Heroic Moments: A Study of Comic Book Superheroes in Real-World Society Christian Russell Greensboro College Faculty Mentor: Paul Leslie Greensboro College Abstract Comic book characters are a pop culture phenomenon. Many characters have been in publica- tion for more than half a century and now star in annual blockbuster fi lms. Many of these char- acters have enduring popularity, but why? Marvel Comics and DC comics have told Captain America and Batman stories since 1940 and 1937, respectively,. These two characters have only become more popular with the release of Batman’s Dark Knight Trilogy fi lms and Captain America: The First Avenger and Marvel’s The Avengers; These characters were not always this mainstream, however. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the comic book speculation market, wherein comic book were bought by collectors and resellers because of their perceived value, had just collapsed, leaving comic book publishers, vendors, and collectors looking to reformat their business practices. Yet Batman and Captain America stories were still published each month. How did these two characters maintain their fans and keep going into more fi scally- stable climates? People will always need heroes, and by acting like classical heroes, teach- ing and inspiring their readers to be something more than themselves, Batman and Captain America captured an audience, weathered the post-market collapse storm, and are now multi- billion dollar characters. Using content analysis, I found lessons in universal values that can be taken from the comic books of Batman and Captain America and those lessons were consistent throughout the decade between 1999 and 2009. I believe that these lessons are the reasons that these characters have maintained their relevance over time, and I will demonstrate these fi nd- ings within this thesis. 121 Explorations |Social Sciences Introduction qualitative view of the plot in order to discuss This thesis is designed to show the two what those moments mean. This research types of heroes who are most prevalent in method is not without limitations. By only comic books as role models for readers. The looking for specifi c data, it could be easy two heroes being examined are Batman and to miss more qualitative assessments of the Captain America and each of these characters text itself (Babbie, 1992). This situation will represents the pinnacle of their hero type. be remedied by using a two-fold analysis: Captain America is a typical “Golden Boy” fi rst looking for the Heroic Moments within hero with traditional American values, while the comic books, and then reading the story Batman is a brooding loner whose stories add around them in order to learn more about the an element of darkness to his comic books. context in which they take place. This second These heroes are known to many people, pass at the source material will mitigate the even outside of those who regularly read risk of losing context surrounding the mo- comic books. ments identifi ed in the fi rst pass. The purpose of this thesis is to demon- The Heroic Moments I intended to strate that comic books are a useful literary fi nd were Teaching Moments, Archetypal medium through the occurrence of “Heroic Moments, and Ideal Moments. This is an Moments”. These Moments indicate that original technique I designed to better dissect comic books deliver to readers information the latent messages of comic books. During that they will not only enjoy, but also give preliminary research for this project, I identi- them a staging ground from which they can fi ed these three types of moments as regular take away something more. The characters features in Captain America and Detective examined in this project have been consis- Comics and I wanted to isolate these mo- tently published for nearly seventy years and ments and show them in a new light. In many they have gained mainstream popularity out- instances, these moments seemed to insist on side of comic book readers. What is it about themselves, overtly sending a very clear mes- Batman and Captain America that resonates sage, and it was that insistence that allowed so strongly with readers? me to bring the moments out of the context In order to gather data to measure the of their stories and isolate them for analysis. “Heroic Moments,” I performed a content “Superhero” has become a catchall term analysis on a sample of Detective Comics for fi ctional heroes who wear costumes or and Captain America comic books published masks, and may or may not have superhu- between 1999 and 2009. Content analysis is a man abilities like fl ight or super-strength. method used to draw numerical data from lit- This group has even come to include aliens erary sources such as books, magazines, and and robots too. In spite of the wildly varying movies. I believe the use of content analysis traits and abilities of these characters, they for this project is not only necessary, but vital are all inherently good, and fi ght for justice. in order to present a credible argument and The general term “superhero” can be divided conclusion. Content analysis is particularly into several categories: humans with super- useful in this line of study, where quantifi able human abilities, costumed vigilantes, gods, data are not readily available. For this proj- goddesses, aliens and robots. ect, I have endeavored to gather both quan- Humans with superhuman abilities are char- titative data for analysis, and qualitative data acterized by having some sort of innate abil- for narrative discussion. To do this I have ity above that of normal humans. Examples taken extra care and time analyzing each of these abilities are fl ight, invisibility, tele- comic book, fi rst examining examples of the kinesis, and super-strength. The way these characters portraying a “Heroic Moment,” characters gain their abilities varies greatly, or any of the three types of “Moments” de- but the most common methods are genetic tailed below, and then reading the text for a mutation (The X-Men by Marvel), irradiation 122 Christian Russell (Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, both by and came to be defi ned as a nearly-mytholog- Marvel), or they are given powers by mys- ical fi gure who, though superpowered, could tical beings (Ghost Rider by Marvel, DC’s integrate themselves into a fi ctional society Captain Marvel). Heroes with these types of very much like our own. One of the greatest abilities are typically the most powerful over- strengths of a superhero story was the basis all, using their abilities to dwarf the power of the character and their powers in reality; of other heroes without superhuman abilities. even early on in comic book history, superhe- The next category of superhero is the cos- roes saw their stories set in a world that was tumed vigilante. These characters do not have essentially the real world, grounding their ad- any superhuman abilities, but typically have ventures in plausibility. This set the ground- some sort of skill or great athletic abilities work for more comic book stories in the that are useful to crime-fi ghting. Examples of future. Many popular superheroes debuted this type of superhero are Batman and Green during this time period, including Superman, Arrow, both published by DC, and Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Batman, Captain America, published by Marvel. Also included in this and Captain Marvel. The Golden Age was the category are humans who are given objects fi rst time comic books had become a main- that grant them temporary abilities that can stream art medium, with some comic books be deactivated with the removal of the ob- printing 1.4 million copies per issue (Lavin ject. The primary example of this is the Green 1998). Lanterns, published by DC. These heroes op- In the real world, the Golden Age covered erate with a great regard for justice and what post-World War I, the Great Depression, and is right, often taking to the streets only after ended with World War II and the atomic era. they have seen their local law enforcement Though World War II was at the end of the fail time after time. Golden Age, it had arguably the greatest im- The third category is a sort of “everything pact on comic book stories during that time. else” category. This includes various gods After the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945, and goddesses (Thor, Ares, both by Marvel), superheroes with radiation-gained powers aliens (Superman, Martian Manhunter, both began to emerge; various superheroes fought by DC), and robots (DC’s Red Tornado, Nazis and caricaturized Japanese soldiers Marvel’s The Vision). These heroes also (Magnussen). Comic books sold even more have widely varied abilities and origins, but copies during war time because the stories they most commonly have powers or abilities within them refl ected events happening in the equal to the superhumans. This group must real world, thus giving their audience a way also put in extra effort to blend in with so- to relate to the war effort; though Americans ciety when not operating in their hero guise. left at home, especially children, were not Another important concept in the fi ctional able to participate on the fi eld of battle during section of this project is the identifi cation of the war, the war stories told in comic books the time periods during which the stories ex- allowed them to feel closer to their fathers, amined take place. The history of American husbands, and friends who were fi ghting in comic books is commonly divided into the Europe. In this way, comic books provided Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, readers with vicarious participation in the and the Modern Age (Ryall 2009).