This thesis demonstrates that Doctor Strange comics incorporate established tropes of the fantastic canon while also incorporating postmodern techniques that modernize the genre. Strange's debut series, Strange Tales, begins this development of stylistic changes, but it still relies heavily on standard uses of the fantastic. The 2015 series, Doctor Strange, builds on the evolution of the fantastic apparent in its predecessor while evidencing an even stronger presence of the postmodern. Such use of postmodern strategies disrupts the suspension of disbelief on which popular fantasy often relies. To show this disruption and its effects, this thesis examines Strange Tales and Doctor Strange (2015) as they relate to the fantastic cornerstones of Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and Rowling's Harry Potter series. It begins by defining the genre of fantasy and the tenets of postmodernism, then it combines these definitions to explain the new genre of postmodern fantasy, or post-fantasy, which Doctor Strange comics develop. To show how these comics evolve the fantasy genre through applications of postmodernism, this thesis examines their use of otherworldliness and supernaturalism, as well as their characterization and narrative strategies, examining how these facets subvert our expectations of fantasy texts. / Master of Arts / This thesis analyzes the ways in which Doctor Strange comics use common features of popular fantastic texts while also drawing attention to them in ways traditional fantasy does not. In doing so, these comics create an environment for the reader which entertains through the use of fantastic devices but disrupts the escapist tendencies frequently encouraged by fantastic texts. Specifically, this thesis examines Doctor Strange’s 1963 debut in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Strange Tales and the contemporary series Doctor Strange, begun in 2015, in comparison with Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. In doing so, this thesis aims to show what tropes Doctor Strange comics borrow from these popular texts and how they change such tropes to revitalize the fantastic genre. The first chapter defines important terms and genres used throughout the thesis, including postmodernism, fantasy, and post-fantasy. The following chapters explore the changed ways in which Doctor Strange comics present expected features of the fantastic genre, specifically otherworldliness, the supernatural, character tropes of the hero and the villain, and narrative conventions. Each chapter also the effects these changes have on the comics as a whole and how these effects ultimately develop the fantastic by disrupting our expectations of it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/101077 |
| Date | 19 June 2019 |
| Creators | Rogers, Jessie Leigh |
| Contributors | English, Swenson, Karen, Powell, Katrina M., Metz, Nancy Aycock |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0029 seconds