I almost forgot about this myself, but PBS aired Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a 3 part documentary on the history of American comic book Superheroes, this week and now all episodes are online for a limited time only!
Here’s a panel on the documentary from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con if you wanna pre-game post-emptively:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RysrFfUAQc&w=350&h=300]I saw the first installment of the series and enjoyed it, especially to see interviews with some of the original creators in the field who have since passed, like Joe Simon, Carmine Infantino, Jerry Robinson, and even some archival footage of Jack Kirby.
The documentary series has an accompanying book too, reviewed favorably for its inclusionary history over at DC Women Kicking Ass here.