...John Constantine.

By that logic, the protagonist of any monster movie is the monster, the protagonist of a murder mystery is the murderer, and the protagonist of 2012 is explosions.

The protagonist is our proxy in the story, the one we follow and experience the story with, and the one who experiences the change that we are supposed to vicariously experience with them. Which means the protagonist is almost always the main character.

One exception I can think of is V for Vendetta -- we have dual protagonists in Evey and the police inspector, but the "main character" is clearly V.

Where there's some nuance in the definition is that the protagonist is not necessarily the hero of the piece -- s/he can sometimes be the villain.

I try to read it once a year, but I never got around to it last year, so that means I need to read it twice this year.

After reading about how the government is reluctant / unable to prosecute anyone responsible for the GFC, I could see a new type of 21st superhero that takes down Wall Street bankers, etc.

Rather than worrying about knife-crime in dark alleyways, a smart billionaire vigilante like Niteowl / Batman should be tackling the ultimate cause of crime e.g. poverty, inequality, etc - rather than the symptoms.

Is there such thing as a superhero that tackles white-collar crime e.g. hedge fund managers who bet against their clients, Madoff type of Ponzi scheme charlatans, those who award themselves massive bonuses after running their companies into the ground and receiving government assistance, auditors who assess risky portfolios of investments as safe, crooks who receive Presidential pardons at the end of term, negligent drone operators, generals who push for illegal invasions with no post-war planning that kills/displaces hundreds of thousands?

In the commentary, you guys spoke about how Rorschach was the ultimate far right-wing vigilante. Is there a left-wing equivalent in comic books?

Green Arrow's whole thing is that he's a super liberal.

That's why he dresses like Robin Hood and goes after corporations.