The Major Problem No One Wants To Admit With Superhero Comics

When did Marvel and DC decide that playing things safe was the right answer?

[Zethonring]

The only character I know of that actually grew proper was Starman, he started in the 1940's and got older as the years past and had kids and everything, then his first son took on the mantle in the 80's, then his youngest became the last Starman in the late 90's before retiring in the early 2000's and passing his signature weapon onto Stargirl, the original Starman also died around this time too as an old man and was never rebooted or resurrected, just a complete life from beginning to end, a far cry from other comics

[awsomeboy]

This is why I read manga and indie comics. Those have progression, and it's usually one story that contains a beginning and an ending.

[beartygerevillaugh]

You mean actually expanding characters rather than just turning a character into someone else....basically doing more with a person rather than rebooting the character

[Robert-rwlm]

Theres a reason why Japanese Manga is on the rise while comics is falling apart, Manga has their characters grow, and their stories end, comics (not all but its noticeable) just reboot to keep the status quo

[TevyaSmolka]

I think what mainstream comics really needs to do is stop delaying main comics and let death be permanent and let characters grow up and mature and get married and let them have kids and stop stagnating your characters.

[Kagrynac]

Yeah the resetting to status quo can be understandable but gets disappointing after a while.

[morgankw]

There's no stakes. That's why I typically have trouble getting into superhero comics. Give them endings, happy, sad, or bittersweet, and allow new people to take the spotlight.

[mattmckenna]

Oh, Like Wolverine growing over a foot in the early 2000's to look more like Hugh Jackman?

[IllMatic]

Richard Grayson is the only character i can think that was actually allowed to grow. Comics lack growth.

[tylerbrown]

More people need to admit that superhero comics are just soap operas in capes. Evil sibling? Seemingly dead parents coming back? Romances?! It's all there.

[maskedmarvyl]

Bringing Norman Osborne back was absolutely idiotic. Even more idiotic was One More Day, brought to us by Joe Quesada, who erased twenty years of continuity to reboot the franchise for kids. Thanks,

[ligtningdog]

Resetting to status quo wouldn't be problem if was a hard reboot.
If mainstream comic companies want to somehow line-up with whatever movie that's currently popular; they should just start a brand new series just for movie fans and keep the mainline comics untouched.

[raimarulightning]

Don't write to be entertaining. Write because you have something to say.

[nolastname]

Today in comics, Marvel is killing Guardians of the Galaxy and DC kills Alfred via Bane. See you next Reboot in two years.
Killing character just undo development and screw overall stories, it's useless.
Also every Batman stories :
Batman is being awesome by himself then fail before learning is not alone with his partners and family. Finally Batman wins mostly alone (Because batman). Batman learn to trust team mates before forgetting everything he just learned to run after the Joker.
Bonus,
Every Superman stories : the writer ask itself "what if Superman was evil or Batman ?"

[captainawesome]

I think that the major hindrance is that these heroes' stories will never end but the best stories always have endings, thats how they're passed on

[kurushiiv]

Eventually all things must come to an end. You can't conserve the past forever.

[Emohawk]

I think the main problem is that the characters aren’t allowed to grow. They always change back to their archetype and set of character traits. The long running story telling brings them back to the default.

[TevyaSmolka]

I am with Hickman on this one and he’s one hundred percent right

[manicwebb]

It might seem like the X-Men are an anomaly that are allowed to change, but even they revert back to the old status quo after a while. Remember back in the late 2000s when the mansion was destroyed, so Cyclops moved the team to San Francisco? The X-Men went from outcasts to local heroes, living in a city that welcomed the mutant community. A few years later, Wolverine re-built the mansion and re-opened the school back in upstate New York.


I'm looking forward to where Hickman is taking the X-Men in House/Powers, but I know that 80% of his changes will be reverted a couple of years after he leaves.

[john-bypn]

the real problem with comics is you try to find sense in it all inconsistensis all the misunderstandings