# Why do Super Heroes dominate the Comic book Medium **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978 "2003-05-08T21:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/21 "2003-05-10T05:11:23Z")
Well, Marvel abandoned the CCA because they saw (rightly) that A)The distribution hegemony that had originally enforced the Code in practice was gone (Diamond, though a monpolistic company, actually helps with this, since they will carry just about anything); B) The vast majority of people, Comics readers and non-readers alike, had only the vaguest notion of what the Code was, and didn’t care in any case; C) The people who did care about the Code almost uniformly viewed it negatively, including basically all of their own creative staff. You’re wrong to imply, by the way, that Marvel now has no standards od decency. In fact, they have several - they have different lines of comics in wich more or less adult content is permissible. Most of their mainstream comics are under standards very similar to what the old Code would have allowed, except that it’s self-enforced in a way that allows them to present things like the Harry Osborne drug story (which was anti-drugs, but had to run without a CCA seal, since standards at the time would not allow any depiction of drug use, even horribly negatively). A few titles are in their “MAX” line, which is explicitly supposed to be geared toward an adult audience, and has very few restrictions. In both cases they are labelled appropriately, so you know what you’re getting. Incidentally, DC has also been flirting ( indecisively, for a long while) with dropping the Code on those titles that are still submitted to it (Vertigo titles, as well as their Wildstorm subsidiary’s entire publishing line, already are not). Marvel is hardly alone, they were just willing to do it first. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/22 "2003-05-10T05:22:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Payton’s Servant \* > \*\*I just picked up a tradepaperback of Stories from Bizarro World, which was stories about the Bizarro World which were written in the 1960’s. They could never be written today, because A) They would be considered too juvenile and B) They don’t follow continuity. \*\* Well, that’s Bizarro Continuity for you, isn’t it? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/23 "2003-05-10T06:13:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Marvel has completely abandoned the Comics Code and as a result we now have Nick Fury saying “Fuck” and “Shit” on a regular basis in his comic book. Fury’s book is on the MAX line wich is not meant for childern ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/24 "2003-05-12T19:18:54Z")
Well, I talked to someone in the industry about this over the weekend. Seems I was wrong about the average age of buyers - he says its more like 30 than 14. He says that the reason there are so many super hero comics is that after the comic code killed off the horror/suspence/mystery comics that all you were left with for a while was either the Archie/Disney ones meant for little kids and super hero stuff. He said that since that’s what today’s buyers read, that’s what they still read. Since comics are expensive to add another title you follow every month is something people do with care since its a big investment, that usually people will just follow the stories they already have investments in. Having reported what the industry person said… > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lear’s\_fool \* > \*\*I agree that how the public views comic views the comic book medium is and important part of the explanation. But saying that the industry only has Super heroes is a lie because “romance, horror, erotica, suspence, etc” can be found. > > Watchmen is a super hero book and Mage is debatably a super hero book. Krokodil also provided evidence that the majority of Comic books published aren’t super heroes (be it that they sell far fewer issues). > > did you read anything eles in this thread or did you just post Sigh. I spent a lot of time thinking out my post. I really hate when people get insulting for no apparent reason. Watchmen has super heros in it, yes… but the story isn’t what your typical issue of Spidey or Batman is about, is it? It’s not about chasing down the arch villain, right? (I admit to not reading a ton of super hero kinds of comics and I know they have some great sub plots that deal with other issues) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lear’s\_fool \* > > What are you saying that comics have bad art work and never deal with “relationships and the big life issues” and always fall into melodrama. To be honest to seems to say more that you never bothered looking for comics about things you care about; “Love & Rockets” and “Strangers in Paradise” come to mind. The only difference between comics and manga is the readers in Japan don’t place stereotype the Graphic narrative medium. If you had bothered to look you would find comic books that you would enjoy just us much as manga you read, because they are same art from distribution and publication are handled in different and arguably better ways, but medium is the same. \*\* No, I never said that. If you read what I did say carefully, you’ll see that I said that the manga and anime I enjoy have great art and they add enough action in to make it not descent into sappy melodrama. I never said that other comics had bad art and were melodramatic - I have no idea if this is true of them or not since I’ve not read them. You’re right, I don’t spend hours and money searching out the few comics that might fall into category I like… I already said I don’t have that time and money to spend on this pursuit. I find new things by having a friend or another lend me a book they think I might dig. That’s all… I don’t really want to spend my small amount of free time searching the stuff out, I have big enough piles of books and cd’s and movies and the like I still have not sampled to keep me busy for years. So sorry if that makes me some sort of loser. ---
**Author:** ![Homer\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Homer\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/25 "2003-05-12T20:24:31Z")
Superheros are more interesting to a young boy than, say, The Tax Collector ‘‘Taking money from those who earn it’’ or Captain Traffic Warden ‘‘Keep yellow lines from being covered’’ - I dont know invent your own… ---
**Author:** ![Homer\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c37758/32.png) [@Homer\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/26 "2003-05-12T20:24:35Z")
Superheros are more interesting to a young boy than, say, The Tax Collector ‘‘Taking money from those who earn it’’ or Captain Traffic Warden ‘‘Keeps yellow lines from being covered’’ - I dont know invent your own… ---
**Author:** ![Lear\_s\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@Lear\_s\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lear_s_fool)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978/27 "2003-05-13T00:14:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Watchmen has super heros in it, yes… but the story isn’t what your typical issue of Spidey or Batman is about, is it? It’s not about chasing down the arch villain, right? Yeah it’s not your typical super hero story, that doesn’t mean it’s a different genre [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-super-heroes-dominate-the-comic-book-medium/173978.md?page=1)