Methodology

Abstract

The key methodologies used in this research are set out, starting with Comics Studies and its relationship to superhero comics. Comics Studies is inherently interdisciplinary and so the tools from other fields which are drawn upon are discussed, with special attention given to grounded theory and empirical methodologies. Transmedia theory is then discussed at some length, and key theories are analysed. These include transmedia archaeology, global transmedia character networks, character components and signifiers, story/worlds/media, and existential and fictional identity. Behavioural theories such as the psycholexical approach to text analysis, the Big Five Inventory of personality traits and fictional character motivations are then discussed before all of these theories are brought together into a thirteen-dimensional unified catalogue of transmedia character components which can be used to analyse characters in terms of their character-specific, storyworld-specific, behavioural and authorial components.