Super-Heroes Work Best as Metaphors: BKV

Right, 'cuz there were absolutely no political problems anywhere in the world in the late '30's. And Captain America didn't punch Hitler in the nose in '44. Good job ignoring the most obvious reason for all this "sophistication": the fact that kids don't read comics any more.

No myths-destroying back in the good old certain days, either. And hey, comics were pure escapism without any analogues to "real life" and "real problems."

He's on the right track here -- comics (and other fictions) shouldn't be allegories that specifically map onto real world analogues, especially current events which will automatically make the fiction obsolete in a matter of years. Instead, WRITE STORIES THAT ENTERTAIN FIRST AND FOREMOST, THE POLITIX WILL APPEAR ON ITS OWN.

You know that sinking feeling you get when you realize that the person this particular thread is about is actually younger than you?

The oft-repeated reason for why Superman & Batman rarely got involved in the ruckus overseas beyond War Bonds pitches was out of respect for the actual servicemen who were out there dealing with bursting shells (and reading a lot of Superman comics).

I think one of the reasons that superhero comics are "more sophisticated" is that readers, even though they may be older and better educated, are, as readers, less sophisticated and are demanding that superheros not "just" stand in for real world concerns, but become them and deal with the world around them in an all-too-literal fashion.