After 9/11, the world felt the shock and awe of the War on Terror. But that war also exploded inside novels, films, comics, and gaming. Danel Olson investigates why the paranormal, ghostly, and conspiratorial entered such media between 2002-2022, and how this Gothic presence connects to the most recent theories on PTSD. Set in New York/Gotham, Afghanistan, Iraq, and CIA black sites, the traumatic and weird works interrogated here ask how killing affects the killers. The protagonists probed are artillery, infantry, and armored-cavalry soldiers; military intelligence; the Air Force; counter-terrorism officers of the NYPD, NCIS, FBI, and CIA; and even the ultimate crime-fighting vigilante, Batman.
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Part I Introduction: The Sandstorm of War |
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1 | (32) |
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1 Interpreting Gothic Presence Inside the Global War on Terror's Novels, Comics, Movies, and Video Games Via Trauma Theory |
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3 | (30) |
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33 | (102) |
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2 Jess Walter's The Zero (2006): Terrorism, Lovers, & WTC Apparitions |
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35 | (52) |
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3 J. Robert Lennon's Castle (2009): Behaviorism, Proteges, & Ghost Detainees |
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87 | (22) |
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4 Joyce Carol Oates' Carthage (2014): Death, Maidens, & Revenant Witnesses |
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109 | (26) |
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135 | (54) |
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5 Rick Veitch and Gary Erskine's Army@LOVE (2007--2009): Recruitment, Orgies, & Hairy Monsters |
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137 | (16) |
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6 Kyle Baker's Special Forces (2009): Jihad, Infantrywomen, & Orphan Kidnappers |
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153 | (10) |
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7 Frank Marraffino and Henry Flint's Haunted Tank (2009-2010): Bastards, Civil War, & Spectral Generals |
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163 | (12) |
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8 Tom King and Mitch Gerads' The Sheriff of Babylon (2015-2016): Contracting, Insurgents, & Dead Policemen |
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175 | (14) |
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189 | (66) |
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9 Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005): Vigilantism, Poison, & Mad Doctors |
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191 | (24) |
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10 Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008): Interrogations, Lies, & Anarchic Jokers |
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215 | (22) |
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11 Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Prisons, Bombs, & Catalytic Catwomen |
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237 | (10) |
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12 Matt Reeves' The Batman (2022): Assassinations, Gangs, & Conspiracist Riddlers |
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247 | (8) |
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255 | (40) |
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13 Gonzalo Frasca's Kabul Kaboom! (2002) and September 12th: A Toy World (2003): Motherhood, Blood, & Mortar Gunners |
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257 | (12) |
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14 Cory Davis and Francois Colon's Spec Ops: The Line (2012): CIA, Renegades, & Missing Civilians |
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269 | (8) |
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15 Juan Benito and Jaime Griesemer's Six Days in Fallujah (2022): Marines, Doors, & Furious Phantoms |
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277 | (18) |
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295 | (8) |
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297 | (6) |
| Closer to Carthage: An Interview with Joyce Carol Oates (Conducted 15 July 2022 and Original to This Volume) |
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303 | (6) |
| Index |
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309 | |
Danel Olson is Professor of film, argument, and literature at Lone Star College, Houston, Texas, USA. He has edited twelve books on fiction and film including 21st Century Gothic (2010), The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film (2015), and Writing Madness: Short Fiction of Patrick McGrath (2018).
