Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

188

Date

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Journalism

Concentration

Newspaper-Magazine

Committee Chair

Joseph Hayden

Committee Member

Jin Yang

Committee Member

Beena White

Abstract

Journalists and journalism have always been popular vehicles for storytelling in comic books, as they are in other pop culture media. The more than 70 years of comic books in America have provided thousands of fictional journalists, especially in the superhero genre. Primary among these are the staffs of the Daily Planet at DCComics and the Daily Bugle at Marvel Comics. This content analysis -- utilizing hundreds of the original texts but also historical research and a questionnaire to significant creators -- shines a spotlight on a quantum shift in the depiction of journalists in comics. Until the introduction of Daily Bugle publisher/editor J. Jonah Jameson in 1963, the altruism of the Daily Planet was the model for journalism in comic books. Afterward, the morally compromised and ethically confused Daily Bugle was more often the standard-bearer. As a result, today's comics feature journalists as heroes, villains, and everything in between.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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