Comics Biggest Blight

[Bob Prodor]

What about a "Limited Genre"
or "Lacking Quality" option on the poll?

[Sketch]

...There's No Joe Q AND Dan D. up there....how on earth am I supposed to choose between the hater of marriages and the blood god, demander of sacrifice?

[Bob Prodor]

Breakout hero since Spawn? Hellboy

Breakout SUPERhero.
Hellboy was actually the first thing I thought of after I wrote Spawn, and I almost changed the question to reflect it, but...
Hellboy doesn't wear a costume, he doesn't go out to fight general crime, and he doesn't have a secret identity. He does have a distinctive look and powers beyond normal humans. If that's all it takes to qualify as a superhero, Buffy's Angel or Indiana Jones arguably qualify as superheroes--but I don't think the majority of people would define them that way. I suspect the primary reason a lot of people would call Hellboy a superhero rather than an action hero a la Buffy is because he originates in comics, and everyone knows comics=superheroes.
So I see your point, and I'd even concede it if you want to take an inclusive view of what constitutes a superhero. That said, the point remains more or less the same: the last breakout superhero to originate in comics is more than fifteen years old, so where does the idea that comics fans want superhero material in general (as opposed to material featuring familiar superheroes) come from?
A

Which brings up another entirely different discussion. Maybe the overall esthetic is what turns the general population off of Superheroes, and in turn comics. I seem to recall hearing someone say that Superheroes costumes were based on the popular entertainment figures of the day (1930s) such as Circus Performers and Wrestlers. While some creators have gone outside this outdated look, the spandex and capes thing still persists, and I know that this is why some people have a bias against comics: Guys wearing their gonch outside their tights is silly.
In some ways Hellboy has more in common with the Pulp Heroes than Superheroes, but now I'm splitting hairs. I do think it's weird when people refer to Indiana Jones and James Bond as Superheroes.

Another thought, maybe the idea of a guy going out and fighting General Crime is outdated. It reminds me of a Dan Clowes one panel cartoon of a Superhero saying to a beat-up guy, "Sorry, I can't help you, you brought this on yourself".

[HHComics]

What about a "Limited Genre"

Really? I can't see any other point in comics history whne there has been a greater range of genres. There may not be as many titles within each genre but there are certainly more options...

or "Lacking Quality" option on the poll?

and probably better quality. Yeah, Gold Key made comics for every tv show out there but have you read them? And Classics Illustrated were adaptations of great pieces of work dumbed down for kids. Check out modern Marvel Illustrated series and compare them against stories from the 50s and 60s. And superhero titles had better quality in the 80s and 90s than today? That could be a whole other debate but one would hope that things tend to get better.

[Temperance]

where't the rob liefeld button?

[HHComics]

Fixed. We kinda felt he wasn't that much of a threat anymore but then I had to order a bunch of his upcoming Christian based comics for a customer and I realized he's trying to poison a whole new demographic of readership.
Who will save the Christians!??

[Fiona]

What about a "Limited Genre"

Really? I can't see any other point in comics history whne there has been a greater range of genres. There may not be as many titles within each genre but there are certainly more options...

I think there is a greater variety now, but pre-'60s, other genres had a larger share of the readership (horror comics, crime, fantasy, sci-fi, romance). Wasn't it in the Silver Age, after the Comics Code, that superhero comics became the dominant genre? I feel like even in the '70s, fantasy comics were more popular but slowly lost ground to superhero books.

[Sketch]

If Jesus isn't saving the Christians by now, someone needs to make him do his job better.