work.
Overall I found it a fun read; my biggest gripe would probably be that certain sections could be longer (the later chapters seem to sort of skim over their respective topics). But if you like superheroes (especially if you like them "realistic") you'll probably enjoy this.
by James Daily and Ryan Davidson
Remember when "The Science of..." books were all the rage? Well, this is kind of like that, but of course, for the law. The notable difference is that the law can be a little more mutable than science. However, there are still points they're not going to get around so matter how much creative thinking they engage in, but they'll at least explain why. They cite real laws and real cases in this (using the Bluebook format), as well as pointing out significant differences in real law and the laws as they exist in the comics (for example, the DC Universe has a different 12th Amendment). The breath of material they draw from is pretty broad but not really expansive-with one exception they've restricted themselves to DC and Marvel comics, partly due to the fact that those two companies hold the trademark on the word "superhero"-which is a shame, since there's probably a good wealth of interesting examples to be drawn from other works like Invincible.
In the introduction the authors point out how studying real law can be quite boring, but if you spice up the examples it gets way more interesting. And the thing is, they're right. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this for serious study, I think for the layman it does a good job of explaining many basic points of law, and there were a lot of things I learned or understand better as a result of this book. Their style is very casual but clear, giving you just enough background in particular points before bringing up their particular superhero example and explaining how it would or wouldn't work.
Overall I found it a fun read; my biggest gripe would probably be that certain sections could be longer (the later chapters seem to sort of skim over their respective topics). But if you like superheroes (especially if you like them "realistic") you'll probably enjoy this.