There is some hope that things might be different for the newer generation of lighthearted heroes, as long as their sales remain robust. The last few years have seen more celebration of the innocent pluck of characters like Ms. Marvel, a revived Howard the Duck and a reinvented Batgirl. Even funny-animal superhero Captain Carrot has returned to prominence at DC, starring in the crossover series The Multiversity and Convergence. And likewise, it's not like Billy Batson has NEVER been treated well by DC-- recent examples include The Multiversity: Thunderworld and Convergence: Shazam! The comics audience is changing, and kid-friendly material has more of a place in it than in the 1990s. Even so, DC and Marvel are still comics universes where worlds full of "heroes" destroy each other to survive (as in Secret Wars #1) and future dystopias turn heroes into horrifyingly mutated cyborgs (as in the first issues of Future's End and the more recent Batman Beyond). Billys best shot at restoring his old thunder may be to imitate Superman after all, and rocket away from the world of his birth-- the world of comic books-- to a more promising land. Maybe its time for him to stop trying to be friends with people he always ends up fighting, and spend more time either at the movies or in TV animation. These are nice enough neighborhoods. He can meet more kids his own age there.
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
