Teenage Boys, Mental Health and Rubbish

Over at Jezebel.com, there is an article that you can find here:

http://jezebel.com/5613857/can-superheroes-hurt-boys-mental-health

Basically some scientists have forgotten all about Fredric Wertham and Seduction of the Innocent and how much crap that was as a scientific work. The have posited that comic books and comic book movies are giving teenage boys ideas that it's ok to be an emotionally shallow jack ass just because Batman and Iron Man don't have their shit together in the growth department.

Listen, if your teenage boys are behaving like...umm...teenage boys, it's probably because teenage boys are really crazy people. It wasn't the comics. It was a combination of things INCLUDING you.

Ok, sure Tony Stark is an example of a flawed guy who gets a bunch of power and takes on the job of blowing stuff up. The same can be said of Jack Bauer and Captain Kirk.

Yes Batman is a moody jerk who will brood a lot before breaking some heads BUT, really, so is Sayid Jarrah and Han Solo. Some heroes brood more than others but hey, the bad guys get blasted right and most of the time, I'll take that over my kid getting his ass handed to him because the bullies outside didn't understand that Archie's Riverdale negotiation tactics were really meant to bring us all together.


Comics don't make kids detached, environment and hormones do. I wonder if the detached boys also ate sandwiches and wore shoes. How about maybe the non detached boys had a better sense of family and communication because they had a family that communicated pretty well.

Also (Modern) Bruce Wayne was never meant to be a great example of open feeling. Bruce Wayne is an example of how one can be a closed off prick and still use his wealth to fight serial killer who look like clowns.

(Modern) Tony Stark is similar but at least he didn't need a mask to be useful. He does need a martini and sometimes, so do I.

Maybe those scientists should spend more time talking to their therapists about why they need to point the finger at comics when their kids are too preoccupied to talk to them.

Comics are GREAT!