Deconstructing The Superhero In The Postmodernist Graphic Novel

Résumé: Comic books are not given enough attention in literary studies due to mainly the form of the medium. However, this medium is worth studying because it contains all the artistic elements as any other literary work. Moreover, comic books can be a means to understand society and history in modern times. They can also raise philosophical questions and controversial issues that can be related to complex period of times such as postmodernism. Generally, the superhero in literature bears some morals and he is the most admired part of the story. What if the superhero creates a crisis in this theme and represents no morals, though still does good? So, this research's aim is manifold: first, it shows how comic books mature as a genre through the years and how they become a part of the popular culture and having a literary quality and value. Second, it analyzes Alan Moore's Watchmen under the scope of Postmodernism due to the presence of different postmodernist traits in this work either at the level of form or content. Watchmen refer to the superheroes who have two sides: the good and the bad. So, this work deconstructs the notion of superhero to shed light on the question of morality in the postmodernist era.

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