In the The Law of Superheroes
two lawyers called James Daily and Ryan Davidson do a magnificent job
overview of the US legal system that manages to be extremely informative
and incredibly entertaining, because, as the title implies, they tour
the legal system as it would apply to comic-book superheroes.
This is much better than most of those “Physics of Science
Fiction”-type books, since the legal hypotheticals that superheroes give
rise to, while speculative, are actually just extreme macrocosms for
the normal business of the real-world legal system. What better way to
illustrate the rules of evidence than to explore whether (and why)
things that Professor Xavier read in your mind would be admissible in
court and whether Spider Man could testify in his mask? What better way
to explore the “functional/informative” split in trademark law than to
ask whether Captain America’s round shield might be the subject of a
trademark, or just the design on its face? What better way to explore
corporate law than to explore the sort of legal entity the Fantastic
Four and the Justice League of America should look to form in order to
minimize liability and streamline their decision-making process?
I’ve read lots of popular law books, and spent a lot of time hanging
around lawyers, and these kinds of hypotheticals are the best way I know
of to turn a dry, detail-oriented subject into something fun and
engrossing. It helps that the authors are very imaginative and have a
seemingly encylopedic knowledge of comics, which leads ask whether
Superman’s torture at Lex Luthor’s hands are assault or cruelty to
animals, to investigate the tax implications of immortality, and to find
a loophole by which Batman can operate Wayne Enterprise’s vehicles in
public without compromising his company’s ability to file for patents on
them (spoiler: he needs to sell them to the military).
This book covers an astonishing amount of ground, but given how long
superhero comics have been around, and how many different plotlines
they’ve explored, it’s only fitting. From state’s rights to torts, from
contracts (deals with the devil, anyone?) to what the FAA would have to
say about Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet, the authors show real aptitude
for legal education and first-rate comics nerdery. It’s a delicious
combination!
The Law of Superheroes began with the brilliant Law and the Multiverse blog, which I wrote about back in 2010. If you’re a fan of the blog, you’ll love the book — and if you love the book, you should really read the blog!
