Fundamentos para um estudo do super-herói nas histórias em quadrinhos: o desenvolvimento da temática e do protagonismo sobre-humano através de um estudo de caso da maxissérie Starman

Abstract

The representation of what is largely understood as a superhero, in other words, a type of main character that is very common in fictional narratives of a popular reception context, is an expressive manifestation within the narrative system and it’s still developing itself. Such phenomenon is not interpreted here as an isolated episode, but derived from an analysis that conceptualizes this kind of character based on description associated to its historical, social-cultural and epistemological context. From this point of view, this work has as its main goal to explore the different meanings related to the Starman’s characterization, the main character of the homonym maxi-series (1994-2001), as well as its implications to the super-heroic protagonism understanding just as the narrative elements that follow it. Therefore, on this paper, it is understood that the maxi-series Starman represents a historical landmark in the development of stereotypic elements in the characterization of the super-hero character type. It is between the goals, as a question to be faced, to understand the meanings of the characterization of the character Starman in its relation with the production context. This way, it will be discussed how the research object is sittuated in relation to the review that the intertextual tradition of the super-hero genre in the comic books passed since the 80’s. The issue that emerges from considering the narrative strategies that are a trend during this period (Revisionism and Reconstructionism), trying to understand the production context, is if this insertion, respectively, of what is called ‘realism’ or of an ‘expressionism’ is guided by some kind of thematic or organizational principle with implications for the interpretations of the comic books. To create a methodological proposal, able to hold a trajectory involving description, analysis and interpretation of the research object, it was developed a semiotics based path that ends on a narratological study. On this method it’s considered a comic book concept from its formal characteristics constituting its multisemiotic textuality. This way, I consider that is the articulation of the syntactic-visual minimal elements that produces the so-called narrative scenes, which, in their turn, articulated among themselves, produce a narratological meaning. Based on that, the arguments building and hypothesis elaboration are done connected with co-textual elements that perform the role of providing information regarding the text circulation in social-historical-cultural context. In this way, the investigations that were done show a depolarized perception of the narrative strategies operation of the Revisionism and Reconstructionism. They also show the comprehension of how these two factors are essential to the development that Starman’s metanarrative built through a scheme of continuity and linearity. The understanding of those leads to the elucidation of essential issues for the superhero study in the comic books (such as the stigmas relating to its form, the representation, etc), whose effects could be substantial to the academy legitimation of this cultural phenomenon.