Thread:Mesektet/@comment-3581997-20160615160106/@comment-3581997-20161202070115

90s Anti-Heroes refers to characters that were made to be ultra-gritty, often with no redeeming qualities that run on angst, gore and nudity. Basically it is a 12 year old's idea of what mature content boils down too. It was not limited to the 90s but marketing in comic books became so abusive of such tropes that nearly every new hero of the era was given a macho appearance, lots of blood, and drawn with extra-broad shoulders to carry all that angst that was trying to smooth him. If you haven't seen The Simpsons episode for Poochie, here is a brief clip of his birth. Picture that but instead of talking about making a fun loving character all said suggestions were to make a character who only exists to express blind aggression.

The issue with those was that while comics like Watchman were trying to push the envelope of what was acceptable sensibilities of super-heroes, marketers saw that it sold well so they purposely designed all their heroes like that from that point on for a long, long while - to the point where it became the norm, thus defeating the entire purpose of why Watchman was made. It's like if someone saw that 300 sold well and the entire film industry decided for at least a decade all movies had to star some version of Leonidas.