History Deconstruction / ComicBooks

*** On another level, ''Secret Tribunal'' (the comic with the aforementioned expies) mocks the {{Fantastic Racism}} seen in X-Men in two ways. First, by calling out the absurdity of using what's more or less a power-fantasy to tell a story of being "outcasts feared by the world" (perhaps best shown when the Jean Grey analogue talks about how no man would choose a mutant like her for a partner despite being an obviously attractive girl with no visible deformities wearing an outfit showing her goods off, which comes off as a jab at {{Stripperiffic}}/MsFanservice lady X-Men characters like ComicBook/{{Storm}} or ComicBook/{{Psylocke}} or ComicBook/EmmaFrost). Secondly, by taking a hacksaw to the notion that mutants are "the next stage of evolution" or Homo Superior by Marshal pointing out that the mutants, from all their talk on how they are destined to replace humanity and are their betters are nothing more than glorified Nazis (backed by one mutant speaking of purging the "inferior").

* ''Deconstruction/MarvelUniverse''

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'': Busiek denies the assertion that the comic is "realistic" since superheroes are inherently fantastical and he believes that {{reconstruction}} should always follow deconstruction. While the comic generally doesn't veer into the DarkerAndEdgier territory associated with deconstructions, the superheroes and villains are given convincing, human characterization and deal with the sorts of day-to-day problems and personal demons that would logically be experienced by people in their place. Meanwhile, Astro Citizens react to happenings around them as one would expect considering that heroes have been around for over seventy years.
** "On The Sidelines" takes a look at a superpower-heavy world from the viewpoint of someone who doesn't ''want'' to be a superhero ''or'' supervillain after trying her hand at both: her first vigilante action as a superhero left a carjacker severely injured and her seeing it first-hand. While he deserved it, it made her feel awful. Her bad guy attempt was to 'legally' rob a casino by using her telekinesis to get jackpots, but she felt too guilty to actually take the money, even if it wasn't a violent crime. Instead, she, and a thousand others like her, make a living by simply using it for mundane jobs, like special effects or deejaying. As she puts it, there's always someone (usually a supervillain) trying to tell what someone can do with their powers, but at the end of the day, they're just control freaks playing at trying to be bigger than they are. (She also points out typical supervillain tropes sound stupid. The villain of the day calls himself 'Majordomo', but that means a ''servant'', not a leader.)

* ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'': Your standard deconstruction of Superman through the {{Expy}} [[Characters/IrredeemablePlutonian Plutonian]], challenging the idea that someone given superpowers would automatically [[ComesGreatResponsibility do the right thing]] without being emotionally prepared to handle the job and the concept of happily being a SlaveToPR without actual regard for what people think. The finale puts a meta twist on this: [[spoiler:when Qubit scatters Tony's essence throughout the multiverse in an attempt to give him his second chance, part of it helps inspire a pair of artists to create the first Superman comics. Thus, Superman is the reconstruction of the Plutonian]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}'': The series is this to comic book series focusing on the [[EvilFeelsGood escapist exploits]] of [[VillainProtagonist supervillains]], by stripping out everything that creators typically use to make us root for characters like that. Nemesis isn't fighting people who are [[BlackAndGrayMorality as bad or worse than him]], he has [[FreudianExcuse no tragic]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds backstory]] or [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loved ones]] to make the audience sympathise with him, he's not a NobleDemon like [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Doctor Doom]] or [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Black Adam]]; in fact he's {{Jerkass}} with no AffablyEvil or FauxAffablyEvil traits, and his evil isn't [[CartoonishSupervillainy cartoonish and over-the-top]] enough to make him fun like [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} the Joker]] or ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}.

* ''ComicBook/TheStrangeTalentOfLutherStrode'': The series primarely picks apart CharlesAtlasSuperpower, FantasticFightingStyle, and the way society tends to glorify or idealize badass heroes that can beat the hell out of anybody. Hell, the basic message at the end of the series is that you should use your gifts to be a better person because anyone can go push people around but that doesn't help anything and your not really making things better.

-->"Buying into the idea of a superhero is one thing, but the idea of a teenager operating in that world becomes especially absurd if you apply some logic to the situation. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome They would have to grow up and lose their innocence if they had to fight crime everyday. Their minds would be shattered]]." -- ''WebVideo/ComicTropes''

* ''Comicbook/TheBoys'': All over the place, as the series is very much a Deconstruction of the idea of silver-age superheroes in the modern world.

** ''Superduperman'', a classic story and influence on ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{Miracleman}}'', is a brutal send-up of several classic Franchise/{{Superman}} tropes - the TwoPersonLoveTriangle, LovesMyAlterEgo and the LetsYouAndHimFight of Superduperman and Captain Marbles which causes considerable property damage and ends only because the hero [[CombatPragmatist fights dirty]].

* ''Comicbook/{{Invincible}}'': Of TheNeedsOfTheMany; whilst a fine and altruistic ideal, the vast majority of people just can't operate that way, because people have a natural hierarchy of caring based on personal connections. [[spoiler:Mark is literally given the chance to undo the ''millions'' of deaths caused by the series up until that point by going back in time, but he rejects it because it will mean erasing his daughter Terra from existence (and probably also his half-brother Oliver, but he never thinks of that). The time-manipulating aliens who gave him this chance in an effort to try and restore the cosmic balance give him a short TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calling him out on [[WhatTheHellHero how unheroic this is]], and promptly return him to a point five years in the future to where he started from as payback for screwing this up.]]

* ''Comicbook/KickAss'' shows us what it would be like if a teenager without super powers ever became a superhero (like Franchise/SpiderMan). The main character gets beaten within an inch of his life in every encounter, and things get even ''worse'' after he dons the mask; his only super power is that he has a metal plate in his head.

** [[UtilityBelt Extravagant Tools]]: [[spoiler: He only has a scooter he buys from a Website/EBay-like webpage]].

* Deconstruction/TheDCU
* Deconstruction/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen
* Deconstruction/MarvelUniverse
* Deconstruction/RickAndMorty

* ''ComicBook/{{Nemesis}}'': The series is this to comic book series focusing on the [[EvilFeelsGood escapist exploits]] of [[VillainProtagonist supervillains]], by stripping out everything that creators typically use to make us root for characters like that. Nemesis isn't fighting people who are [[BlackAndGrayMorality as bad or worse than him]], he has [[FreudianExcuse no tragic]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds backstory]] or [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes loved ones]] to make the audience sympathise with him, he's not a NobleDemon like ComicBook/DoctorDoom or ComicBook/BlackAdam; in fact he's {{Jerkass}} with no AffablyEvil or FauxAffablyEvil traits, and his evil isn't [[CartoonishSupervillainy cartoonish and over-the-top]] enough to make him fun like ComicBook/TheJoker or ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}.
* ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'':In some cases just outright demolition.
** Even Deconstructions are deconstructed; the widescale DarkerAndEdgier trend in superhero comics in the 1980s and 1990s is deconstructed with the appearance of a former [[TheCape Cape]] who, having apparently suffered one of these during that period and angrily blaming the [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] {{Expy}} for it, angrily rants that he didn't want or need such a deconstruction just for the hell of it and liked his former, more innocent life perfectly fine, thank you very much.[[note]]The John Constantine expy is used as as a stand-in for Constantine's creator Creator/AlanMoore and the other "British invasion" writers, who played a major role in the deconstruction of American supehero comics in the '80s and '90s.[[/note]]

* WordOfGod said that the SeriesFinale for the ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' comics was the album ''Tintin in Tibet''. The next three albums (''The Castafiore Emerald'', ''Flight 714'', and ''Tintin and the Picaros'') are deconstructions of the ''Tintin'' series in general.
** ''The Castafiore Emerald'' has Hergé trying to keep a plot where not much happens still suspenseful,

** Not just of comic books and super-villains (see below), but to a larger extent, society's glorification of violence. It's a widely established fact that becoming an action hero and "manning up" is a power fantasy frequently entertained by adolescents (mainly males). Here, Millar suggests that such dreams are not only unrealistic, but just downright dysfunctional and reprehensible. For example, Wesley mentions several times about how his transition to cold-blooded killer changed his life for the better, but isn't portrayed sympathetically at all. In fact, at this point readers are most likely disgusted by his actions, with his callous murder of innocents, like the [[spoiler:moment where, on a whim, he decides to walk into a police station and kill every male officer and nearly rape the sole female survivor, all because he was bored]]. In fact, towards the end of the comic, as he [[spoiler:enacts his RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Mr. Rictus]], he confidently states "I am John Wayne, Bruce Lee, Clint Eastwood", among other action heroes. At this point, would you really cheer for him, even if he plays on your power fantasies like a video game?
** ''Wanted'' explores the entire HerosJourney archetype of storytelling by stuffing it in a blender with ProtagonistJourneyToVillain and hitting ''[[DarkerAndEdgier frappe]]''. Wesley starts out as an [[TheEveryman average]] [[ThisLoserIsYou loser]] before having the CallToAdventure ''[[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive forced]]'' on him; before the second issue is over, he's a [[{{Jerkass}} horrible, horrible person]], and every person he comes across seems tailor-made to cheer him on in his horribleness and [[EvilMentor mould him into a more competent horrible person]], offering moral support and justifying his actions for him, so that even when [[HeelRealization he has moments of introspection]] the answer is always "you're right, and you deserve all the power". Compare the journey of Wesley Gibson with the journey of a character like Franchise/HarryPotter. Lots of conveniently inherited guardians, assistants, resources, and lucky powers that save the day with bizarre ease. When changed to this context, the insidiousness of the archetype kind of comes to the fore.
* ''ComicBook/WeStandOnGuard'': In the first issue, Booth is given lip about his Franchise/{{Superman}} tattoo and he defends it by saying that Superman has a message of immigrants that become powerful (especially Canadian ones). In the ''last'' issue, Amber is about to detonate a bomb vest that will kill her, the Administrator and will poison Canada's water (which ''will'' make the Americans leave, but will cause an immense amount of ecological damage). Amber's last words before detonating it?
-->"There's no Superman out there. 'Cause you know what ''really'' happens when you blow up a kid's parents? You don't get some noble defender of justice. [[SociopathicSoldier You get me]]"

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* ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'': Your standard deconstruction of Superman through an {{Expy}}, challenging the idea that someone given superpowers would automatically [[ComesGreatResponsibility do the right thing]] without being emotionally prepared to handle the job and the concept of happily being a SlaveToPR without actual regard for what people think. The finale puts a meta twist on this: [[spoiler:when Qubit scatters Tony's essence throughout the multiverse in an attempt to give him his second chance, part of it helps inspire a pair of artists to create the first Superman comics. Thus, Superman is the reconstruction of the Plutonian]].

** A movie cowboy ([[AwesomeMcCoolname Lance Sterling]]) and his adventures with a real cowboy (John Smurd). Whereas the handsome Lance defeats the villain after a shootout and fist fight, getting a girl and a hero's celebration, the plain-looking John gets knocked out and beaten up, then kills the villain by taking him by surprise, only to be greeted with a fairly homely woman and lynched for murder.

* ''Comicbook/TheBoys'':

* ''ComicBook/{{Demo}}'': This series deconstruction people having superpowers in a more realistic setting. A protagonist discovers powers/abilities or deals with ones they already had and finds that their lives become worse mainly because they don,t know how to control their powers and because there is no one to train them. Because of that, their abilities often cause harm to other people, the characters ' loved ones, and eventually themselves. Even characters who master their powers and incorporate them into their day-to-day lives still have problems. Just because they have an ability or skill that makes doing a job easier does not mean they want that particular skill or job. And often, the people in those protagonists' lives will pressure them to continue the job they hate because they are good at it with their powers. And sometimes, the protagonist's loved ones would only see them for their powers and what their powers can do for them, instead of valuing the character for themselves. It shows that powers will not automatically make a person's life easier even if you master them, and powers come with their own set of problems for a person.