It’s rather remarkable how often you are able to express with certainty what readers and audiences “want” (and how those wants always coincidentally align with your own preferences).
Do you even read what you post? Your board history is one where you have and continue to do that often whenever you or some like-minded member digs up Snyder, his films or fans of his films, because you're incapable of getting over now older comic book adaptations, even here--in a thread supposedly about the forthcoming Gunn film, yet here you are. You constantly beat that worn drum, trying to tell the world what the definitive Superman and Supergirl are (because Snyder lives rent free in your skull) and expect that to be taken as truth. Try to think about it.
Back to the point: the industry responded to the desires of readers, hence the reason 1960s superhero comic book readers' ages moved up to college age (hence the college tours featuring Lee and numerous other comic book creators, while 60s mainstream media increasingly paid attention to the changing superhero genre...whoops), and they most certainly let it be known that they preferred the more mature superhero, as opposed to the worst of the Golden and early Silver Age. The comic book superhero business only grew with that desire, with creators wanting it as much as readers. That is a matter of history whether you like it or not.
Comics don’t sell those kind of numbers because they’re not printed on newsprint anymore, are not under a dollar and not sold on spinner racks or in ever grocery store anymore. A standard issue is 4 dollars now.
Indeed.
“Silly” comics are Richy Rich, Popehat Superman juggling planets and CC Beck Captain Marvel all of which have their place.The trajectory of comics changed with the Fantastic Four and the introduction of hero infighting, angst and tragic heroes like The Thing, and later The Hulk and The X-Men. Like it or not, that was when the move away from 8 year olds began.
Well observed, and this trend also included (among many characters and plotting directions) the first "misfit" superhero team (The Doom Patrol), a Captain America restored, instantly suffering from survivor's guilt, and questioning his place as a living embodiment of the U.S. flag and its
sold ideologies in a not-so-patriotic America (justifiably so) of the 1960s, and on and on. That was not kiddie content, nor was it written for them. Times and tastes were changing, both from the reader perspective and those who created the content. Its never turned back to the Silver Age for good reason.
Take it up with Stan and Jack because they had a different idea when it came to storytelling and why Marvel has dominated comics since then. Meanwhile, of the Big Two, “silly” is relegated to Deadpool and the humor is already stale with him.
Again, well put. Its not a shock that our historical references will be dodged or ignored in favor of the usual false narratives about the industry anyone alive from the 60s-forward was exposed to, especially where the superhero comic book is concerned.