Superheroes, Orphans & Origins: 125 years in comics

Fascinating exhibition at the Foundling Museum looking at how and why characters in comics are often orphans or foundlings.

Using great examples of old and new comic strips they took you through various themes of this phenomena. It was a much more nuanced show than I expected.  There were good modern pieces with commentaries by the artists.

It started by looking at this archetypal tale which probably started with Moses and how taking parents away in a story means there is no one to say no.

It then looked at superheroes who lost their parents violently who turn to protecting others like Batman and Spiderman, followed by heroes which help us explore difference and identify such as Captain Marvel Jnr who was an orphaned, disabled, newsboy.

They talked about how reading a comic strip can fell like reading a diary and looked at the artists who have used it in that way such as Carlos Gimenez who used the form to explore growing up in Social Aid homes in Franco’s Spain.

Finally it looked at orphans in comic strips who aren’t super heroes such as Little Orphan Annie and the phenomena of superhero characters making friendship groups or found families, think X-Men.

Closes 28 August 2022

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