Communication Commons^™

The Mediated Hero: Superman In The Post 9/11 Era, Paul Thomas Enger

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Comic books make up a relatively underappreciated segment of the mass media. At the same time comic books portray different messages about good and evil from those depicted on television or film. Superman has been regarded as a hero for the past seventy two years since his creation in 1938. However, as the saying goes..."9/11 has changed everything." The purpose of this study is to analyze the portrayals of heroism contained in the Superman comic book narratives of the post 9/11 era. In order to see just how the heroic ideal is portrayed in this particular mediated context, interpretation analysis …