#deconstructions

If all you've ever done so far helped some people or even just one person, one life experienced that a better, humane alternative is possible, you've become one of the nodes through which resistance takes shape, liberation comes through, and movement lingers. Movement shouldn't be halted just because one person changes or disappears. Movement dies when nobody resists anymore.

what do you think a supervillain is

You can have it be deconstructed or subverted or whatever. But you can also just put your own spin on it.

Luz Noceda is, IMO, an example of the chosen one trope. She does not have a special lineage nor was it something decided before her birth. However the fact that the Titan is sapient seemingly confirms that the Titan was indeed guiding her on her journey so that she could defeat Philip Wittebane.

She's still a version of the Chosen One. It's simply based on her own character rather then something decided beforehand. She seem d like a good witch with how kind she was and how she cared for his son so the Titan decided she was the right one. And that's not uncommon either, 'only the who is pure of heart can do X' or a protagnist proving themselves worthy of something great through their own goodness are not unheard of versions of it either.

Hell, you could write it so that it is a case of 'destiny' however it's something the protagonist wants. But might not achieve if they make the wrong decisions and such. That way it still involves agency and so forth.

You can write it so that a higher power is giving the protagonist nudges in the right direction but the ultimate decision to be q hero and do the right thing is up to them.

You could make it a meta commentary on those kinds of genres, particularly the creepy wish fulfillment aspect of it, but have the slowly building dread of someone realising that they’re trapped in a town that’s always slightly out of date, where no one ages, and where sooner or later everyone WILL date Archie makes for a much more scary, interesting story than “Betty’s got the serial killer gene, whoooooa!“ or “that bomb Veronica’s dad planted gave us superpowers, I guess?“.

Just saying, if you’re going to deconstruct it, there are more effective ways to do it than making a show that seems to be a parody in of itself of teenage dramas (ALL teenage dramas, regardless of genre). Ed Brubaker in his Criminal series, for example, had the storyline Last of the Innocent, which was a noir crime story that was basically a deconstruction of the stereotypical Archie story, where several years into his marriage with Not!Veronica, Fake!Archie regrets his choice and plots to murder her to be with his other highschool girlfriend Not!Betty.

Should be clear that the Archie analogue is very much the bad guy in the story, and it’s effective a tale of him ruining several people’s lives in his selfish quest to get back the life he thinks he deserves (albeit one where he has the Veronica expy’s money for himself, but married to the “nicer” of his two girlfriends instead).

I think a lot of comic book fans’ recoil instinct from anything being a “deconstruction” comes from the misconception that those kinds of stories are always grim and gritty.  That’s not necessarily the case!  To deconstruct a story or trope means to break it down to its basic fundamental levels and play around with it, often exposing its inherent contradictions and seeing how they would play out in the real world.

For a good example of a deconstruction that doesn’t stick to the dark and edgy stereotype, read “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice, and the American Way?”, a Superman arc that skewers the very idea that “realistic” superheroes are all excessively violent and power-hungry.  It shows that Superman has thought about breaking his strict moral code before, but that sticking to it doesn’t make him naive or ineffectual.  Meanwhile the villains of the book, the Elites, have just as much power as he does, but repeatedly abuse it and then cling to the moral high ground because they only kill “bad guys.”  It’s still very much a deconstruction since it breaks down a very common trope, but it still comes down on the idealistic end of the scale rather than the cynical end.

Or for another non-comics example, the Discworld book Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, which takes a hammer to a lot of Christmas tropes.  There’s a scene where Death, who’s taken over the job as the Discworld’s version of Santa Claus for the night (long story), comes across the Little Match Girl and is told that it’s “tradition” for her to freeze to death alone to make everyone around her more grateful for what they have.  And Death promptly goes “No, screw that” and rescues her, saying there’s no greater gift he can give than that of a new life.  This feeds into the greater overall point that figures like the Hogfather or the Tooth Fairy come out of humanity’s need to bring mercy, justice, and kindness into a universe that can be very cold and cruel.  As Death says toward the end, “You need to believe things that aren’t true.  How else can they become?”

Kill the Minotaur (Collected Edition) Written by Chris Pasetto & Christian Cantamessa Art by Lukas Ketner & Jean-Francois Beaulieu