Today’s pop culture idols are poor representations of the hero figures that have always fascinated human cultures. Unlike the challenges faced by earlier heroes, our celebrities lead glamorous lifestyles of comfort and ease. To be more like the faces we see on television, we hide from anything that interferes with our lives of comfort.

Comic book stories are often more complex than a simple understanding of them as morality tales or escapist wish fulfillment. The super-heroes within them embody the same archetypes as mythological heroes, whose adventures once served as metaphors for their audiences. Through the trials of these heroes, people from previous cultures learned how to understand the world and face their internal struggles.

Conflicting emotions and desires war within us. Today’s flawed role models fail to show us how to confront the darker side of our selves, and instead teach us to cover our dark impulses with a facade. At a time when the power of our myths has been diluted, perhaps that power can be restored through comic book heroes.