A lot of smaller conventions of the superhero genre were deconstructed during the Bronze Age and Reconstruction during the Dark Age.
Genre: Superheroes Wear Capes because of the Rule of Cool. Decon: Capes are silly stuff that's just for show and can get in the way, therefore practical superheroes don't wear capes. Recon: Superheroes Wear Capes for a variety of useful purposes, or are given explanations deeper than the Rule of Cool.
Genre: Heroes don't kill because of The Comics Code. Decon: Superheroes kill, and those who don't wind up getting beaten by the villain. Recon: Superheroes don't kill because they are not (usually) police or military and therefore don't have the legal authority to kill, or they do kill but only when there is absolutely no other option.
The following have their own pages:
Other Comics
- Astro City is a series built on the repeated reconstruction of comic book superheroes. While most of Kurt Busiek's works involve nuanced reconstruction on some level, Astro City has it as its lifeblood. You will be hard-pressed to find a single issue that doesn't reconstruct one Comic Book trope or another, whether it's the Crisis Crossover, the Badass Normal, Mundane Utility, the Intrepid Reporter, Secret Identities, the Nineties Antihero, Post-Modern Magik...
- Jackie Estacado, the protagonist of The Darkness, is a reconstruction of the '90s Anti-Hero. Whereas most Nineties Anti-Heroes are loud, bombastic, and shallow, Jackie is complex, subtle, and intelligent. He has no moral quandary with killing bad guys, but freaks out if he kills an innocent person. He has the personification of darkness and evil inside of him, but views this as a curse rather than a blessing. He's also
Lawful Neutral, sticking to old-school codes of New York mob crime families, and genuinely caring about those who work for him. - Invincible reconstructs the Super Hero as a force of good protecting the world from evil and many times their idealism and courage ultimately wins out over the cruel and cynical villains. In particular, it reconstructs:
- Anti-Hero / '90s Anti-Hero. Yes, the fights are incredibly bloody and gory, but that's just what would happen in a fight with a Flying Brick. Also, Thou Shalt Not Kill is realistically impractical, as sometimes the only way to stop bad guys is to kill them. Though this is always depicted as an absolute last resort, and not to be treated as the go-to solution for all villains.
- Superman Substitute. Mark tries hard to be The Cape, and it's getting very hard to stick to his code of conduct, but he's still helping people because it's the right thing to do. By the end, Mark is able to effectively balance practicality with ethics.
- Anti-Villain. Mark doesn't like or agree with Cecil Steadman, but he admits that with world-ending threats all over the place, Steadman is often the lesser evil.
- Crisis Crossover. Storylines that would be this when published by other companies have the same long-lasting implications without the massive tie-ins and Kudzu Plot.
- Tom Strong does something similar with the pulp/comic book "science hero" archetype.
- G.I. Joe (IDW) comics reconstruct What Measure Is a Mook?. Random Cobra troopers and operatives are frequently given hints of backstory and personality to show that they're people too, but it's repeatedly pointed out that this doesn't automatically mean that they're sympathetic people who don't deserve to get injured or killed by the heroes. After all, why would a moral and mentally stable person be willingly working for a ruthless criminal organization that's trying to take over the world?
- Kick-Ass shows that if you have Heroic Spirit, you train properly, and you're prepared to get your ass kicked on occasion, then you can indeed put on a costume, fight crime, and be a superhero.
- The first two volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen are half deconstruction, half reconstruction of Victorian adventure fiction (and for that matter, the concept of the Massive Multiplayer Crossover); Moore brings on all kinds of moral ambiguity and tosses aside typical Victorian ideals, but at the same time he takes some of the most awesome literary characters of the time and gives them their full due. It had been a long, long time since Fu Manchu had been anything but a parody. The Black Dossier however seems a reconstruction of the concept (though in doing so, it becomes a deconstruction of 20th century fiction). If you aren't somewhat confused, then Alan Moore hasn't done his job.
- Star Wars: Legacy seems like a deconstruction at first (in both volumes), beginning with the galaxy embroiled in a terrible war, the Jedi at their Darkest Hour, the Sith staging a new comeback, the Alliance and Empire making morally gray choices, and one of the only Skywalkers remaining having become a junkie who's rejected the Call to Adventure due to having it forced down his throat his whole life. But by the end it proceeds to then examine everything that makes the series good rather than focusing on the bad things. In the end Cade becomes a hero (out of choice rather than being forced to), Darth Krayt and his minions are defeated for good, the Sith are vanquished, the Alliance and Empire put aside their differences, and the Force is put back into balance once more.
- The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye follows on the footsteps of The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, a miniseries set in the same universe and by the same author that presents its bleakest and most cynical take on the war between robots yet by deploying War Is Hell and Black-and-Gray Morality in full force. More Than Meets The Eye, meanwhile, acts as a reconstruction, with almost as much tragedy, violence and Nightmare Fuel as Last Stand, but with much more hopeful and heartwarming themes of a traumatized, dysfunctional Ragtag Band of Misfits building lasting bonds between them and trying to do the right thing despite all odds.
