Tales
Analysis
In the Sixties some researchers started
to analyse the comic books tales using psychoanalytical approach, in the same
way as before V. J. Propp and some others studied the fairy tales.
The first who tried to do it was U. Eco (1964). He
analysed the eleven pictures of the first episode of Steve Canyon, an American
character.
A. Imbasciati (1970) studied deeply the black (noir) comic books
. He described the elements which renewed comics
language: unjustified violence and an effectual montage. In many of these comic
books, protagonist kills everybody and steals everything, but he’s not happy;
he has neither friends nor love, and even though he has many occasional
partners, he’s not able to build a relationship. Diabolik, the only one who is
able to do it, is also (and not casually) the only one who survives in the
comic books shops still today. At that time (from 1968) family structures
changed, and the kind of young people psychopathology too; no more many
neurosis based on Edipic complex, but mixed borderline pathologies, including
psychotic features and acting out.
Battacchi and some others (1971) studied the structures of
the two most read black comics: Diabolik and Satanik. Diabolik and Ginko the
policeman have a protagonist/adversary relationship, in which Diabolik is Id
and Ginko is Super-ego. Their victories and defeats are never complete. Satanik
is interpreted as a modern fairy tale in which efficacy and achievement are the
best worth; these stories ensure (and deceive) that be better than competitors
is always possible.
Mongai (1983) wrote an analysis of some
heroes of comics: He found out that Tex , in 30 years,
kills 1232 persons, participates to 346 fights and 93 duels, getting 37 hurts.
But nothing is knew about his infancy.