Super hero comics are ridiculous... seriously

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http://www.wedolists.com/2010/08/top-10-most-powerful-superheroes-of-all-time/

I mean, why is it fun to write or read stories about these "people?" Superman can punch a hole through a planet and move a galaxy? Really? What's the point?

Stories about humans are more interesting because you give them really complex problems and let them use limited physical gifts and smarts to solve them. It requires better writing.

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I never really did like superman. I liked spiderman most when i was younger, at least he seemed to retain some human frailty.
 
The whole thing has really been bothering me lately. Choices have consequences, unless you are a super stud who regenerates. Then you can just walk into a maelstrom of machine gun fire like it's no big deal. Your girlfriend died? Just bring her back to life with your cosmic power. Or fly real fast back in time. I mean... no consequences.

I've been reading some non-supero comics recently, and some of them are really excellent... even if they have a bit of the fantastic to them.

One that blew me away was Tumor.

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There is some really cool story telling in there. The art is fantastic. The protagonist is definitely deteriorating and dying, and his mind is quitting on him, but he's an old school private detective who wants to redeem himself by solving this one last problem before he goes. It's a great story.
 
'swhy I always like Batman and Ninja Turtles most as a kid. I always felt, you know, I could do that, maybe, with a lot of practice and training. They don't offer those classes at WVU though. Really bummer.
 
Liking those sort of things as a kid was perfectly ok, but man...seeing grown men still geeking over super hero comics is at best disturbing. :messedup:
 
Grown men who geek about superhero comics are like people who have normal calves but fantasize about having large muscular calves.
 
Superheroes are the modern day equivalent to the Greek and other Mythos.... some of the heroes are "Gods" and some are mere mortals. While some are stories of overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, often there are morality tales of seemingly invincible Gods who struggle with issues of control, greed, or sometimes grappling with the fact that strenght alone cannot solve all problems.

I would say comics are pretty well on par with Television as far as a huge amount being "crap filler that goes through the motions" with a certain percentage of them being high quality both in artwork and story.

Some of my favorites include :

"Kingdom Come" - a story that has the classic heroes from the golden age of comics coming to odds with the gritty, realism of today's cynical world. Alex Ross's artwork is some of the best that has EVER been done in the comic medium.

"The Ultimates" - what I've refered to as the "test bed for Marvel Movie scripts". Read both volumes of the Ultimates, and you can see where the scripts for Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Avengers are coming from.

"Cerebus" - a black and white 300 chapter saga that began as a comedic take on Conan type stories but ended up being a mixing pot of pop culture as well as political and social commentaries.
 
If you asked one person to write the story of Moses in 3 or 4 sentences, and another to write the story of Superman in 3 or 4 sentences, you'd end up with something pretty similar. It's nothing new.

This might be helpful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth

There are some pretty brilliant superhero comics, and lots of terrible ones. Subscribing to the notion of a hierarchy of genre is kind of... old, tired, limiting, etc.

EDIT: That having been said, there's really not much to say about the sorts of people who linger in comic book stores, spending hours arguing about who'd win in a fight between Batman and Captain America. But I kinda feel the same way about gaming (whether video games, board games, RPGs, etc.) as a major hobby.
 
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I couldn't give a flying fuck what other people read or what they like. Unless its Green Day. That's just fucked up.
 
I loved superhero comics when I was a kid, and I collected a bunch of "Silver Age" Marvel comics back when a 12-year old could actually afford such stuff. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. But then I reached an age where comic books weren't cool anymore and sold most of my collection.

A few years ago, just for nostalgia's sake, I bought those official Marvel "complete collections" offered on DVD, containing every issue ever published of some of the major lines. Reading through that stuff again, I'm convinced more than ever that the works of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko from the 60's were groundbreaking, inspired stuff -- hugely influential on more than just the world of comic books.

Going beyond the 60s, though, it gets harder to seperate the wheat from the chaff.
 
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