Originally Posted by
gurkle
It's very hard to separate the two.
The characters in superhero comics are not deep enough to just sit still for a character study without some kind of compelling plot. Some novels and plays and films can just focus on character without a big story, but if superheroes aren't out punching people and fighting monsters, they're really not interesting enough to hold our attention for very long. Even something like Vision has a big plot and lots of violence.
On the other hand, there are so few plots available to superhero comics that the plot can't hold our attention without some character interest to back it up. We know how most of these stories are going to end, we know that the dead will come back to life. The only thing that makes it interesting is to see how characters react to the plot developments. Fine, this character is dead, none of us care, but we do care about seeing how their friends and enemies react to their "death."
So I guess it's about seeing how character development is driven by the plot. You can't have one without the other.