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→Analyzing Superman and the Watchmen
Gordon draws upon mythological studies, auteur theory, an examination of the power of branding, and more to present a multi-layered analysis for a better understanding of Superman the character.<ref> Gordon, Superman, 10. </ref> Though Gordon's work retreads some of Superman's history, his most significant insight is in the public history of the character. Rather than tell the usual story of two boys from Cleveland or the making of various films, he explores and explicates how these events developed as the result of interactions between forces such as copyright law, merchandising, and fan interpretation. This focus offers a valuable shift in the historiography for the field of comics studies.
Andrew Hoberek's <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813590361/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0813590361&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=d421e24e718fa703ccf1764278b47cd7 Considering Watchmen: Poetics, Property, Politics]</i>, the series' third monograph, primarily responds to Sara J. Van Ness's <i>"Watchmen" as Literature: A Critical Study of the Graphic Novel</i>. He argues that the book did not sufficiently address the nature of literature itself. Van Ness's book also took for granted that the forms of comics should be grouped among primarily prose works, using the example of omitting film from lists of the best recent works of literature.
Hoberek, a professor of English at the University of Missouri, demonstrates that works like Alan Moore's Watchmen find a more natural place among this list due to the ability of readers to portray them as having a single author – or as a collaboration between one author and one illustrator, in the case of Watchmen – which reinforces a preference toward auteurs.
