He fought for years
In a battle that never ended
Forcing the hero
To turn away from the path
Living in seclusion
Because the world will never learn
Letting the wolves thrive
Against the next generation of fools
Who think they can cure the world
An inevitable threat
From past or sparkling new
The retired warrior returns
Whether to lead those who are lost
Or step upon the path alone
Muscles and senses rusty
There is a strength that still remains
Giving the hero a final battle
And closure of his tale





Sounds a Battle Royale is coming. 🙂
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Those out of retirement stories tend to go in that direction.
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I’d never heard of this Superman – I had to go off and read about him on Wikipedia. I’d forgotten how amazingly detailed the lives of these characters are. I think it gets too complicated. Trouble is, people always want more.
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That’s probably why DC just rebooted everything. They had so many different continuities and it was hard for new readers to get involved, so they restarted. Be nice if sone of these alternate worlds get used again.
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I’m not familiar with the newer alternate worlds, but I sure do love the classic DC comics. Batman and Superman are amazing in an of themselves. One thing, though, is DC heroes brood–a lot. Well, all the time, really. I can only take so much of them before I want to scream sweet mercies out the window, but that’s another story.
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I think new stuff started a year or two ago. I never kept up with it once I couldn’t afford the comics any more. I don’t remember a lot of brooding in DC characters, but I read more Booster Gold who was rather upbeat. Honestly, I think superheroes in general fall into the brooding habit. Must be part of the job.
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The brooding could also be because of the younger generation’s influence from newer comic book movies. The Dark Knight, for instance, is one of those movies where everyone’s brooding. Who’s to say it didn’t influence the stories of today’s comics? Just thinking out loud.
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The thing is that I was into comics in the 90’s and there was some brooding. Especially Spider-Man, Batman, and various members of the X-Men. Everyone seemed to get into a position where they had to evaluate their actions and deal with some level of guilt. Maybe it was caused by teenagers (the target audience) showing more of these emotions than they used to. Though that makes it sound like comics were aimed at Emo kids.
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You may be right, Charles. I’m listening to a playlist from that period (circa 1999-2001) and there’s lots of brooding music that went on back then (i.e. Default’s Wasting My Time). Emo kids–are they still around? Man, that was such a long time ago.
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I think so. I haven’t been in a high school in years.
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I read about the final battle in many fantasy books, but sometimes it doesn’t turn out to be so final. 🙂 Superman’s job seems to be never-ending; I bet he’d love a final battle.
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A few alternate worlds have given him that. I believe Kingdom Come did that. I wonder if they’ve ever established him as an immortal or not.
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