The 1980s seems to be the era that defined the comics we read now. Works like Watchmen defined the way we see heroes now, and how we interpret graphic novels today. The cookie-cutter images of heroes could no longer prevail in prominent mythos. But why is one comic so influential in this way... because its AWESOME!!! For the most part, superheroes remain unchecked, and even after events like Civil War, superhumans can still basically due whatever they want. Watchmen shows how heroes would actually act in the real world, meaning they would all be a bunch of murderous, impotent, aging buffons. I also liked that being superhuman was not a requirement of the characters in the book. There's an odd bit of comfort in the realism in dystopian society Watchmen operates in.
Ohhh my goodness... When I decided on trying to analyze the mythological origins and references in superhero comics, I had no idea the can of worms I was opening up... On the one hand, it was awesome to see just how many connections there were between superheroes and psychology/mythology/philosophy, but all the information also made it terribly difficult to distinguish what I should be using and how to tie it all together. When I was talking to one of my sorority sisters about it she said, "Oh yeah, well, research essays are kind of like putting together puzzles..." and I think that really sums up what writing this paper was like for me. Fortunately, I was really interested throughout the whole process and I very much enjoyed writing the paper. Being a psychology major, I was especially interested in reading about the Jungian archetypes that had a lot of parallels with major modern comic books superheroes. I was also able to incorporate Joseph Campbell's "hero cycle...
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