Seeing the Invisible: Batman's Gotham and Green Arrow's Star City Unmasked

"[...] individuality in the modern city becomes a staged production of superficial effects" (Suhr 240-241). This performative aspect that André Suhr describes when he talks about the individual's role in the city is predominantly emphasised in superhero comics, in which the hero is dressing up in order to take on the persona of ‘hero’ and or ‘vigilante.’ In this regard, two examples protrude, namely The Batman and The Green Arrow. For both the city is transformed into a stage on which they can perform their heroism. However, in doing so, they are at the risk of losing their identity as Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen, respectively. In the article, I explore the creation and loss of identity within the city space by means of the Green Arrow comics by Mike Grell as well as the TV show Arrow and Batman: Broken City by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso. In these texts, the struggle of wearing different masks is shown in the characters’ identity formation but also the city since the latter, like its heroes, is torn between anarchy and law, between despair and hope.