Let's get this started with one admission—
I freaking love comic books. Shocking, I know. I also don't like to pick sides— I love Marvel and DC characters equally. But DC's comic books right now are waaaaayyy better. While I won't go into great depth, the main reason? A little word called escapism.
Case in point— Superman Vol. 1: Son of Superman. It's a fun, action-packed story about Superman protecting his wife and son and just being heroic. There's not even any swearing in this volume (though swearing is present in other DC Rebirth books). It's not hyper-violent, either (thought that's also present in other books.) That's what we want superheroes for. We want them to be heroes. Most superhero stories now feature a grim antihero causing wanton destruction, killing unabashedly, swearing up a storm, and doing other morally reprehensible things. A lot of stories— like a lot of the stuff Marvel is spewing these days, like Champions and Captain America: Sam Wilson, are all about forcing political agendas down your throats.
But not Superman. Or Batman. Well, maybe Green Arrow, but that's not the point. Most of these comics have one goal in mind— telling good stories. They aren't focused on shoving leftist agendas down your throats. Just good stories.
Superman especially. When we read comics, we want escapism. We want to be transported to another world, one filled with men and women in bright costumes fighting evil and saving the day. We don't want to read about problems we currently have. We don't want to read about whatever platform the left wants us to swallow. We want to see inspirational figures that point us to what's right.
So, take notes, Marvel and others— tell good stories.
(Note: I do exercise restraint and research before giving your kids these. Superman is okay, but some of the other DC books aren't exactly kid-friendly all the time, like Batman, Harley Quinn, and others.)
W.I.P. 
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This is so good! The best way to tell a story is…well, to tell a story, haha! When storytelling becomes polluted with advancing agendas, sending messages, or pushing your point of view, it becomes ineffective and distasteful. The primary objective of film, novels, and comic books should be to tell a great story in an amazing way. Of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t be used to teach the audience something or to make them look at something in a new way, but that shouldn’t be the driving purpose of the story.
However, this applies to both ends of the political spectrum, and especially to Christian storytelling. Most of the time, at least in my opinion, Christian storytelling, primarily in film, is weighed down by all the messages we want to convey. This usually comes at the expense of the story, and what you get is a cheesy story line with unrealistic dialogue, all for the purpose of preaching the good news. Again, I think it’s okay to engage the audience and make them think, but the primary goal of storytelling should be to…well, tell the story!
This is a great post about staying true to what storytelling is all about, and I think this lesson can be applied to every story teller, whether their left or right, or christian or atheist. Thanks for the great post, Spencer!
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I wholeheartedly agree. Thanks for the comment.
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