Our Current Fascination With Superheros

[Rich-n-Texas]

...good and evil just introduce characters and plot into the equation...

IMO a basic tenet of the human experience is that people want to do what's right, so I'd give more emphasis on *good vs. evil* than what you state here Kex. It's true what GM says when he states the people want someone bigger than themselves to look up to, and that's because they want to see an example of the good that we're capable of being.

[kexodusc]

IMO a basic tenet of the human experience is that people want to do what's right, so I'd give more emphasis on *good vs. evil* than what you state here Kex. It's true what GM says when he states the people want someone bigger than themselves to look up to, and that's because they want to see an example of the good that we're capable of being.

Think your'e misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not saying the struggle of good vs evil is the least important factor - actually it's the underlying plot of almost every single comic book story I can recall.

But the struggle of good vs evil isn't the primary reason superhero flicks are all the rage right now - war movies, westerns, sci-fis, kung-fu movies, historical epics, etc all have good vs evil as well but aren't nearly as popular today. So logically, the good vs evil factor, a constant across the genres, isn't what's separating the superheroe genre from the pack.

There's something unique about the comic book fantasy world that is appealing to people. And I think it's that uniqueness that Worf is curious about? Good vs evil is the commonality across genres. I think it's the imaginary world, the supernatural, that is more unique and that make them so cool.

I would agree the "good vs evil" plot accounts for the vast majority of all the really great stories in EVERY genre (superheroes included), but I think is less responsible than the distinguishing traits that have created the comic book craze of the last decade or so.

[Worf101]

When I see this many thoughtfull, rational and well scribed opinions in one thread, dayum.... it makes me feel good and hopefull. You've all given me somethings to think about. This is a MUCH deeper topic than I thought when I dreamt it up. The whole mythos/gods/heroes angle is fascinating. If there were no gods, we'd have to invent them which obviously some civilizations did. Fascinating...

Da Worfster