You might think superheroes are played out as heroic archetypes or sources of fresh stories. But you’d be wrong, and a new anthology, Masked, proves it. Anybody who writes superhero comics or movies, or just loves superheroes, should read it… io9.com

Iron Man has been the talk of the town since the first movie came out, and with the amazing Iron Man Helmet, Suit and action packed scenes, it has delivered for original fans as well as gathered new ones. Still, does such popularity deserve to see Iron Man reinvented within a Lobster suit… walyou.com

Some superheroes leap tall buildings with a single bound. Others catch thieves just like flies. But the ones in Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou’s graphic novel just think – really hard – about an incredibly difficult dilemma… ft.com

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The Supergirls, a cultural history of comic book heroines, asks whether their world of fantasy is that different from our own… bitchmagazine.org

“The Supergirls is a long overdue tribute to the fabulous fighting females whose beauty and bravery brighten the pages of your favorite comics.”—Stan Lee

Crumb doesn’t follow any organized religion; in fact, he might be an atheist. In the introduction, he tells us that he doesn’t believe that the Bible is the Word of God, or even inspired by God. Yet he strove to produce the most straightforward, faithful-to-the-text, illustrated version of Genesis… comicsworthreading.com

A professor of library and information science says that comic books are just as sophisticated as other forms of literature, and children benefit from reading them at least as much as they do from reading other types of books.

Masterpiece Comics adapts a variety of classic literary works with the most iconic visual idioms of twentieth-century comics. Dense with exclamation marks and lurid colors, R. Sikoryak’s parodies remind us of the sensational excesses of the canon, or, if you prefer, of the economical expressiveness of classic comics from Batman to Garfield… drawnandquarterly.com

Was Superman a Spy? demystifies all of the interesting stories, unbelievable anecdotes, wacky rumors, and persistent myths that have piled up like priceless back issues in the seventy-plus years of the comic book industry… barnesandnoble.com

A new show of the art of Basil Wolverton is hanging in New York’s Barbara Gladstone Gallery (515 West 24th Street, Chelsea; (212) 206-9300) until Aug 14. The New York Times has a nice potted history (with slideshow) of MAD Magazine’s grossest and funniest illustrator to accompany the show …boingboing.net