In this regard, Reaganism and 9/11 are polarized as historical discontinuities triggering the need for a new kind of a criminal (super)hero. The Dark Knight Returns (1986), The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2002) and Holy Terror (2011) constitute an ideal Batman trilogy that charts the character’s evolution as political counterpoint to the perceived crisis of American identity. In particular, it will take into account three graphic novels by American cartoonist Frank Miller (1957 - ), one of leading figures of the mainstream comics renaissance, whose ideas have indelibly influenced the artistic development of both medium and genre. This essay analyses the literary and cultural contaminations that have engendered an unprecedented revision of the paradigm since the 1980s. Conceived in the late thirties as “bold humanist response to Depression-era fears of runaway scientific advance and soulless industrialism” (Morrison 2012, 6), the superhero has flourished as one of the most resilient archetypes of American popular culture.
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