Shopping For Superman: Documentary

Shopping for Superman explores the history of the direct market, a revolutionary system of delivering comics directly to the burgeoning local comic shop landscape in the 1970s which created a refuge for fringe communities, a means of overturning the oppressive censorship of the 1950s, and the single-most positive influence on childhood literacy in our nation's history.

Through interviews with long-time shop owners, distributors, and some of the comic industry’s most celebrated talent, Shopping for Superman shows audiences, first-hand, how comic shops are a part of the inspirational bedrock of our culture and why their future may be uncertain.

Interviews, stylized re-enactments, and animation, as well as practical archival elements compiled from fanzines / independent publications of their time, and visits to a variety of stores still in business; will act as the guidelines for our audience as we explore the broader humanitarian scholarship of this unique and historically significant community.

Shopping for Superman utilizes critical research and theory to better understand and represent the many members of this diverse community as well as to better understand the complex social ramifications of comic book stores and how their direct market has influenced more than just readership.

This is more than a history lesson. It's a window into a world of devoted fandom and a culture that, for years, has gone overlooked and its greater contributions, mostly misunderstood.

This is an ambitious project, that's for sure but with the generosity we've already seen from friends, family, and fans alike, we know this project is going to be great and it's thanks to people like you!

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