This last summer I watched the first couple of episodes of Do you want to be a Superhero or something like that. It had some potential, but in all honesty it was really really bad.

My son kind of liked it but it was just to cheesy. It kind of illustrated the lack of any quality comic book hero concepts. Now I was born in the early 1970's so most of the Justice League variety of comic book hero's had been around for a long time. My generation saw the creation of some trendy cartoons like He-Man and The Smurfs and Transformers. They received a lot of viewers from little kids, but never really took on the life and charisma associated with the likes of Superman , Batman, Spiderman or even Wonder Woman.

The X-Men series has come kind of close to achieving that type of status and for a while Blade had a lot of potential, but not quite the same.

Last spring I got caught up in a Smallville marathon and became a reluctant convert to the show. It was actually a great show, but I dismissed it originally because it was on the WB network.

It now makes me wonder if the original superhero's can ever really be topped? They were given special powers and special flaws and its hard to find a better mix to top them. I think back to the Greek tragedies and parables and consider that some of those stories survived a millenia before they were finally toppled in the twentieth century by slightly more updated versions of heroes and heroines.

Can you imagine the concept of Superman lasting another millenia or two thousand years even?

Societies dug up by archaelogists are constantly put back together with the artifacts that happen to survive. Sometimes garbage dumps are literally the sources of the most historical treasure.

So the next time you pick up a collectible action figure or give a present to your kids or nieces and nephews consider that this may be something that survives and ends up as the Rosetta stone detailing the ideals and shortcomings of our own cultures.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a little nostalgia or even a super hero lunchbox for your sel - (kids) check out the SuperHeroStore.com.


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