{"product_id":"mysterious-travelers-zack-kruse-9781496830531","title":"Mysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity","description":"Steve Ditko (1927-2018) is one of the most important contributors to American comic books. As the cocreator of Spider-Man and sole creator of Doctor Strange, Ditko made an indelible mark on American popular culture. \u003ci\u003eMysterious Travelers: Steve Ditko and the Search for a New Liberal Identity \u003c\/i\u003eresets the conversation about his heady and powerful work. Always inward facing, Ditko's narratives employed superhero and supernatural fantasy in the service of self-examination, and with characters like the Question, Mr. A, and Static, Ditko turned ordinary superhero comics into philosophic treatises. Many of Ditko's philosophy-driven comics show a clear debt to ideas found in Ayn Rand's Objectivism. Unfortunately, readers often reduce Ditko's work to a mouthpiece for Rand's vision. \u003ci\u003eMysterious Travelers \u003c\/i\u003eunsettles this notion. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this book, Zack Kruse argues that Ditko's philosophy draws on a complicated network of ideas that is best understood as mystic liberalism. Although Ditko is not the originator of mystic liberalism, his comics provide a unique window into how such an ideology operates in popular media. Examining selections of Ditko's output from 1953 to 1986, Kruse demonstrates how Ditko's comics provide insight into a unique strand of American thought that has had a lasting impact.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Zack Kruse\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496830539\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496830531\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University Press of Mississippi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/01\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 286\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.27lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.69d","brand":"Zack Kruse","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43942818185471,"sku":"9781496830531","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_a9d8e3f0-7e7d-43b3-abbb-407ddae96bc3.jpg?v=1681494534","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/mysterious-travelers-zack-kruse-9781496830531","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}