A few months ago, Justice League Unlimited had an episode that featured Captain Marvel, and at the time I found the episode both enjoyable, yet a bit frustrating.
On the one hand, Billy's nobility came out well, especially in his ending speech, where he left the League because he couldn't agree with their tactics. On the other hand, he was played as something of a naive fool in the course of the episode. Of course, there was a much worse example of that in Kingdom Come where he's entirely buffaloed by Lex Luthor, until that one last "redeeming" moment. Aside from the small question of "um, what about Solomon's wisdom..." in both of those circumstances, it bothred me because there seems to be less and less respect for "the boy scouts."
Now, while things are not as bad as they were a few years ago, where we were buried under Wolverine, Lobo, the Punisher and Venom, but it still bugs me. I'll admit, I also like some "harder edged" books, but even then, it's not so much a matter of wanting to see "grittier" heros, as seeing heros stuck in some pretty nasty circumstances.
The essential optimism and decency of the "boy scout" characters is something that really appeals to me. It points us to the hope for a better world. I recognize that not everyone likes them, but I do grow tired of having those characters pushed further and further to the edge, and becoming the butt of jokes. I'll admit, I'm not a gigantic Superman fan, but that's not because of the his being "the big blue boy scout," but because he's just too powerful. It makes it hard to consistantly write good stories for him. I've liked some, been less fond of others.
Anyway, give me Billy Batson over Frank Castle every day of the week.
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