This master's thesis aims to answer the question of how "Japanese superheroes" in manga differ from their western superhero counterparts in terms of storytelling, design, or motifs. The hypothesis works with the assumption that although Japanese manga follows the superhero genre's basic rules, many differences can be traced between these two comics worlds. These differences stem from the cultural environment in which analyzed comics originated. The theoretical part is divided into several chapters, which deal mainly with the basic definitions and history of researched areas. It begins with the definition of comics as a medium and focused on its technical characteristics and modern predecessors. The next chapter focuses on the essential aspects of the superhero genre, its conventions, and its typology. This thesis wouldn't be complete without defining the term "manga", the history of Japanese comics, and its specific genres and subgenres. Finally, it is also necessary to explain terms such as culture, cultural values , and cultural environment. The work then uses narrative, semiotic, and comparative analysis to examine the properties of six comic titles - three from American and three from Japanese production. Subjects of the research are narrative structures, appearance, and motives of superheroes...

This thesis deals with the villains' depiction in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. By examining the first 20 movies of the series, I try to find out how are the villains depicted in the MCU movies and what are their motivations. This is achieved through combination of studying relevant literature that deals with the topic, qualitative content analysis of the movies and narrative analysis, which is based on the monomyth structure of Joseph Campbell and its reinterpretation for movies and television by Christopher Vogler. In this thesis I first shortly describe the history of superhero movie as a whole and the specifics of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the theoretical part I describe Campbell's and Vogler's narrative structure. Then I describe the methodology, which I then use to describe the findings and their interpretations. In this part I examine the villains' motivations, which are divided into several categories, and examine their story arcs through the prism of the Hero's journey structure. Here it is shown that the villains in the MCU movies are depicted in an overwhelmingly Manichean way. In the discussion, I describe possible issues with my research and suggest potential directions of further research. In the conclusion, I then summarize the findings of both the theoretical...

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

This study uses political philosophy to understand how democracy is communicated as transmutating or transitioning in superhero narratives. The study combines a conflict-based conceptualisation of democracy with Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory to discuss the characters’ actions in relation to their respective society. The analysis is conducted through a narrative analysis, using the hero’s journey as a tool to define the material from the narratives of a hero, a villain, a hero-turned-villain, a villain-turned-hero, and an antihero.  The analysis shows that spaces can be created within a democracy where other political ideals are produced, called pockets of alternate ideals. Also, the conditions of the characters’ actions influence how they can emerge as heroes or villains, which in turn influence how the characters produce or reproduce their societies. The discussion finds that the superhero narratives suggest that a strong democratic society needs a common enemy to fight, as the focus on the outside enemy rallies the people to mitigate the conflicts within society. To conclude, the point of democracy is that the people have the power, meaning that they have the responsibility to be active citizens who continue to reproduce democracy, as portrayed by the hero narrative.

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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.

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The Revisionist comics of the 1980s to present represent an effort to literally revise the existing conventions of mainstream comics. The most prominent and common device employed by the Revisionists was self-reflexivity; thus, they created metacomics. The Revisionists make a spectacle of critically interrogating the conventions of mainstream comics, but do so using those same conventions: formal, generic, stylistic, etc. At their most practical level, Revisionist metacomics denaturalise the dominant genres of the American mainstream and therefore also denaturalise the ideological underpinnings of those genres. At their most abstract level, they destabilise the concepts of "fiction," "reality," "realism," and "fantasy," and even collapse them into each other. Chapter 1 explains my methodological approach to metacomics: formal (sequence and hybridity), self-reflexive (metafiction, metapictures, metacomics), and finally denaturalising (articulation and myth). Chapter 2 analyses two metacomic cycles in the mainstream (the Crisis and Squadron Supreme cycles) and surveys the self-reflexive elements of Underground comix (specifically with regard to gender and feminist concerns). Chapter 3 presents three motifs in Revisionist comics by which they denaturalise the superhero: the dictator-hero, postmodern historiography, and fantasy genres. Finally, Chapter 4 analyses three major Revisionist comic-book seriesTransmetropolitan, Promethea, and Sandmanall of which comment on contemporary culture and the nature of representation using the dominant genres of American comics (science fiction, superhero, and fantasy, respectively). / English