近年來，藉由小說、電影、電玩、卡通、遊戲等等的方式，有許許多多的英雄角色被塑造出來，其中廣為大家熟悉的，例如哈利波特、超人、魔獸世界等等，都是藉由作者的創意巧思才能呈現在我們面前。而我們也可以發現，所謂的「英雄」角色，並不因人們智識的增長而發生英雄光環褪去的情況，反而因為多樣的傳播媒介，更多創意與創作的空間，讓英雄角色更容易被塑造，更容易踏進我們的生活中。
在眾多的媒體中，最易展現其天馬行空的創意想像，最易塑造的英雄角色的媒體，莫過於「漫畫」了，尤其在台灣，若單就出版品的數量來看，目前漫畫的出版量更早已位居各文體之冠，除此之外，近年來日本漫畫在台灣市場高達九成的市占率，更是呈現壟斷的局面，換言之，台灣出版品的銷售大宗，主要就是漫畫，而每一本漫畫均代表著一個故事，一個英雄主角的冒險歷險過程。
那英雄到底是如何被創造的呢？
要經歷過哪些難關，才能被稱之為英雄？
本研究隨即針對兩套日本漫畫，「神劍闖江湖」以及「幽遊白書」中的英雄角色進行探討，希望能藉由神話學的觀點來分析漫畫中的英雄冒險歷程，進而瞭解漫畫中英雄的塑造是否具有一定的規則或程序。而本研究主要採用Campbell於1949年撰寫的千面英雄一書中的英雄冒險歷程作為討論日本漫畫英雄角色的主要立論依據。
研究結果發現，雖然神劍闖江湖以及幽遊白書的故事內容截然不同，但若以Campbell的模型來解構其內容架構，我們可以發現其實此兩部漫畫在英雄塑造的過程中，雖有某些細節與Campbell有所不同，但大致上均符合Campbell的模型，這也說明了英雄的塑造過程確實能跨越國境，打破文化的藩籬。

In recent years, many heroes have been created through novels, movies, video games, cartoons, etc. Those that are familiar with many of us include Harry Potter, Superman, the characters of World of Warcraft, and so on. They were presented to the world by the creators’ originality and innovations. We could also see that these "heroes" did not fall out of favor with the gradual intellectual growth of the world, but contrarily with a greater variety of media, greater innovative possibilities and recognition for creativity of the hero role could be more easily shaped and entering our lives.
Among the great variety of media, comic books tend to display unlimited creativity and unique heroes most directly. Especially in Taiwan, from reference of the sold number of comic publications, it has been long ranked as the largest sold publication among various genres and printed media. In addition, Japanese comics has held a 90% share in the Taiwan market for years, creating a situation of monopoly. In other words, the bulk of sales publications in Taiwan could been perceived as mainly comic books, and each comic book story represents a story as well as an adventure of a hero.
How are heroes created?
What must a hero go through in order to be recognized as a hero?
This study focuses on two Japanese comics – "Rurouni Kenshin " and "Yu-Yu Hakusho" – to explore the roles of the hero from mythological viewpoints and consequently comprehending whether if there is a set rule or procedures in creating the comic book ‘s hero. The study applies the model from Campbell's hero model in addition to the adventures and journeys in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” (1949), to discuss the role of heroes in Japanese comics.
The results of the study show that although “Rurouni Kenshin”and “Yu-Yu Hakusho” are two different stories, but with Campbell's model we can deconstruct the contents of the framework and discover that the heroes in these two comics are created almost according to Campbell’s model but still with some small different, which shows the heroes can be created through the same process despite different cultures and beyond boundaries.

中文與日文文獻
1.Campbell, J., 1995, “The Hero with A Thousand Faces. St Martins Pr.”, （朱侃如譯(1997)，千面英雄，臺北縣新店市：立緖文化）
2.Jung, C. G., 1999, (鞏卓軍譯(1999)，人及其象徵。台北：立緒文化)
3.Patmore, C., 2004, (陳賢錫譯(2004)，動畫創作全覽，台北：視傳文化)
4.Carlyle, T., 1977, “On Heroes, hero worship and the heroic in history”, (何欣譯(1997)，英雄與英雄崇拜，台北：國立編譯館)
5.中華徵信所企業股份有限公司，2005，中華民國...圖書出版產業調查研究報告，臺北市：新聞局。
6.王石番，1989，傳播內容分析法:理論與實證。台北：幼獅文化。
7.四方田犬彥，1994，漫画原论，筑摩书房。
8.施志昇，1998，解開互動式多媒體的「故事密碼」，《教育科技與媒體》，37期，頁10-27。
9.胡澤民，1979，實用人物造形，台北市：正文書局。
10.夏目房之介，2001，マンガ世界戦略，東京：小学館。
11.陳仲偉，2003，文化產業全球化的發展模式-以日本動漫畫產業為例，國立清華大學社會學研究所碩士論文。
12.曾曬淑，2004，身體變化：西方藝術中身體的概念與意象，台北市：南天出版社。
13.黃勝鳴，2003，國民小學學生英雄概念之研究--以台南地區六年級學生為例，國立花蓮師範學院社會科教學碩士論文。
14.葉思義、宋昀璐，2004，數位遊戲設計：遊戲設計知識全領域，台北市：碁峰。
15.蕭湘文，2002，漫畫研究：傳播觀點的檢視，台北：五南。
英文文獻
1.Butler, B., 1979, “The myth of the hero”, London:Rider and Co.
2.Benes, C. H., & Steinbrink, J. E., 1998, “Be your own hero: Activities for middle”, level social studies classes, Jul/Aug1998, Vol.71 Issue 6.
3.Brook, K. M., 1996, “Do story agents use rocking chairs? The theory and implementation of one model for computational narrative”, In Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Multimedia 96, p317 - 328.
4.Berelson, B., 1952, “Content analysis in communication research”, New York, The Free Press.
5.Berelson, B., 1962, “The social studies and the social sciences”, New York, Harcourt, Brace & World.
6.Gill, T., 1998, “Transformational Magic: Some Japanese super-heroes and monsters”, in D. P. Martinez eds. The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global Cultures. p33-55. Cambridge: Cambridge.
7.Glassner, A. S., 2004, “Interactive Storytelling: Techniques for 21st Century Fiction”, AK Peters, Ltd.
8.Campbell, J., 1949, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Princeton: Princeton UP.
9.Jerz, D. G., 2000, “Interactive fiction - how is it different? “(accessed April 10, 2006), from <http://jerz.setonhill.edu/if/differs_from.htm>.
10.Propp, V., 1968, “Morphology of the folktale l. Scott, trans”, University of Texas Press., Austin, TX.
11.Sanchez, T. R., 1998, “Using stories heroes about teach values”, ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education Bloomington IN.
12.Schodt, Frederik L., 1996, “Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley”, Stone Bridge Press.
13.Shelly, B., 2001, “Guidelines for developing successful games”, Gamasutra (accessed August 15, 2001), from <http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20010815/shelley_01.htm>.
14.Short, E., 2001, “What's if?”, (accessed April 10, 2006 ), from <http://emshort.home.mindspring.com/whatsif.html>.
15.Torode, B., 1998, “Narrative analysis using code-a-text”, Qualitative Health Research, 83,414. van Gennep, A., 2004. The Rites of Passage, Routledge, London.
16.White, Steven H., & O’ Brien, Joseph E., 1999, “What is a hero? An exploratory study of students’ conceptions of heroes”, Journal of Moral Education, Mar99, 28, 1, p81.