My own self

Originally posted by Terje:

Sometimes, I wonder how “heroes” like these [Green Lantern and Captain Marvel] have managed to survive for 40, 50 years. To the extent that they have, of course.

Because they’re bigger than life, and they are cumulative creations, meaning that as new writers (and I suppose, artists) get assigned to them, their mythology, personalities and identities grow. The ones, for instance, that are originally concieved as too ridiculously powerful becomes iconic, a wonderful foil for other characters or simply interesting sources for stories of how it is for a god to devote his life to protect those who would by all means seem to be less than he (Superman). The very things that make them inherently ridiculous is what makes them iconic, and they’ve had decades of cumulative story-telling creating an often very rich and interesting tapestry of backstory and depth explaining why this seemingly ridiculous trait actually makes sense with the character and the world.

The reason why a story about a guy who wields absolute power through a ring limited only by his imagination and things of the colour yellow becomes iconic and popular is the exact same reason why people told stories about the bull that mounted Europa or Herakles killing the Hydra for centuries. The advantage of the superhero comic books that the faerytales, legends and myths of old never quite could match, though, is the depth of the cumulative qualities. Stories of Herakles would probably get bigger and more impressive, boring bits being cut away and good bits being added, as the centuries went past, true, but nothing in human history can compete with the modern age’s archives of past stories, allowing stories to be built on stories that’s built on other stories. Like the stories of Herakles and Perseus, the stories of the Green Lantern were constructed over a long period of time by many, many story-tellers - but unlike the stories of Herakles and Perseus, the storytellers of DC and Marvel Comics have had a certain (and increasing) amount of joint direction, co-operation and planning that was never available or even doable with similar characters of old.

Why these heroes survive for half a century? You might as well ask why people tell stories.