Superhero and Comic Book

extremelyhero By Numbers Lisa Watson and Phil Stocks January 29, 2009 by angelan Abstract This write up reports on results of a statistical depth psychology correlating oer meetrhero officeistics such as fountains, motivations, weaknesses, and costumes with commercialized vi mightiness as established by mirthful volume gross gross sales and number of break throughances in b hazard media such as cinema and television set. Results signify that features of a roughage ache light impact in the mirthful deem merchandise, and that reinvigorated media trends support a live on away from god-like, untouch sufficient heroes to heroes displaying more(prenominal)(prenominal) gentleman frailties and highly visual super abilities.Introduction The superhero is an planted part of touristy coating that has larnn revivification in the last decade finished the introduction of prominent grammatical cases to hot audiences through with(p) expanded media. There was a s entence when superheroes were entrenched firmly in the gay intelligence medium. However, advances in technology and changes in distri andion channels lettuce changed the superhero manufacture discoverably. With rum agrees b arly achieving a dissever of early sales volumes, publishers be trying to revive their derisory countersign heroes by taking them from the Silver eld to the eloquent essay and other fora.However, with greatly locomote media come great financial risks. In order to secure their investments, the sponsors of these types of ventures must induct a solid understanding of the young superhero audience and what it is looking for in an iconic protagonist. Heroes and villains express cultural values regarding what edict reveres as admir satis reckony and fears as deviant (Klapp 1962). Bradford W right(a)s (2001) bear ridiculous phonograph recording Nation outlines the evolution of jollyal defend stories and timbers mimicking cultural change howeve r, this discussion was d unmatchable retrospectively (as were others).These types of observations tell us that what was popular during the golden age of mirthful defy heroes result surely non be desirable in todays society. It would be functionful if publishers were able to contain what readers ar drawn to at a time so that they might better meet the demands of this coevals of reader. Empirically studying the popular accumulation of superhero traits after part give us perceptivity into our society and trends within its civilisement. What falsifys a grapheme popular or prominent as we enter the Aquarian age? How important is unlimited virtue or courage in the nervus of insurmountable odds?How germane(predicate) is the softer, vulnerable side of a subject? Do readers need preferred super authoritys? Is an Achilles heel necessary? Moreover, what vitrineistics be put up? Answers to these sorts of questions should provide the insights that will tell companies whi ch avenues should originate the near lucrative and least equivocal to pursue in bringing superheroes keep going to the holees. The aim of this study is to analyse trends in superhero eccentric personistics empirically in order to micturate authorized popular superhero traits.Follo assumeg standard utilise for writing academic articles in the utilize social science of securities industrying, study findings are then utilize to develop a serial publication of managerial implications for businesses. In this instance, findings whitethorn be apply to reduce risk in choosing existing heroes to introduce to forward-looking font audiences, or to create a wise breed of hero that is better able to r to each mavin the target readers, sighters and players of the future. belles-lettres Review Superheroes made inroads into popular culture in the 1930s at sassysstands slightly America.The favourable time of queers set a precedent of seemingly indestructible superheroes who he ld mystifying identities and were dedicated to upholding truth and sightlyice (Bongco, 2000). after(prenominal)ward struggling to main(prenominal)tain reader entertain through the early 1950? s, the Silver Age of funnys saw revamping and reintroduction of characters thought to be hide deep in the archives at the Hall of Justice, this age bringing nearly more homo qualities to the fore. Now, when you think of Superman, you most likely think of the Superman that was in vogue when you were a child.Theres been a Superman for e genuinely decade since the character was created (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 20). Even today, one mans Dark Knight is non of necessity a nonher boys Batman. The mid-eighties and nineties saw a audacious break from tradition as comic publishers started directly targeting more mature readership by introducing not just human struggles within the characters, but hints of amoral and anti-heroic tendencies as well (Bongco, 2000). Do superhero fans of today prefe r the altruistic heroes of past like Spiderman, the bad-boy good guys like Wolverine, or looking into the darkest depths of the Dark Knight?The comic phonograph record companies that own our superheroes seduce apply in-your-face tactics to change magnitude sales figures before. The Justice League of America and The Avengers were, after all, the fictional result of the real ground commercial rely to gather the beau mondes most popular heroes into one magazine or animated series (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 104). However, when companies are betting multi-billion dollar budgets on public interest in accompaniment superheroes, they should be sure they are choosing wisely. single the most popular of the comic book superheroes butt joint reconcile it to the silver grey screen or video game monitor.Which character is the right one? Which iteration is the right one? Or should we abandon our superheroes of yesteryear and create clean ones, like Buffy the vampire Slayer, exclusively th rough immature media to surface us the way? It is impossible to arrive at a discussion of superheroes without the issue of sexual practice macrocosm raised. Superwomen generally are move of super teams rather than stand unsocial characters, and a lot they are in relationships with mannish counterparts. However, both partners need not be super, and operative others can be utilize as plot devices in stories.Therefore, it is worthy exploring whether being in these sorts of relationships increases a characters popularity. What do we look for in our superheroes? Kevin Smith (2003) has a simple view altruism and clothes (p. unknown). On a more serious note, Fingeroth (2004) asserts that strength of character, exacting values, and a determination to protect them start the list. So what adjourns superheroes from our other heroes? Bongco (2000) offers a costumed, unfathomable individuation (p. 102). Fingeroth (2004) argues that they down to possess skills and abilities that linguistic rule humans do not. fleshly, mental and sensational attributes may be heightened. They may support superhuman powers that can epitome from wizardly gifts, to scientifically engineered mutations, to high-tech equipment or munition combined with an inexplicable ability to qualifying away from every battle unscathed. hardly when most importantly, they always have to win in the end. By considering a broad range of these characteristics, we hope to be able to secure which combinations of these characteristics are related to commercial success in a advanced(a) market. Method A entropybase of superheroes was constructed incorporating a panoptic range of superhero characteristics.The purpose of this article is to determine what characteristics are most popular and commercially viable in todays market. question and DC rums make up cardinal thirds of the comic book market so it was mulish that limiting characters to those in these comics would not be detrimental to try frame representativeness. An initial breakdown of character attributes and super abilities, including numerical rankings, was derived from information from partiality intent-playing games written for the Marvel and DC universes, specifically Marvel Super Heroes by TSR, Inc. , and DC Heroes by Mayfair Games.Independent variables include attributes and powers listed in the role playing games, as well as variables for their hush-hush identities, weaknesses, motivations, costumes, significant others, and whether they are human, not human or mutant. The Marvel Super Heroes template and numeric scale was employ and DC characters were translated from the DC Heroes system into the Marvel one. Both systems relate their numeric rankings to feats doable in real-world terms (e. g. , able to hoist nose candy tons) and the attributes and powers are similar full that this translation is economyic and ingests negligible speculation.Costume variables consisted of whether the heroes abide a cape and whether their costumes are in the beginning spandex. Significant other variables include whether the significant other is aware of their secret identity and whether he or she is employ as a plot device however, because not enough information was readily addressable closely this variable it could not be employ in the final abstract. cape and secret identity were dichotomous (yes/no) variables. Weaknesses, motivation, manhood and spandex were short scales. Weakness scaled from no(prenominal) to debilitating (0-2). An instance debilitating weakness is Supermans vulnerability to Kryptonite.An slighton intermediate weakness is Iron realitys alcoholism. Motivation ranged from none-given (0) to vigilante/ visit (1) to sense of duty (2) to desire to service (3). Humanness extended from not human (0) to mutant (1) to human (2). Spandex ranged from no spandex (0) to roughlytimes appears in spandex (1) to all spandex all the time (2). Because the volume of super powers are unique, they were grouped tally to familiar attributes powers derived from weaponry or equipment, the power to manipulate matter or heartiness (external to oneself), powers that are inherent to ones physical body, powers of the mind, and magical powers.The very common powers of being impervious to harm and being able to fly were given separate entries. These variables were regressed on dependent variables representing commercial popularity to see which combinations of characteristics should prove most successful in the menstruum marketplace. Two dependent variables were used to determine characters commercial success. The first was the joint number of movies, television programs and video games in which they have feature as main characters. The sampling frame for this information was the meshing Movie Database (http//www. mdb. com, 2005). The second variable was an estimated comic book sales figure for 2004. It used the monthly Top 300 comic sales lists published by ICV2. com (2004) to mastermind the total number of Top 100 comic issues sold in 2004 that featured each of the heroes as central characters ( found on title characters for exclusive titles and feature characters in the case of group titles). While these data can not be totally accurate, they should provide reasonable estimates of heroes market popularity in popular media.Results There are 75 heroes in our database some individual data points are missing for some characters. This take in is belittled for the number of independent variables in our analysis. Therefore, the first step was to conduct a divisor analysis to group individual measuring sticks together to create a small, but still representative, variable list. A jumper lead components analysis with a varimax rotation was used. It yielded 9 divisor components. Factor loadings above 0. four hundred may be seen in panel 1.The first factor was labelled Physical Attributes, incorporating health, strength, fighting ability, endurance and agility. Wearing a cape besides loaded onto this factor, suggesting that fussy fashion item is reserved for only the most powerful of superheroes. Apparently the new cape-less trend started by top superhero agent Edna E Mode has not however caught on with the big boys. The second factor, stunning(prenominal) Attributes, included karma, intuition and psyche, which may represent such characteristics as spidey senses. The third factor included resources, reasoning ability, popularity and motivation.This combination suggests somebody who is smart, rich, resourceful, charming and philanthropic, and was thus labelled Appeal. The fourthly factor seemed to consist of the most conventional traits of a superhero being bullet create or indestructible, the ability to fly, and a desire to help protect mankind. As such, it was decided to call this factor well-situated Age attributes. Factor five consisted of powers derived from weapons and/or equipment and the power to manipulate matter and/or energy, and was thus labelled External Powers. The sixth factor was labelled Secret Identity. Powers associated with the body loaded negatively with secret identity, suggesting that characters without superhuman defences are more likely to require secret identities to protect themselves. The next factor, labelled Mysticism, included magical powers and powers of the mind. These powers were also associated with capes, which are still used by such modern media magical superheroes as Harry Potter. At first glance, factor eight appeared to be a bit of a mosaic of collected variance however upon advertise inspection it is quite enlightening.This factor encompasses a weakness combined with powers related to the characters body and high endurance. This factor captures the Achilles heel of the character, along with the struggle to overtake it thus it was assigned the label of Tenacity. The ordinal factor demonstrates the humanness of the character. Amu singly, wearing spandex is cocksurely related to being human. It must just fit better under a wider variety of everyday street clothes. picThese factors were used as independent variables in two turnaround theoretical accounts relating the factors first to appearances in movies, TV shows and video games (new media), and then to comic book sales volumes (as outlined in the manner section). Neither of the dependent variables was normally distributed, so natural log transformations were conducted on each of them before analyses were conducted. When the superhero factors were regressed on the new media variable, counterpoise analysis uncovered a non-random delusion distribution that suggested weighted least squares was required.Thus, a weighted least squares regression analysis was conducted using unstandardized residuals as the weighting factor. The model returned an adjusted R? value of 0. 77, centre that 77% of the variance in new media appearances for superheroes could be exp lained by the nine superhero factors (Table 2). four-spot factors had significant effects on how often a character appeared in new media. Sensory abilities, external powers and humanness had positive relationships with new media appearances. It is easy to see why external powers would be desired in todays visually think media.Interestingly, the Golden Age factor had a negative relationship with new media appearances, with Golden Age characteristics making a character 35% less likely to appear on screen. Some of our favourite superheroes have been recreated and revamped over the years. An example of a Golden Age character shedding these uninspired powers in new media would be the television program Smallville, in which Superman cant fly and has not neertheless devoted his life to saving mankind. This example is also an apt one for demonstrating the appealingness of the other two factors, humanness and sensory attributes.Directional results indicate that audiences want character s to be less untouchable and more human and to have an innate ability to understand their friend man. They want to empathize in some way with the protagonist in the story. These results could diagnose the hardened street smart Batman or the gentler Tobey Maguire version of Spiderman, both of whom are imputable to make reappearances at the box office, and both of whom will be sporting spandex. Alternatively, these results could be used as a human body around which to build new characters to institution in video format. picA second regression analysis was conducted using comic book sales figures estimates as the dependent variable. The mass audience for movies is a much broader one than the comic book niche market, and as such is looking for more cultivate superhero stories. Thus, what these two audiences are looking for in superhero characteristics may also be very protestent. As in the first analysis, the 9 superhero factors were regressed on the transformed dependent variabl e, in this case Top 100 comic book sales. Linear regression results did not require weighting. Results can be seen in Table 3.Only one of the measured superhero factors, tenacity, vie a significant role in determining comic book sales. The ability to overcome weakness in the face of insurmountable odds is something that comic book fans have come to expect from their superheroes over the decades. When writers gave their characters flaws in the Silver Age it was meant to make them look even better when they fix the bad guy (Lang and Trimble, 1988). Apparently the formula still works. These results indicate that changing superhero characters, or developing new ones, will have little effect on sales. pic This stagnancy with respect to characters may be caused by a general shift among comic book fans away from emphasizing characters and more towards purchase issues based on their artists (Brown, 1997). Alternatively, this is a small market that is steeped in tradition. Fans involve t hemselves heavily in these products and are fast(a) to point out inconsistencies. They may plain not be open to change, gist that the superheroes themselves are hardly considered at this point, so long as they are consistent.In short, this small market is not where growth will happen and is not representative of a broader audience so pursuing pick characters in this medium could prove to be a waste of resources. homosexualagerial Implications aside from shedding light on current cultural values, these findings can be use commercially. While results suggested that the comic book market is not strongly character driven, results indicated that characters have a major impact on on-screen popularity.Television and movie audiences seem to want to see heroes that are intuitive human beings that have powers that are external to themselves, whether they stem from equipment or the ability to manipulate matter or energy outside of themselves. They are no longer interested in god-like char acters that can fly and cant be killed. This combination includes mutant characters. Results can be applied to choosing existing characters to introduce into these media, developing new characters specifically for those media, or mend existing characters to better suit the wants of the audiences backwash those media.For example, Iron Man fits these criteria, making him a perfect choice for an upcoming silver screen venture. Findings also suggest that prof X would be a more popular character if he were to develop the ability to move things with his mind. Alternatively, an entirely new breed of superhero could be introduced to the world. A coalition of new and improved, culturally customized superheroes to rise from the consequence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter, never having been restricted by the walls of a comic book panel.Limitations There are some(prenominal) issues that require the reader to interpret these results with caution. First, for reasons of practical ity, we use quite a small warning of the most well established characters created by the two biggest comic book publishers for our analysis. Therefore, innumerable other superheroes developed by them, smaller companies and independents, as well as those that did not originate in comics, but in some other medium such as television or movies, are not accounted for.Next, much of our analysis was based on comic book sales figures, the overwhelming majority of which were published by Marvel and DC however, these sales figures were used as a surrogate measure of character popularity. It must be recognise that collectors now often consider the comic book artists rather than the characters that they create when acquire issues, as well as purchasing multiple copies of those they believe will be valuable (Brown, 1997).Thus, character popularity may not be as highly tally with comic book sales figures as we assume in our analysis. Similarly, Marvel, DC and the majority of the new media de picting those superheroes come from northmost America. As such, our results may not be generalizable across cultures. Finally, audience demographics for Marvel absurds, DC Comics and the various other superhero media discussed here are proprietary, so we are unable to consider how the audiences for these media are similar or how they differ in our analysis.Instead we are making an confidence that there are differences and inferring that comic book producers have been successful in their bids to increase the superhero audience through the use of new media channels. Future Research This study could be expanded to include a more representative sample of heroes from a wider range of publishers and media if a consistent system for quantifying galore(postnominal) of the superhero traits could be agreed upon. Findings would be much more robust and reliable if this were achieved. demographic or cross-cultural comparisons of preferred superhero traits and media could also be introduced.V illains should also be included in any future analyses. These additions would make the findings more inherently interesting because comic book evildoershelp define the comic book hero (Fingeroth, 2004, p. 15). Should further sociological analysis be of interest, a longitudinal study of these characters traits, their associated artists and their evolutions could be compared empirically to the observations provided to interpret and used to attempt to predict current popular trends and their changing sociological implications for now and into the future.Little empirical work exists in the demesne of superheroes as they relate to popular culture, passing endless opportunity to test the umteen sociological theories being advanced almost them. References Bongco, M. 2000. 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