Representations of superheroes have been produced and viewed as some of the most important works in history of visual art and culture all over the world. This panel aims to promote competence through visual literacy while examining selected images of superheroes from Japanese manga and anime. It aims to reveal their socio-political and economic, as well as religio-cultural and historical backgrounds of production and reception. In addition, this panel brings out the emergence of the female superhero (heroine?) genre since 1970‰Ûªs that encompasses contesting values of gender. It demonstrates how the genre‰Ûªs empowerment fantasy has developed symbolically over traditional gender norms in society.
