Esta investigación tiene como objetivo analizar las herramientas gráficas utilizadas para abordar temas de inclusión y diversidad en cómics de Marvel en los que un personaje reclame el título de un superhéroe ya existente con fines de inclusión. Bajo la hipótesis de que existe un uso recurrente de ciertas imágenes y herramientas gráficas al representar a minorías. Se analizaron cinco cómics bajo una muestra de máxima variabilidad de la diversidad representada: Spider-Man (raza), Captain Marvel (género) y Ms. Marvel (religión/etnia), sumando al personaje más antiguo, Hawkeye, y al más reciente, Captain Britain en Excalibur. Se generaron fichas de análisis centradas en la identificación de los elementos gráficos y narrativos del cómic, determinando las razones de su uso. Además, se realizaron entrevistas a especialistas, un artista actual de Marvel y una profesora universitaria. Se encontró una representación positiva del cuerpo femenino en cuatro de los títulos, aunque siguiendo cánones eurocentristas de belleza. Los cinco cómics de la muestra cuentan con personajes racialmente diversos. Sin embargo, su etnicidad es gráficamente ambigua en dos de ellos. Finalmente, en cuatro de los títulos se discuten de manera profunda las dificultades de las minorías representadas. A pesar de que existen herramientas gráficas y narrativas que son utilizadas de manera consistente, hay problemas en su implementación. Además, se identificó la importancia que tiene el cambio de nombre como herramienta narrativa en el paso de manto. En conclusión, es necesario que la diversidad sea clara gráficamente para que no sea ignorada, fortaleciendo los mensajes de la narrativa. / This research aims to analyze the graphic tools used to address topics related to social issues in Marvel comics in which a character claims the title of an existing superhero for inclusion purposes. Under the hypothesis that there is a recurring use of certain images and graphic tools when representing minorities. Five comics were analyzed under a sample of maximum variability of the represented diversity was used: Spider-Man (race), Captain Marvel (gender) y Ms. Marvel (religion/ethnicity), adding to them the oldest character, Hawkeye, and the most recent, Captain Britain. Using analysis cards, the graphic and narrative elements of the comics were identified and the reasons for its use were determined. In addition, interviews were conducted with specialists, a current Marvel artist and a university professor. A positive representation of the female body was found in four of the titles, although three were following Eurocentric beauty standards. The five comics in the sample feature racially diverse characters. However, their ethnicity is graphically ambiguous in two of them. Finally, in four of the titles the difficulties of the minorities represented are discussed in depth. Even though graphic and narrative tools of consistent use were identified, there are problems in their implementation. In addition, the relevance of the name change as a narrative tool in legacy heroes with shared titles was recognized. In conclusion, diversity needs to be graphically obvious so that it is not ignored, strengthening the messages of the narrative. / Trabajo de investigación

Hero characters and their narratives serve as important sites for negotiating a culture’s values. Informed by sexism in Western cultures, female heroes often construct and perpetuate women’s statuses as second-class citizens. However, female heroes also can and sometimes do work against such representations. This thesis argues for a third wave feminist interpretation of Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men comic books as a text that brings multiple feminist perspectives into conversation with each other and that opposes certain patriarchal systems. Through narrative and formal analysis, I explore female X-Men Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde as characters who reject gender essentialism and misogynist value systems and whose relationship addresses concepts of difference in third wave feminism. Using similar methods, I also explore an interpretation of villain Danger as a failure to integrate radical feminist ideologies into third wave feminism. I believe that Astonishing X-Men provides an example of how norms of the mainstream superhero comic book medium, which scholars have criticized as sexist, can be reworked for a new generation of feminists. / text

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf main screen (viewed on April 8, 2010). A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English, Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This project responds to previous available literature on the subject of heroism, which tends to deal with either an isolated work or with genre- and archetype-specific analysis, and applies their concepts to case studies of Frank Miller’s various heroic models. In particular, this project addresses the film Sin City and the graphic novel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, arguing that DK2 serves as a departure of sorts from Miller’s ideals of heroism in his middle years (such as those presented in Sin City), as the protagonist becomes more of a revolutionary engaged in revamping society than the vigilante or “lone wolf” on the fringes of society. With the aforementioned sources as a general background, it is evident that Miller’s heroic ideals shift in their active capacity and scope but remain more or less steady in their strong individual sense of ethical duty. In addition, these sources aid in establishing the comparisons Miller actually invites to traditional, “archetypal” understandings of the hero as well as to the particular heroic form of Ayn Rand, which he explicitly references in DK2. Miller’s response to these previous models bolsters the assertion that theories of heroic ideals are inherently political as they deal with representations of the kind of person a hero must be, in turn involving issues of gender, ethnicity and class.