Discuss the superhero as a post-structural icon and explain how this
enables it to deal with the problem of representing justice.
After
finishing my undergraduate degree in English literature all I wanted
was to read something fun; I had eaten the vegetables of high
literature and it was time for desert, time to read some comics. I
gutted the library, the comic shop and my friends collections, I sat
down in the sun to read and relax but what I found was not the
mindless escapism I expected. Comic books had changed they had become
literary. Stories like Watchmen
and The Dark Knight Returns
had deconstructed the two dimensional heroes I had enjoyed in my
youth. I found myself engaging with adult themes in The
Preacher
and Sandman,
I found self-reflexivity and irony in the X-Statix
and literary tropes and intertextuality in The
Invisibles.
But the realisation that comic books had changed was really no
surprise; the reader's had matured, the medium could not remain
static. In this essay I will analyse the post-structural elements of
the comic book superhero. In doing so I wish to convey why
superheroes have adapted to changing times and tastes and how these
developments have created a literary form with real power to comment
on the world we inhabit . Comic
books are a mode of printed communication or expression which uses an
unique structure of language, and this language is post-structural
because the icons they portray are 'writerly'; the concepts they
represent are not fixed but invite interpretation, they show
différance:
that is they constantly defer to other signs. In
order to explain how this works this essay will examine three areas:
first I will analyse
the superhero as an icon and show how it is able to contain a
multiplicity of concepts; secondly I will examine continuity and how
this literary convention allows the superhero to be re-imagined
without disrupting the text; finally I will propose the reason for
the superhero's lack of centre derives from its fundamental attempt
to represent 'justice' which is a concept with no fixed meaning. In
the interests of delimiting the focus, I
will only attempt to describe the language and history of the
superhero and will not delve into other great works of sequential art
which have undoubtedly contributed to the modern comic book. In the
scope of this essay all references to comics are exclusive to the
superhero genre unless otherwise stated. For reasons which will
become clear the superhero is the most post-structural of all comic
book icons.
Fundamentally
comic books are a language of icons that represent concepts; because
the relationship between the icon and the concept is not fixed I am
going to define superheroes as post-structural
icons1.
First we must understand comic
books as a hybrid language of text and pictures, which may be used to
express ideas which are worthy of study or are not.
If we start with the basic
principles of structuralism2
“the signifier is that which carries meaning, and the signified is
that to which it refers. Signification is the process which binds
together signifier and signified to produce the sign.” In the comic
book both picture and text work together to form a sign. In a prose
book pictures may accompany the text and enhance the story but they
are rarely essential; unless it is a children's book, losing the
pictures would make little difference to the story. In the comic book
the picture is a part of the alphabet, the dictionary of symbols
which work in unison with the text to form concepts. In order to
effectively achieve this aim comic books tend to use a language of
visual and textual simplicity. Scott McLeod explains the reason for
this in Understanding Comics
by drawing a scale from complex to simple. At the simple end of the
scale we can use the word “FACE” to convey the concept of a face,
as we get more complicated we may describe the face “two eyes and
mouth” and at the far end of the scale we may use high literature
such as Shakespeare's sonnet 2: “When forty winters shall besiege
thy brow, / And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, / Thy
youth's proud livery, so gazed on now/ Will be a tatter'd weed, of
small worth held:” When written language is complicated it requires
more time to perceive the information, which is more specific. The
most effective way for visual and textual information to be unified
into a single language is for pictures and words to meet at the point
where they are simple. As McCloud explains,
Pictures are received information. We need no formal education to
“get the message.” The message is instantaneous. Writing is
perceived information; it takes time and specialized knowledge to
decode the abstract symbols of language. When pictures are more
abstracted from “reality” they require greater levels of
perception, more like words. When words are bolder, more direct, they
require lower levels of perception and are received faster more like
pictures. (49)
What
invigorates this language, and makes it post-structural, is its use
of icons rather than realistic drawings. Icons lower the natural
instinct of the viewer to make judgements based on appearance. “Thus,
when you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face-- – you see
it as the face of another... But when you enter the world of the
cartoon --- you see yourself.” (36) When confronted by a realistic
drawing of a person we cannot help but make judgements, perhaps
regarding the person's politics, race, class, taste or fashion, but
when we see an icon we see the concept it represents - i.e. hero,
villain. “By de-emphasizing the appearance of the physical world
in favor of the idea of form, the cartoon places itself in the world
of concepts.” (41) McCloud suggests comic book characters,
especially superheroes, represent concepts. The icon is a fixed
signifier - by this I mean their costume, their 'look', their origin
story remains for the most part concrete (although cosmetic changes
may be made). But the concept which they signify does not remain the
same; the signified is paradigmatic and can be changed. The relation
between the signifier and the thing which is signified shows what
Derrida calls différance:
Derrida also considers deferral to be typical of the written, and
this is to reinforce that the meaning of a certain text is never
present, never entirely captured by the critic's attempt to pin it
down... The meaning of a text is constantly subject to the whims of
the future, but when that so-called future is "present",
the text's meaning is equally not realized, but subject to yet
another future that can never be present. The key to a text is never
present even to the author him or herself, for the written always
defers its meaning. (Reynolds 37)
In
an on going series, such as Batman,
all new writers start as readers, who form their own concept of whom
and what Batman stands for. They read the story in the present but
find new meaning for the future when they translate their own
interpretation into writing. An iconic character such as Batman
represents different concepts depending on how the reader places him;
he may be a cloaked figure from detective fiction, a typical hero
fighting to protect the innocent and uphold the law or an obsessed
vigilante out for vengeance and ambivalent to the restraints of law
and civil rights. The story may be formulaic but the icon of the
superhero has no centre, there is no fixed meaning.
Superheroes
are post-structural icons that can represent a multiplicity of
concepts and this ability has allowed them to adapt to changing
tastes over a long period of time. An overview of the history of
comics shows how this chameleon-like trait has allowed them to remain
relevant. Comics are broken into periods starting with the Golden
Age (1930s – 1950s), the Silver Age (1956-1970s) and the Modern
Age, which Easton3
divides into the Bronze Age (1972-1986) and the Iron Age (1994-2001).
Although Scott McLeod believes the genealogy of comics can be traced
to primitive man, such as Aztec wall drawings, I would argue comics
really emerge as a product of mass media newspapers. Publishers
discovered comic strips helped increase circulation. These comic
strips were collected and repackaged into books as early as 19024.
By the 1930s advances in mass production meant comic books could be
produced very cheaply on newsprint. The American comic book was in
many ways an off-shoot of the pulp tradition of the nineteenth and
early twentieth century which were already popular especially with
the newly literate working class, and by 1938 about 4 million comic
books were sold a month in America. The pulps also helped to
establish popular modes such as the western, detective fiction,
romance stories and science fiction which were to shape the content
of comics. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were science fiction fans who
created Superman in 1932 and tried unsuccessfully to sell their idea
to newspapers until eventually it was picked up by National Allied
Publications (later DC Comics) and printed in Action
Comics #1 (1938). Superman was
immediately successful and made his way into the daily newspapers.
This success enabled other superheroes to make their appearances most
notably Bob Kane's Batman (1939). During this period there was no
long-term narrative planning for characters; the emphasis was on mass
production. Titles came and went depending on sales. Each story was a
stand alone artefact or a 'one-shot' (a complete story in a single
issue). As Dennis O'Neil
explains in The DC Comics Guide
to Writing Comics:
The first generation of comics writers and editors [were just]
telling stories in what was considered a transient medium. Until the
seventies, the conventional wisdom held that the comic book audience
changed every three years. “Comics are for kids,” the theory
went, “and when kids discover sports, cars, and the opposite sex,
they'll abandon their funnybook habit and give their collection to
their younger siblings”. (116)
The comic was meant to be ephemeral - a pastime for children and
teenagers. This transient nature meant what characters represented
could easily change.
Since
its earliest inception the superhero icon has been a symbol whose
concept is mutable: as we see with Superman. In Action
Comics #1 we are told Superman comes
from
a distant planet (unnamed)... destroyed by old
age... We next see adult Superman, in civilian clothes, testing his
powers - and again astonishing the workers, this time at a
construction site - by lifting a girder over his head with one
hand... As we come to a close, we are given a small but dramatically
posed drawing of 'Superman! Champion of the Oppressed, the physical
marvel who had sworn to devote his existence to helping those in
need'. (Harrison 38-395)
In
Superman
#1 (1939) his strength is explained as proportionate of arthropods
such as the grasshopper and the ant. His birth planet, now named
Krypton, was home to people who could leap over tall buildings due to
their advanced science: “Superman is our future, literally 'The Man
of Tomorrow'” (Harrison 40). The concept he represents is humans at
their evolutionary best; at this stage he does not realise he is an
alien he only knows himself as a human being with magnified abilities
- strength, speed, resistance to injury and x-ray vision. He is still
more 'man' than 'super'; he is a working class hero of the people who
represents faith in the enlightenment idea that through reason and
science we will one day reach perfection. In the 1940s comic books
became caught up in the war effort. Patriotic stories became big
sellers and opportunities were created for heroes to band together to
fight the axis powers. As Easton notes, “such stories not only made
money, they conveniently reinforced the necessary patriotic messages
of the war effort, and... represented the permissible forms of
masculine identities and practices required to wage war.” (66) The
tone of these comics paint a black and white world where Superman
represents truth, justice and the American way while villains such as
Nazis or buck toothed Japanese seek to undermine this ideology and
disrupt the status quo. But interestingly Superman hardly ever
becomes involved in the battlefield; instead he catches spies at
home, delivers supplies to the troops or helps to train them. The
concept Superman now represents is a patriotic one: if everybody does
their part for the war effort, no matter how small, the nation will
persevere. But as times change the post-war generation began to both
embrace and fear science due to the advent of the atomic bomb. We
learn in Superman
#49 (1948) that Krypton exploded due to its warming uranium
core.
Krypton is a highly sophisticated society yet when Superman's
biological father Jor-El announces this discovery its scientists
scoff at him and the failure to acknowledge this inconvenient truth
leads to the demise of their world. Superman's origins now serve as a
warning to the limits of science, he no longer derives his power from
Krypton instead it is the source of his weakness represented by
Kryptonite - meteors from his home planet that can kill him. He is
now empowered by Earth's lower gravity, its yellow sun and most
importantly the humanity he learns from his adopted parents -
Jonathan and Martha Kent. Already in the first decade of publication
we see that while the visual icon of Superman remains fixed, the
concepts he represents develop and change with the times. Comic
consumption declined slightly after the War especially in the
superhero genre. Many titles and publishers disappeared, such as
Timely (Marvel) Comics. Comic book producers moved back into the
traditional pulp areas of crime and horror with emphasis on sex and
violence. Although popularity waned at the end of the Golden Age
superheroes such as Superman and Batman survived because of their
post-structural nature that allowed them to adapt.
The
Silver Age presented many challenges to the superhero icon which
could possibly have destroyed the medium if not for its
post-structural nature that allowed the icon to adapt to a
multiplicity of concepts. This era begins in the cold war period: the
Eisenhower era when American culture was focused on regulation. By
the 1950s comic books had become a form of youth popular culture,
with priority over either television or rock 'n' roll music.
Circulation reached a peak of almost sixty million copies a month by
1952. But since the 1940s librarians, teachers and women's magazines
had complained that both pulp novels and comics corrupted the youth
due to their focus on crime and horror. This movement came to a head
in 1954 when psychologist Fredric Wertham published Seduction
of the Innocent which claimed comic
books lead to juvenile delinquency, violence and drug use. At the
Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency (1953 - 1954) Wertham
presented his arguments. In response the industry created “The
Comic Book Code” which followed Hollywood’s Hays Code as a means
of self-regulation and censorship. The repercussions of this
censorship had a huge impact on the format of comics and arguably
still do. Genres were eliminated or significantly remodelled to suit
the new regulations; violent images were banned as well as problem
words and concepts such as 'terror' and 'zombies'. The superhero
genre came under heavy scrutiny as the male superhero and his coterie
of young male sidekicks became a symbol of larger homophobic fears.
I believe this shows clearly how superheroes are writerly - the way
in which these groups could become panicked by stories or even words,
which would seem by today's standards as quite tame, is incredible
and goes to show that it is not the author but the reader who
interprets a text based on their subjective context. In response and
under the Code, comic books entered an era of silliness and formulaic
plot. For example Batman was given a wife – Batwoman6
– to discourage links to homosexuality. Following the dictates of
the code, sex and drugs could not be discussed, the hero had to win
and criminals must always be punished. The superhero comics published
under the code have led to the image many still hold today of comic
books being childish and with little literary merit. The code forced
comic books to reinforce the dominant discourse and the ruling
institutions of the age. For example General Standards Part A Section
3 of the Code7
states: “Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected
institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create
disrespect for established authority.” The superheroes were forced
into a position where they safe-guarded the status quo and the ruling
hegemony. Under this regime the hero became monolithic and unchanging
possessing the values of the moment with little room for character
development. Many pulps and comics were simply cancelled but the
superhero remained because the concepts they represent are not fixed
but can be changed to meet political and cultural demands.
The
superhero icon invites multiple interpretations and shows différance
because they constantly defer to other signs in their continuity.
Continuity would seem initially to be problematic because if
superhero stories stopped being ephemeral and became one long never
ending story then changing the concept a superhero represents would
cause contradictions. But the opposite is true - continuity actually
empowers change, it creates a self-referential écriture
which allows the superhero to be revised retrospectively without
destabilizing the text. To illustrate how this works this essay will
first analyse the literary convention of continuity in some depth. I
would argue that continuity started to be taken seriously with the
re-emergence of Timely Comics, renamed Marvel Comics, under the
creative genius of Stan Lee in the 1960s. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
created the Fantastic Four (1961) and the immediate success of this
title lead to the creation of The Hulk (1962), Thor (1962),
Spider-Man (1962), Iron Man (1963) and The X-Men (1963). The impact
of Stan Lee and the 'Marvel way' of telling stories cannot be
overlooked: it is the pivotal point in the shift towards comic books
becoming more than ephemeral pulp for adolescents. As Easton
highlights: what Stan Lee created was Continuity, Character and
Community. Stan Lee made Marvel comics one continuous story; he
introduced continuity into comic books. This innovation meant comics
were no longer disposable; in order to follow the story one needed
every issue. Continuity allowed the implementation of the serial
story arc. Each arc would involve a sub-plot which, once the main
plot had been concluded, could become the dominant plot and set off a
new story arc. All conclusions were only tentative and the narrative
need never end. Stories could live or die based on sales and reader
feedback. Some multi-issue multi-title events simmered for years
before emerging. The serial story arc allowed Marvel to create
character-based story telling where heroes could develop. Like a soap
opera, characters became vulnerable and melodramatic, they had flaws
and real problems. The innovation that suffering builds character has
now become a cliché in comic books. Spider-Man was hated by the
public mainly due to bad press while his alter ego Peter Parker
suffered as a rejected high school student, The Hulk was persecuted
and hounded by the army when all he wanted was to be left alone,
while the X-Men were discriminated against by a society who demanded
mutant apartheid. These were not the black and white 'super' heroes
of the Golden Age who could do no wrong and were adored by the status
quo. They were not just millionaire playboys or mystical Kings and
Queens from far off lands such as DC Comic's Aquaman or Wonder Woman;
they were extraordinary people who had regular problems. Even the
Norse god Thor spent his days as a disabled human medical student in
order to learn humility. Character-driven stories allowed the reader
to identify with superheroes because they shared the same emotions of
melodrama and angst, and a large and loyal fan base developed who
grew up and matured alongside their heroes. Fans were invited to
write to comic book creators, as with a blog, writers and readers
would engage in conversation via the letters pages at the end of each
issue creating a live dialogue. Readers were encouraged to critique
and point out flaws in the continuity. Stan Lee created the 'no
prize' for readers who spotted an inconsistency in the continuity and
were then able to explain it away. The 'no prize' shows that even
from the beginning continuity in comics was considered a modifiable
device. Because of this open approach to continuity the comic book
became a commonwealth where all readers had a share. Continuity
allowed a never ending narration which in turn gave scope for
character development and this created a much more loyal fan base who
were not transient but instead became solidified into a community.
The implementation of continuity was a massively important shift in
the superhero tradition, without it comics could very well have sunk
into obscurity.
What
exactly is continuity? 'Continuity' does not appear in the latest
addition of M.H. Abrams A Glossary of
Literary Terms, a search of academic
websites yields little results and there is hardly any literary
criticism written on it - except when discussing comics. This is
clearly because in literature and film its function is rather
mundane. In superhero comics on the other hand the application of
continuity is an essential creative tool. Continuity is rarely pinned
down to one definition; O'Neil gives a description for
three types of continuity simply called Continuity A, B, and C. The
first type, Continuity A, is an attribute of both prose and film that
might be better called 'consistency':
When it's done properly, it insures that everything within the story
remains the same from page to page. Issue to issue. A character's
name does not change. His hair remains the same color, and is parted
on the same side, throughout the story. His car, clothes, apartment,
job, hometown, relatives, and friends – everything about him
remains consistent unless the plot demands alterations.
In movies, this task belongs to someone whose job title is Script
Supervisor and a demanding job it is because movies are usually shot
out of sequence; scenes that appear within seconds of each other may
have been photographed weeks apart. (O'Neil 113)
Continuity A is
used in every kind of story and is not really a literary convention;
rather, it is an automatic requirement of writing. Any inconsistency
usually represents something purposeful and significant, maybe
employed by an unreliable narrator such as Patrick Bateman in
American Psycho.
Continuity B is similar to Continuity A, but its scope is larger: “It
refers to consistency within an entire series, not just a single
story. In addition to the consistencies mentioned above, Continuity B
is concerned with the back story and the sequence of important events
– in other words, the 'history' of important characters and locales
which have usually developed over years of publication.” (O'Neil
113) This type of continuity enriches the fictional world and gives
greater scope to both character and setting. It develops naturally
out of the a series of text and is maintained by the author to ensure
overall consistency throughout a series. Continuity B works exactly
the same in comics as it does in an epic narrative such as the The
Lord of the Rings.
In this series The Silmarillion,
The Hobbit,
The Fellowship of the Ring
and The Two Towers all
become
the 'back story' and 'history' in the context of the final book The
Return of the King.
Reading The Silmarillion and
The Hobbit
is not necessary but will enhance the depth and scope of the main
three books.
In comics all preceding issues
in a series become history and back story to the current issue.
Though it is not necessary to read all issues, doing so will add more
depth to the series. But, while The
Lord of the Rings
reaches a resolution of conflict causing both the epic narrative and
the series itself to end, in superhero comics a denouncement rarely
means the end of the series, merely the end of the story-arc. Batman
has been published for more than seventy years and although the world
around him has remained contemporary we are meant to believe that his
age is still that of a man in his late twenties. It would seem that
continuity B would make it difficult for the superhero icon to change
because of the emphasis on its history. But instead it reinforces
Derrida's idea that the meaning of a text is constantly subject to
the whims of the future. For example, in order to explain where
Batman's wife, Batwoman, has gone, writers merely needed to consign
her to an alternative universe called Earth 1, which would eventually
be erased by anti-matter in Crisis
on Infinite Earths (1985).
The result of this event was that the past never happened. The
erasing of an idea from the past is simple, but a more challenging
and interesting trope is to write something into
the past. Marvel's Illuminati
(2005)
rewrites
the past in a manner which is seamless and invigorates the old text
with new meaning. The Illuminati are a group of superheroes who join
forces and secretly work behind the scenes to manipulate events and
'police' their fellow superheroes. They are all rulers or leaders in
their field and include; Tony Stark (Iron-Man), Namor (King of
Atlantis), Black Bolt (Ruler of the Inhumans), Reed Richards (leader
of the Fantastic Four), Dr. Stephen Strange (Occult master), and
Prof. Charles Xavier (founder of the X-Men). What is interesting
about this group is that although the story is written in 2005 we are
told they were a secret force involved in major events which occurred
in Marvel's past including the Kree-Skrull
War
(1971 - 1972), Secret Wars II
(1985 - 1986) and Infinity
Gauntlet
(1991). These old stories are retold from a different perspective;
unlike Batman's wife they are not erased: they still remain intact
but a new element has been retrospectively added. Now when re-reading
these older stories in their original form we can find new
significance. The interpretation of these texts is not and was never
absolute, instead it is continuously being deferred. In comics, time,
back story and history, can be switched on or off, slowed down,
paused or even rewound.
The
possibilities
continuity enables to create différance
are further multiplied when we consider that each superhero exists in
a wider universe, such as the Marvel Universe or the DC Universe,
where there are hundreds of additional characters and settings all
with their own histories and back stories to manipulate. This
extended universe is what O'Neil calls Continuity C:
This is Continuity B writ large, and applies only to characters who
are part of a well-developed fictional “universe”,... It is
concerned with the relationships of hundreds of characters and events
and a vast chronology that encompasses past, present, and future...
Maintaining consistency in a single title is demanding and
maintaining it in forty titles for a decade or more is Herculean.
(O'Neil 116)
Continuity
C means that a significant world changing event which happens in a
one title is also reflected in the other titles of that universe. For
example in the House of M
(2005), the Scarlet Witch (an ex-Avenger) becomes unstable and uses
her reality changing powers to alter the history of the universe.
Because of this event every single title in the Marvel Universe was
affected, every single character was re-imagined and all previous
continuity stopped in order to align with the events of that one
story. Where in Superman of the 1940s we saw a subtle
change from a working class hero to a patriotic hero, in House
of M the concept each superhero
represents was altered dramatically.
Spider-Man
became a famous actor adored by a world that usually hates him,
Captain America became a retired war-veteran who was never frozen
during World War Two and Magneto succeeded in elevating the position
of mutants from second class citizens to the dominant species. These
changes stayed in place for almost twelve months of publication until
eventually the House of M
story arc was resolved and the Marvel Universe went back to the way
it was. This play with Continuity C allowed writers to re-imagine
characters and some of these re-imaginings were left in place
depending on how successful they were considered to be. Probably the
most significant change was the return of Wolverine's memory.
Wolverine had always been a character with no past; his origin was
that of a mutant forced to become a weapon; he was kidnapped, had his
bones replaced with adamantium and his memory wiped or altered to
make him a controllable killer. The return of his memory in the House
of M event lead to the graphic novel
Origins and Endings (2006),
where we learn about his childhood, and the ongoing monthly series
Wolverine: Origins
(2006) in which we learn about his time as an assassin for the
Government before becoming a hero.
As a result everything that had been previously written was energised
with new meaning. There would be few literary modes that could alter
and then realign characters in such a natural and fluid way without
destabilising the text. In comic books différance
is not a subconscious act, it is purposeful and manipulated by
writers to allow superhero icons to remain relevant and interesting.
Through continuity, a self-referential intertextuality is at play
where signs constantly refer to others in a collection of superhero
écriture.
Far from prohibiting change, continuity super-charges change allowing
it to be made effectively and seamlessly.
Although
superhero stories are by nature self-referential they do not operate
in a totalized world but instead they are interwoven with the desires
and anxieties of the real world to which they constantly refer. This
is reflected in the final definition of continuity as described by
Richard Harrison as 'General Continuity', which means each comic book
is contiguous with the real world. In the Golden Age each hero lived
in their own fictional city (Gotham for Batman or Metropolis for
Superman) whereas when Marvel relaunched they based their characters
in the reader's world, with most living in New York City.
Contemporary events and social issues became a part of comic-book
such as the growing protests against the Vietnam War, the Civil
Rights movement or, more recently, the 9/11 attacks. In Green
Lantern/Green Arrow #85 - 86 (1971)
Green Arrow's sidekick Roy “Speedy” Harper is discovered to be a
junkie shooting heroin. Rather than a black and white morality story
reminiscent of the Golden Age, writers Adams and O'Neil depict
junkies as victims, rather than criminals, who have turned to drugs
to escape abuse and depression. Harper tells Hal Jordan (Green
Lantern) that Jordan's generation has told the younger generation
lies about racial segregation and the Vietnam war so he has no reason
to believe them when they tell him drug abuse is bad. This depiction
of Speedy is a long way from his original incarnation in More
Fun Comics #73
(1941) and shows the mutable nature of the superhero icon. Amazing
Spider-Man
#447 'The Black Issue' (2001) is set in the aftermath of 9/11;
Spider-Man and other heroes stand in shock at the site of the fallen
World Trade Centre feeling sorrow and anger because they could not
prevent the terrorist attacks. The icon of the superhero once again
becomes a patriotic symbol but a mournful one, emblematic of the
sorrow felt by a country in crisis, rather than the gung-ho army
recruiter of the Golden Age. General continuity represents engagement
with issues of the real world and illustrates how the comic book
superhero icon can express concepts which are mature and relevant.
General
continuity allows comic books to engage with the real world, but
predominantly they are subject to the whims of the market and this
reality, more than artistic temperament, drives their constant state
of deferral. I have called superheroes post-structural icons because
they show an awareness of différance
and use it in a purposeful way. This awareness leads to comic books
becoming self analytical and self reflexive as I will illustrate in a
close reading of Alan Moore's 'What Happened of the Man of Tomorrow'
(1986)8.
In the 1980s a growing number of mature comic-book readers were
demanding realism and violence from the superhero portrayal. As a
result gritty and violent anti-heroes became the mainstream in the
1990s. Moore's response to this desire is an ironic attempt to
inject 'realism' into the Superman tradition. 'What
Happened' was conceived as a make
believe last Superman issue. The story begins in the future 1997;
Superman has not appeared in ten years, Lois Lane is now Lois Elliot
and is married with her first child. A reporter comes to her house to
interview her regarding the last days of Superman which Lois narrates
in a series of flashbacks. 'What Happened' asks what would happen if
comic book characters lived in a more violent and mature world, if
they weren't confined to following a childish plot and the
conventions of that plot. For example, when considering Superman's
dual identity as Clark Kent it has never seemed realistic that
putting on a pair of glasses could ever be a successful disguise. How
can a pair of glasses fool the world let alone somebody like Lois
Lane or Lana Lang who interact with both Superman and Clark Kent on a
daily basis? When comics were primarily a medium for adolescents
these types of questions were not asked. But when the audience has
matured how can the suspension of disbelief remain? Rather than
ignoring or accepting these holes in the mythology the move towards
realism in comic books confronts these kinds of questions.
Clark Kent is working at the Daily
Planet
with Lana Lang when he receives a parcel. Inside are little superman
action figures which attack him with laser rays. Lana Lang believes
Clark has been killed but when the smoke clears Clark's clothes lie
in tatters and his Superman costume is revealed as is his secret
identity.
Lana is shocked: “Clark... it was you! All these years... it was
you all the time!”
Voices come from the action figures who we find out belong to the
Golden Age villains Toyman and the Pranksters.
“Ha Ha! That's
right, Miss Lang...
It was him all the time! He just combed his hair and stuck on a pair
of glasses! Ha Ha Ha! What a great Gag!”
Superman can not believe that anyone could see through his disguise.
“Okay... how
did you know I was Clark Kent?” (Moore 174 - 175)
He is directed to another larger box which has been delivered and
inside is the corpse of Pete Ross, a childhood friend of Superman,
who knew his identity. Pete Ross has been tortured and murdered by
Toyman and the Prankster in order to find out Superman's identity and
as they explain: “We'd planned to work through your friends,
starting with the furthest away, but we hit pay dirt first time!”
(Moore 175) Because the conflicts between superheroes and villains
are inescapably violent by nature, when an element of realism is
added it is inevitable that comics have to become darker. Would it
not be realistic for a villain who really wanted to find out
Superman's secret identity and was willing to engage in crime and
violence to just kidnap and torture his friends until he found the
information he sought? Superman is able to quickly find the Toyman
and Prankster but cannot understand why they became so violent, as
Lois recounts:
“They gave in
almost immediately, but didn't seem able to tell him why they'd
suddenly decided to start murdering his friends.
When he asked, they just looked dazed and confused.
...And, of course putting them behind bars didn't mend the senseless
damage they'd caused.”
“I remember,
after Pete's funeral, he talked to us all. About his fears, his
worries...”
[Superman] “I have bad feelings about this. ...the Prankster, the
Toyman... they were just nuisances before. What turned them into
killers?” (Moore 176)
What turned them into killers was an audience who demanded more
realism and a comic book industry hoping to maximise its sales.
Superman is attacked by action figures of himself: these represent
the heavy marketing of comics. If violence is what sells then that is
what form comics will take. The action figures also represent the
multiplicity of concepts Superman has come to represent: versions and
re-imaginings of Superman retold to cater to the tastes of a
particular audience, and when those tastes become darker so must the
stories told. Moore has fused two extreme concepts into the single
icon. The childish renditions of the past are juxtaposed comfortably
with the needs of a mature audience in a way that is ironic, comical
and enables the suspension of disbelief to persist. We see this
dynamic in Moore's use of Bizzaro – a backward clone of Superman
who says the opposite of what he means. Created in 1958 as basically
a silly character, Bizarro says “hello” when he means “goodbye”,
instead of heat vision he has freeze vision, and so forth. By adding
an element of realism Moore takes this opposite themed villain to a
'logical' conclusion. Bizarro has decided he must become a perfect
imperfect duplicate of Superman and his first step is to destroy his
home world, Bizzaro World:
“See, me
suddenly realize that me am not perfect imperfect duplicate! Maybe me
not trying hard enough. Example: when your planet Krypton blow up by
accident, you am coming to earth as a baby...so me decide to blow up
whole Bizarro World on purpose and come to Earth as adult!”
“Th-That right!
Ha Ha! Pretty Imperfect, Huh?”
Next we see a new kind of brutality never seen in the Silver Age of
comics.
”Ha! That am
only beginning! Next, me realize that Superman never kill, so me kill
lots of people! Them very grateful! Scream with happiness!”
If Bizarro was an actual opposite of Superman would not killing the
innocent be an obvious and logical result? Because Superman is alive
and Bizzaro must be his opposite his final act is to kill himself
with lethal blue Kryptonite.
“...But then me
finally understand what me need to be perfect imperfect duplicate: It
am little blue kryptonite meteor that me carry in lead case for good
luck! See... you am alive, Superman... And if me am perfect imperfect
duplicate then me have to be... h-have to be...”
Bizarro takes the blue Kryptonite, holds it to his chest, lies on the
ground and kills himself.
“Uh...
everything, him go d-dark... Hello, Superman... hello.”
As Louis Elliot explains to the reporter,
“After years
of harmless stupidity that strange, backwards creature had suddenly
launched himself on a rampage of genocide, homicide, and finally
suicide.” (Moore 170 - 171)
Moore is foreshadowing the movement of the entire comic book industry
to a much darker medium where genocide, homicide and even suicide
will become acceptable. But Moore's Superman is still the Golden Age
hero of black and white morals: he has not changed only the world
around him has. This contrast shows self-awareness; the story is an
ironic lament for a time gone by and the loss of innocence in comic
books.
The
final 'silly' villain dealt with is Mister Mxyzptlk who is basically
a mischievous little leprechaun in a derby hat. Mxyzptlk was first
introduced in 1944 as a classical trickster figure who enjoys
tormenting Superman. He can only be stopped by tricking him into
saying his name backwards which will return him to the fifth
dimension for ninety days. The problem with the Mxyzptlk character is
omnipotence: his power is an ability to alter reality and this power
is godlike and limitless. In a childish setting this power can be
amusing when used to preform trickery but if Mxyzptlk tired of being
thwarted by Superman and decided to use his powers in a more darker
and 'realistic' way to beat his nemesis, the consequences would be
both terrible and frightening. Near the end of 'What Happened'
we
learn that Mxyzptlk is behind the events of the story:
Superman: “You were guiding all this, from behind the scenes? All
this killing and destruction? Mxyzptlk, in Rao's name, why?”
Mxyzptlk: “Don't be naïve Superman. I'm an immortal like everyone
in the fifth dimension.
The big problem with being immortal is filling your time. For example
I spent the first two thousand years of my existence doing absolutely
nothing.
I didn't move... I didn't even breathe.
Eventually, simple inertia became tiresome, so I spent the next two
thousand years being saintly and benign, doing only good deeds. When
that novelty began to fade, I decided to try being mischievous.
Now, two thousand years later, I'm bored again. I need a change.
Starting with your death, I shall spend the next two millennia being
evil!
After that, who knows? Perhaps I'll try being guilty for a while.
Did you honestly believe a fifth-dimension sorcerer would resemble a
funny little man in a Derby hat? Would you like to see how I really
look?” (Moore 208 - 209)
Again Moore is making comment on the changing environment of the
comic book landscape; like Mxyzptlk, comic book heroes emerged as
saintly heroes fighting to uphold 'justice'. Then as tastes changed
comic book characters became like clowns: simple adolescent
entertainment whereby heroes such as Adam West's Batman were trapped
by villains in spinning giant slot machines, giant hour-glasses or
faced brain damage from Egghead's Electro Thought Transfer machine.
Now we have entered a darker age whereby the villains and even some
heroes are evil and violent. The funny little man in the derby hat no
longer appeals to the sensibilities of the 1980's and to symbolise
this Mxyzptlk grows into a muscle bound giant, foreshadowing the type
of art which would become the norm in the 1990s when muscle bound
heroes dominated. Superman realises Mxyzptlk is too dangerous and is
forced to do something he has vowed to never do; by sending Mxyzptlk
to the Phantom Zone at the exact same time the imp tries to teleport
to the fifth dimension Superman causes him to be torn in half and
die. Killing is the ultimate sacrilege that a superhero cannot break,
but when an element of realism is added what choice would a real hero
have in a situation whereby the villain can destroy the Earth and all
existence on a whim? When Superman kills Mxyzptlk it shows the
innocence of the Golden Age is truly over and thus so is Superman or
at least the old concept:
“I killed him
Lois! I intended to kill him! I just couldn't risk letting anything
that powerful and malignant survive, so I made up my mind, and I did
it. I broke my oath. I killed him.”
“B-But you had
to! You haven't done anything wrong...”
“Yes, I have.
Nobody has the right to kill. Not Mxyzptlk, not you, not Superman...
especially not Superman!”
With these words Lois of 1997 recounts Superman's last act which is
to step into a room of golden Kryptonite and end himself:
“He turned and
walked away, in complete silence. I ran after him, calling his name.
He didn't reply...and by the time I realized where he was heading, it
was too late. As he walked into the blinding golden light he turned
and looked back over his shoulder. He smiled at me... I never saw
Superman again.” (Moore 211)
The
Superman of the Golden Age cannot exist in the contemporary world of
violence and anti-heroes where the black and white morals of a bygone
age are no longer so clear cut, where a mature audience demands
violence and realism. Superman returns to the Golden (Age) light from
which he came, a world forever consigned to the past. But as the
reporter leaves Lois' home it is revealed that her husband Jonathan
Elliot is actually Superman. The golden Kryptonite did not kill him,
it only took away his powers. Superman is not dead but the Golden Age
concept, the 'man of tomorrow', no longer has the power it once had:
the old concept is impotent and must be remade or reborn. In the
final panel we see Lois and Jonathan's child playing with coal in a
coal bucket: unseen by his parents he squeezes the coal and it
becomes a diamond. This event is seen in the film Superman
III
(1983) with Christopher Reeve, when Superman creates a diamond out of
coal. The final comment, then, is that although the Golden Age
Superman no longer has a place in a modern age the spirit will not
die, Superman will return in film and other media; the concept may
change but the icon remains, although its meaning is constantly
deferred.
We have looked at how individual superhero icons such as Superman are
subject to deferral and this leads to a realisation that the entire
concept of the superhero has no centre. I propose the ultimate reason
the superhero icon is in constant state of redefinition is because
essentially it signifies the concept of justice and justice is a
'transcendental signified' with no centre or absolute meaning. A
transcendental signified represents an apparently concrete ideal or
centre which can supposedly be realised through systems such as
philosophy or politics. As Terry Eagleton observes.
Western
Philosophy…. has also been in a broader sense, ‘logocentric’,
committed to a belief in some ultimate ‘word’, presence, essence,
truth or reality which will act as the foundation for all our
thought, language and experience. It has yearned for the sign which
will give meaning to all others, – ‘the transcendental signifier’
– and for the anchoring, unquestioning meaning to which all our
signs can be seen to point. (113)
The
ideal of justice is a comforting illusion which implies
an ultimate meaning may be acheived if we strive for it. But there is
no stable meaning for the concept of justice; philosophers and law
makers have tried to define a just society probably since the
beginning of civilization, yet the outcome is never completely
satisfactory because justice is a sign which defers to other signs
and finds its definition within discourse: "There is no concept
which is not embroiled in an open-ended play of signification, shot
through with the traces and fragments of other ideas. It is just
that, out of this play of signifiers, certain meanings are elevated
by social ideologies to a privileged position, or made the centres
around which other meanings are forced to turn." (Eagleton 114)
In this way the superhero is constructed to represent the
unrepresentable and it is no wonder its meaning is unstable. Justice
is a concept claimed by both the freedom fighter and the fascist, the
terrorist and the democrat. Thus the ideal of justice is not
absolute; instead it relies on discourse, or, as Wolverine points out
to Captain America, 'Terrorists--! That's what the big army calls the
little army!'9
A superhero, such as Batman, claims to stand up for the oppressed but
behind this discourse there
are strong traits of fascism. As Geoff Klock explains in How
to Read Superhero Comics and Why: “Batman's
obsession with control and order, his disregard for civil rights, and
his use of violence to force others, though often criminals, into
submission to his will point to comic book's (sometime alluring)
flirtation with fascism.” (41) Superheroes often find themselves in
the dual position of rebels operating outside the law but at the same
time dispensers of hegemonic discourse. The superhero protects the
status quo from those who would undermine the dominant ideology, such
as mad men and aliens intent on taking over the world or gangsters
and criminals who undermine the capitalist system; they guard against
apocalypse. As Alan Moore explains10,
“an apocalypse is not really an end of the world it is the end of
the intangible systems that make-up our society such as economics,
politics and capitalism”. The superhero represents our desire to
protect those institutions often with force. To do this they operate
outside the law, not bound by conventions of civil rights; although
they protect the rights of the innocent, they abuse the rights of
those they consider guilty. Guilt is not determined through a court,
their victims are not provided with legal representation and
sometimes the punishment dispensed is disproportionate to the crime.
It is a common convention for heroes to hit the shady night spots to
look for information. They will enter a bar or alleyway and start
violently assaulting random individuals until they find the
information they are looking for. Hence superheroes represent the
problem in defining justice; they protect the status quo through the
disregard of civil rights, they take the law into their own hands
much like the guardians of a police state. They symbolise that a
definition of justice depends on the discourse of the person who
holds the (super) power.
Judge
Dredd is the ultimate fascist superhero and his portrayal shows the
concept of justice is not absolute but depends on one's own
discourse. We get a sense of this from Dredd's own definition of
justice from Judge Dredd in
America (1991).
Where do I stand?
I'll tell you where I stand.
I stand four-square for justice. I stand for discipline, good order
and the rigid application of the law – and grud help any
limp-wristed liberals who say different.
The people, they know where I stand. They need rules to live by – I
provide them. They break the rules, I break them. That's the way it
works.
The people like it that way. They need to know where they stand.
Rights?
Sure. I'm all for rights. But not at the expense of order.
That's why I like to see that Statue of Judgement standing there,
towering over Liberty.
Kind of a symbol.
Justice has a price.
The Price is freedom. (Wagner 1-2)
In
this dialogue we see a statue of a Judge towering at least twice the
size over the Statue of Liberty. Judge Dredd is not 'the people' he
is removed from them, he is superior because he represents the law
but more importantly he defines the law, he controls the discourse.
The Judges have the combined powers of police, judge, jury and
executioner; they are able to instantly convict and sentence
criminals without a trial. Judge Dredd's catch phrase is “ I Am the
Law!”: a law that is open to interpretation by the Judges only. In
this world the sentences are harsh: begging is punishable by 3 years
in jail; running in a walking zone or walking in a running zone 3
months – 2 years; littering 3 – 6 months; loitering 3 months.
This is not a world anyone would want to live and yet Judge Dredd was
voted as the seventh Greatest Comic Character by Empire magazine11
and it is worth noting that this is a live poll in which voting is
ongoing. As Empire magazine notes, “even liberal audiences find
certain types of fascism inherently appealing.” As far back as
ancient Greece and Plato's The
Republic
philosophers of all political persuasions have upheld the idea that
certain freedoms must be sacrificed for the greater good of the
community. When Judge Dredd was conceived in 1977 notions of justice
in the comic book genre were for the most part clear cut – justice
meant protecting the status quo and as long as the end result
achieved this - the means did not matter. Even the mantra of “thou
shall not kill” had been broken by a new breed of hero such as the
Punisher. The creators of Judge Dredd, John Wagner and Carlos
Ezquerra, were looking for something new in a tight and competitive
market and it was only natural for them to look towards
deconstruction. Deconstruction looks at the binary opposites which
are implied by a concept. If justice means protecting the innocent
thwn it must imply aggression towards the guilty. A peaceful
community such as that portrayed in Thomas More's Utopia
implies the violent exclusion of those outside the community or
those who threaten its ideology. The underlying implication of a
superhero's search for justice is the willingness to punish those who
subvert the ruling discourse. If the superhero is a force which
dispenses justice then it can also be a symbol of repression.
If
the superhero is to successfully represent the concept of justice
there must be an awareness of the discourse that defines it. One of
the ways this has been achieved is to portray the superhero as a
dissembler of discourse. This characteristic is symbolised the
successful series Preacher (1995
- 2000) in which the hero challenges the discourse of religion or
more specifically Christianity. Christianity demands strict adherence
to the doctrine of the Bible and the church. This power can be used
as a form of repression. In order to oppose such a powerful force the
preacher, Jesse Custer, receives the voice of God, a power which
enables him to compel anyone to obey his literal word - the power of
discourse. For example, after being almost killed by the tyrannical
Sheriff Hugo Root, the preacher tells him, “You're gonna go fuck
yourself.” We then find out on the next page the Sheriff has
severed his own penis and forced it into his rectum. On discovering a
child pornography ring, the preacher tells a thug with a gun to “Eat
It.” A few pages later we see the same thug chewing on his gun with
blood dripping from his mouth and we know that he will eat the entire
gun. Predominantly this power is used on those who compel others such
as the tyrannical sheriff and the sexual exploiter. By claiming to
speak with God's voice, both the church and Custer can cause great
suffering and this highlights the danger of blind obedience to any
discourse. Custer receives this power from the Genesis, an entity
spawned after an angel and devil have sex. This union is analogous to
William Blake's The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
In the 'Proverbs of Hell' Blake writes that “Prisons are built with
stones of Law, brothels with bricks of religion” (Blake 181). He is
saying that laws can be used to unjustly imprison those who are
innocent or undeserving of harsh punishment and when Religion
dictates that men and woman may not have sex until marriage it forces
some young men to seek out prostitutes to fulfil their sexual
longings. As Blake explains, concepts of good and evil are “owing
to your metaphysics”12.
A black and white discourse does not reflect the true nature of
existing in a world with grey areas.
In Preacher,
God symbolises this absolute notion of right and wrong while Custer
represents the power to dissemble this dichotomy. When Custer
confronts an Adelphi (a lower caste servant of Heaven) he discovers
that God has quit and abandoned Heaven:
Preacher: “Let's start with the big secret you're so keen on
keepin'.”
“Don't be shy.”
Adelphi: “They'll kill me for this.”
“It's--”
“The Lord our God.”
“He quit.”
Preacher: “...”
“Ain't quite the answer I expected. Fuck d'you
mean, He QUIT?”
Adelphi: “He's gone.”
“He came to us one day, all of his angels, and
he said he had to go on a journey to Earth. He left straight away,
and he hasn't been heard from since.”...
Preacher: “How the hell can GOD QUIT...?”
Adelphi: “That's what I thought. But here we are. He's gone and
nothing's changed. No Apocalypse, no lion lying down with the lamb,
four horsemen still in the stable...”
Preacher: “WHEN? How long since he left?”
Adelphi: “Since [the] Genesis [entity].”
“The very instant it was created, that's when he
went. In quite a hurry, too.”
Preacher: “Scared of a new idea, huh? Just as strong as his old
black-and-white bullshit...”
The absolute notion of right and wrong which God represents no longer
has potency; the dichotomy has been undermined by a union of Heaven
and Hell represented by the Genesis entity. Jesse Custer decides to
find God, not to seek divine wisdom but to hold him accountable for
propagating a flawed discourse:
Preacher: “You know what? I'm ganna go lookin' for him. I don't
care how long it takes or where I have to go. I'm ganna FIND HIM.”
“An' I'm gonna MAKE HIM tell his people what
he's done.” (Ennis, Preacher
#4 14-16)
Heroism
is not just holding to an ideology of what is 'right', heroism is
also fighting ideology. In
the Golden Age the hero protected the status quo and the dominant
discourse; there was a clear line between what was right and wrong.
The contemporary hero does not exist in a black and white world;
instead, he or she may negotiate the grey areas of justice.
The
superhero no longer represents absolute concepts of good and evil;
instead, it has become a force which confronts rigid ideologies or
metanarratives. Lyotard famously defined post-modernism as
'incredulity toward metanarratives'13.
The post-modern superhero is aware of the power of discourse and
knows that defending the oppressed means more than protecting them
from physical harm - it means upholding their right to have a voice.
The most recent portrayal of Superman, at the time of writing this
essay, exemplifies this trait and shows once again how the superhero
icon is constantly adapting. In 2011 DC Comics rebooted most of their
characters in an event called The New 52 and restarted every issue at
number 1. Superman is no longer married to Lois Lane; he is a young
hero recently come to Metropolis. Initially he does not work for the
Daily Planet but instead writes for an independent left wing
newspaper called the Daily Star; he also writes a controversial blog
where he investigates corporate corruption. As a journalist he
questions the dishonest leaders of the city in a way the Daily Planet
is not willing to do because it is owned by the corrupt capitalist
Glenmorgan. Because of this stance his apartment is searched by
Police Inspector Blake:
Blake: Mind if we take a look around Kent?
Kent: What is it this time, Inspector Blake?... I published some
essential truth I shouldn't have?...
Landlord: All I know is Clark's a decent quiet young man who pays his
bills.
Blake: With an outsider's grudge against the whole wide world. Going
nowhere on the Daily Star under a fossil editor. Making the wrong
kind of enemies.
Kent: I work hard at my job, inspector. I won't stop trying to expose
the corruption in Metropolis. If that makes me an outsider or a
freak, I'm fine with that.
Blake: Mr. Glenmorgan – He'll destroy you if you continue to harass
him, in the Star or on your blog, am I clear?
What you call corruption, grown ups call
Realpolitik...
look it up.
You're still young, kid, you don't understand there are some things
you can't fight, no matter how hard you try or how full of yourself
you are....
Kent: I'm a writer. The pen is mightier than the sword and way easier
to lift.
Blake: You're a troublemaker. You're messing with powerful people,
Kent, and that's not smart. We're watching you. (Morrison, Action
Comics #3 9-11)
As expressed in this scene, Superman is no longer a guardian of
hegemony as he was in the Golden and Silver Age; he is no longer
bound to the Comics Code which stipulated that governing
institutions be respected. In this 2012 portrayal he questions and
dissembles the dominant discourse through his writing as a
journalist. He is unwilling to work for the Daily Planet because he
does not trust the integrity of their discourse. He still protects
the oppressed but in a post-modern world this is expressed by a
willingness to confront metanarratives not reinforce them. No
discourse can claim to represent every event and as a consequence no
concept of justice can work for all. To paraphrase Lyotard - reality
is constituted by the happenings of singular events: there is no
universal judgement that can do them all justice; a justice of
multiplicity requires a multiplicity of justices. If the superhero is
to successfully represent the concept of justice then it must be able
to adapt to its many definitions and be aware of the power discourse
has to influence what is considered 'right' and 'wrong'.
This
essay has analysed the superhero and argued that it is able to
contain a multiplicity of concepts. I have defined the superhero as a
post-structural icon because it invites multiple interpretations and
constantly defers its meaning. All signs do this at some level but
what makes superhero comics significant is that writers are well
aware of this mutability and use it with purposefulness. The concepts
superheroes represent are not fixed but can be dramatically altered
and manipulated at a scale hardly seen in other forms of literature.
This lack of centre has enabled the superhero to adapt to changing
times and tastes. Their stories have been published continually for
over half a century and this has lead to the creation of a long
continuity. This continuity does not lock the superhero into one
definition instead it creates a self-referential écriture;
the stories are traversed
by traces of other texts; a
plethora of signs and concepts which the superhero is constantly
being deferred to. In
order to understand why the superhero icon is post-structural we must
realise that justice is a concept that lacks a centre and is defined
by discourse. If the discourse is corrupt than so is its definition
of justice. In order to represent justice the superhero must be
prepared to analyse and challenge the discourse that defines it. As
long as the concept of justice continues to change and evolve so will
the superhero. Comic books are not simply a form of escapism or a
power fantasy, they are a reflection of our own contemporary search
for justice and the anxieties and desires that drive this quest.
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Appignanesi,
Richard and Garratt, Chris. Introducing
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Icon Books, 2003. Print.
Blake,
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Cobley,
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Derrida,
Jacques; Bass, Alan (Trans.). 'Structure, Sign, and Play in the
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and Difference.
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Eagleton,
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Easton,
Lee and Harrison, Richard. Secret
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1I
realise post-structuralism is a theory that applies to all icons and
symbols but what I mean by a 'post-structural icon' is a symbol that
purposefully invites a multiplicity of interpretations and shows
'différance'
in that it is constantly being deferred to other signs. Folktales
also show this trait.
3This
historical summary will follow Easton's essay 'How Comic-Books
Became Postmodern' from Secret Identity
4The
Katzenjammer Kids (1902)
5Harrison,
Richard. 'The Dark Origin of the Man of Steel' from Secret
Identity
6Detective
Comics #233 (1956) Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff, Edmond Hamilton
7
The Comics Code Authority
http://www.comicartville.com/comicscode.htm
8from
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
9Secret
Wars (1984 - 1985) p.245
10The
Mindscape of Alan Moore
11http://www.empireonline.com/50greatestcomiccharacters/default.asp?c=7
12from
The Marriage of Heaven an Hell 'A Memorable Fancy' Blake 185