Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence by Gerard Jones

I need to give a quick shout out to this particular book because it provides a unique insight into why kids are attracted to cartoonish and comic book style violence. This is not a book designed to moralize or attack the industry. It provides a brilliant insight into why there is an attraction to violence and how this violence often allows children to work out problems that they may face in “real life”. (Note: violence refers to what you would see in the comics and not graphic violence ala over the top horror movies) The book is well written and does not come with a ton of nonsensical pop psychology. That alone makes this title a must have for anyone looking for different perspectives on comic book literature.