What happened to superheroes? I grew up with superheroes in comics and on TV. A few made it into the movies but these were how I was introduced to the genre and what hooked me on them. From old shows airing before my time to the paper sheets that would inspire me to make my own, superheroes were always a great source of entertainment and teaching basic life lessons kids could take with them into adulthood.

However, nowadays the superhero is under attack. Only it isn’t a supervillain they have to deal with but creators and commentators who don’t seem to want to make the traditional superhero story. While some kids shows continue on it’s rare to see a kid-friendly superhero comic, much less one targeted directly to kids, and if there is it’s too expensive to spend your allowance on so you better hope you have a relative or family friend willing to expose you to superheroes. Guys like Bill Maher rant about the evils of the superhero movie while many comic creators want to write adult stuff targeted more at people who share their ideology rather than the classic “hero’s journey” or superpowered adventure.

To set the stage I have a video from Michael Critzer, aka Professor Geek, about the lack of a core version of the character for other interpretations to use as a template, what I refer to as “multiversal continuity”. However, I think there’s a reason for this that he’s missing in his commentary. Luckily I can fill in that gap.

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