The origins of Superman in the Silver and Bronze Ages: a semiotic analysis

uma análise semiótica

Abstract

This research aims at showing the comparison of those two phases of the forerunner of super adventure stories, the Superman. To achieve this goal, the production contexts of the so-called silver age and the bronze age of comics were resumed, which went through different authors, responsible for making the hero as salable as it was significant at both eras. Editorial details, narrative choices and some facts that moved in the discursive plan were thought, like the Comic Code Authority, an attempt at censorship that caused everything that was known in the universe of superheroes to be modified. To carry out this analysis, the abductive method developed by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) was used, which through the union between semiotics and communication, allowed to approach the way in which Superman, inserted in the changes of era, transported from to signify himself, generating a state of doubt, to later reassume his image and insert himself as the hero, believing what is called a “state of belief” (PEIRCE apud KINOUCHI, 2021).