Circulating Superheroes in City Mystery Novels: Prefigurations of a Popular Serial Figure

Abstract This article develops a notion of “serial prefiguration” that connects the evolutionary dynamics of popular serial narrative with a multi-level understanding of circulation as a) the extent to and means through which certain stories reach large audiences and foster reading communities that verbalize their responses to these stories; b) the travelling of narrative forms, content, and concepts of superhero crimefighting through genre narratives that transcend regional and national borders; c) the constitution of networks of print cultures through which these narratives create a “circulatory matrix” (Gaonkar and Povinelli 2003) or “cultures of circulation” (Lee and LiPuma 2002) that function as the foundation for modern entertainment and have delivered the blueprint for popular serial storytelling since the mid-nineteenth century.