Its not strictly true. A bunch of Silver Age comics were utopian, particularly wrt Superman fighting natural disasters and relieving famines and doing diplomacy on behalf of warring nations.
Yeah I can see how that can create a conundrum for the writers. Now I guess they hit those massive stakes like what your describing, but really no attempt at changing the world outside of stopping the big bad. I've been reading comics a lot more over the last couple years and especially now cannot get into the superhero comics at all. Might have to check out some of the silver age comics since that does sound a bit more refreshing.
but really no attempt at changing the world outside of stopping the big bad
They DID change the world, significantly. Pick up a copy of Kingdom Come and you'll see the fruits of their labors.
But the end result of a century of superheroes/villains is a world that's wholly unrecognizable to a new reader. Superheroes siding with the status quo is as much about normalizing the setting to new audiences as it is about the heroes themselves.
You either have to retcon back to basics in order to reset the stakes or the heroes need to end their arcs having reset the status quo, so the next writer can pick up on a functionally fresh slate.
Might have to check out some of the silver age comics since that does sound a bit more refreshing.
YMMV. They are definitely more Utopian, but they're still fairly liberal.
But the end result of a century of superheroes/villains is a world that's wholly unrecognizable to a new reader. Superheroes siding with the status quo is as much about normalizing the setting to new audiences as it is about the heroes themselves.
You either have to retcon back to basics in order to reset the stakes or the heroes need to end their arcs having reset the status quo, so the next writer can pick up on a functionally fresh slate.
Yeah I can see how that all would lead to issues and then requiring the retcon/ reboot. Also, probably explains the constant spin-offs. Like I was thumbing through those freebie program things they give out and I know this is the modern stuff but there were like 4-5 Spiderman comics going at the same time. I've been reading nothing from Marvel and DC so it was wild to see.
YMMV. They are definitely more Utopian, but they're still fairly liberal.
Yeah I can see how that can create a conundrum for the writers. Now I guess they hit those massive stakes like what your describing, but really no attempt at changing the world outside of stopping the big bad. I've been reading comics a lot more over the last couple years and especially now cannot get into the superhero comics at all. Might have to check out some of the silver age comics since that does sound a bit more refreshing.
They DID change the world, significantly. Pick up a copy of Kingdom Come and you'll see the fruits of their labors.
But the end result of a century of superheroes/villains is a world that's wholly unrecognizable to a new reader. Superheroes siding with the status quo is as much about normalizing the setting to new audiences as it is about the heroes themselves.
You either have to retcon back to basics in order to reset the stakes or the heroes need to end their arcs having reset the status quo, so the next writer can pick up on a functionally fresh slate.
YMMV. They are definitely more Utopian, but they're still fairly liberal.
Yeah I can see how that all would lead to issues and then requiring the retcon/ reboot. Also, probably explains the constant spin-offs. Like I was thumbing through those freebie program things they give out and I know this is the modern stuff but there were like 4-5 Spiderman comics going at the same time. I've been reading nothing from Marvel and DC so it was wild to see.
Damn, yeah I guess I should have expected that.