Swamp Thing case study as a fictional character design in popular culture for environmental conservation efforts

Abstract

The green spirit and movement are global issues that voice about environmental conservation efforts. Using media from popular culture as an approach, comics are used as product icons to convey messages regarding an issue. Comic consumers are mostly the younger generation. In comic, characters are designed to represent certain messages. This research used case study method on Swamp Thing comics with a semiotic approach. The data, especially the character design, were anaylized using denotative, connotative, and intertextuality analysis. The result of this research an identification of the use of a scary superhero character as an approach to deliver messages of environmental conservation. The parameters of the effectiveness of character design are seen from the sustainability and development of media that uses the character in their contents.