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Mythology and Superheroes in Comics

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" which I learned about last year in my Greek Mythology class as well as the discussion of Superman as a Christ-figure which we touched upon a little in class. Overall, despite its complexity, I really enjoyed researching and writing this essay because of all the things I learned both about psychology and heroes in comic culture.

Comments

L. said…
hey,
i'd really like to know more about this subject. what books did you study for this? where could i read this essay? i'd be very grateful for your answers, because i am dealling with similiar research at the moment, but i reached a dead end. thank you!
August 10, 2009 at 7:43 PM
J Chambliss said…
For an examination of superhero as myth see Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence, The Myth of the American Superhero (2002). In addition, some great cultural analysis has been done. Check out Will Brooker, Batman Unmasked (2001) and Danny Fingeroth, Superman on the Couch (2004).
August 10, 2009 at 10:34 PM
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