Associate Professor of Politics, Economics and Law Carolyn Cocca recently won a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for her book “Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation.” Receiving the Eisner in the “Best Academic/Scholarly Work” category, Cocca was presented the award during the annual ceremony at Comic-Con International: San Diego on July 21, 2017. Her scholarly work was selected by a judging panel of experts and enthusiasts in the comic industry.
The Eisner Awards and the Comic-Con annual convention are dedicated to creating awareness of and appreciation for comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contributions of comics to art and culture.
The 288-page “Superwomen: Gender, Power and Representation” book, published by Bloomsbury, chronicles the introduction of female superheroes throughout comic history and their gradual ascent in popularity.
According to Cocca, a resident of Huntington Station, N.Y., the book explores the production, representations, and receptions of such prominent transmedia female superheroes as Wonder Woman, Star Wars’ Padme Amidala, X-Men’s Jean Grey and Storm among others from their creation to the present. It is available for purchase via the publisher and such online retailers as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.