ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 begins with an overview of superhero-themed comics in India and goes on to explore three superhero series based on futuristic versions of the Ramayana. The style of narration assumes a kind of pseudo-historicity that defamiliarizes the past and the future while still allowing us to recognize it as plausible. This kind of pseudo-realistic historicity presents itself as a form of modern myth appropriate to the superhero genre. If in the last chapter a fable becomes a myth when it shifts from one mode of narration to another, here we have a movement in the opposite direction when a sacred story becomes desacralized when the narrative form shifts from epic mythology to comic book science fiction. The chapter ends with a discussion of some “indie” ventures that use the superhero archetype to explore contemporary problems such as vigilantism, hyper-nationalism, and cross-species communication.
