ABSTRACT
Superhero narratives did not just reflect they mediated; through their narratives and imagery they repositioned and contributed to contemporary debates rather than just reproducing them. Before 1954 and the imposition of the Comics Code, comic-books were free from anything but the loosest of guidance as to how they should conduct themselves and were therefore able to engage with any issue in any way they saw fit, provided it was in line with the interests of the publisher and audiences. By 1954, superhero readership had collapsed and only three superhero titles remained in print. This was partly because superheroes struggled to respond to the challenges facing the US after the end of the Second World War and other genres and media had risen to popularity in their place. Narratives of identity politics reached their peak in the mid-1970s as first Vietnam and then the political scandal of Watergate subjected established ideas of American identity to unbearable pressure.
