• Stepping out of Divinity: Tom King's “All-too-human” Batman

    Author(s):
    Taynah Ibanez Barbosa, Mateus Yuri Passos (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Group(s):
    Comics Scholarship/Comics Studies, Narrative Studies
    Subject(s):
    Comic books, strips, etc., Comic books, strips, etc.--Study and teaching, Mythology, Religion in literature
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Batman, close reading, DC Comics, revamp, superheroes, Comics, Comics studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/1jez-1d35
    Abstract:
    This paper focuses on American superhero comics – i.e. superadventures and their likeness to mythology. Our goal is to understand how subtle changes in the characterization of a superhero may make them more congruent with the present day morality and ideals of the society, even if a given character is willing to directly challenge that morality. Through a close reading of Batman #53, in which Bruce Wayne states that Batman is like a god and that he does not believe in him anymore – nor should the people of Gotham – we discuss the symbolic meaning of Bruce Wayne's phrase and the implications for the readers' understanding of who the Batman is and what he stands for. One of the main impacts of this characterization is that Batman ceases to be the “interventionist god” as he was portrayed in many stories in the last decades, and learns to embrace the frailty and limitations of the human condition
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.46539/gmd.v2i3.117
    Publisher:
    Limited Liability Company Scientific Industrial Enterprise - Genesis. Frontier. Science
    Pub. Date:
    2020-10-18
    Journal:
    Galactica Media: Journal of Media Studies
    Volume:
    2
    Issue:
    3
    Page Range:
    89 - 118
    ISSN:
    2658-7734
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-ShareAlike
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