Plot structures of American comic books in the 1960-1970s

Abstract

During all its history (since the debut of Superman in 1938), American superhero comics used stereotypical images and repeating elements while constructing the plot. Moreover, some of the stories about heroes and villains can be represented schematically as a limited number of stages used to resolve a conflict, not unlike V. Ya. Propp's analysis of a fairy tale representing a plot as a sequence of functions for characters. This article will cover the plot development stages of a superhero comic book (from the initial situation to the victory of a hero), and some exceptions and deviations from the scheme as well. The frontier of the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, precisely 1960-70s, was chosen as a time period for the analysis. During the first half of this period, comics were still relatively static and unvarying, but by the end of the period the transformations became more apparent, defining the directions for the future development of the genre.