Why don't heroes fail anymore? And I mean really fail, with consequences for the character...

Why don't heroes fail anymore? And I mean really fail, with consequences for the character? Is it just a result of the medium of comics, or do companies not want their characters to make major mistakes? And by fail, I mean when the hero make a mistake or miscalculation that results in a comeuppance, rather than just facing impossible odds that overwhelm them.
This was some of the biggest character developing moments, they really drive the character forward and make the story so much more interesting.

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Do you not read comics written in the last 30 years? Heroes fail and make major mistakes all of the time. The real issue is there's no real consequence to it since in a few years the whole thing is ignored/never brought up again.

this

a hero could smear poop across his face and then open fire on a crowd of innocent people and then one year later they'll be like "we cured his autism he's normal again"

>The real issue is there's no real consequence to it since in a few years the whole thing is ignored/never brought up again.

Maybe I should have been clearer but this is basically what I meant. Heroes do "fail" but its often minor and ends up getting ignored or explained away, or the consequences are so minor that they boarder on non existent.
If a failure doesn't have a real impact, then its hardly a failure.

You know, this is literally the reason why I personally hate how Geoff retconned Hal's fall into depression and villainy into "lol he was under the influence of a space bug so nothing he did really matters".
I mean, it's fantastic he brought back the corps and all. But it would've been so great to see Hal have to work his way to redemption through a stigma he'd carry more personally; all while some of the lanterns don't trust him and some would even confront him about the past.
Plus, the grey hair gave him character.

Yeah, a lot of the consequences are handwaved away and ignored, which kinda defeats the impact they were designed to have.

Who do western comics never launch new heroes, worlds, and stories?

You'd think someone would get bored after 80 years of pseudo-strongmen from the 30's but no.

Not only that, but as you said a lot of potential for character growth and progression is lost. They're just too afraid of abandoning the comfort zone that is their status quo.
I mean, coming back with what happened to Parallax (it's just a great example of this trend), the bug was completely unnecessary: the come back of the corps and Hal could have been done without it, and they'd have had so much interesting material to write from.

It looks like this case always repeats in a cycle. They have a character do something different in his career, something that changes things irredeemably, but then they want to bring him back to a previous point, and instead of doing so with the new consequences of his actions they just straight up ignore the whole thing or create some sort of "excuse" for the character.

Yeah, that excuse thing you pointed out is spot on user. Writers make excuses for failures, turning them from being actual failures to almost heroic events. Rather than falling into villainy and climbing out, Hal was actually heroically struggling to restrain the evil bug the whole time. Totally defeats the point of making a mistake or failure, then growing or working to overcome or achieve redemption.

What is the flashpoint paradox

>I don't read comics
>Spider-Man picture

Just got here from Sup Forums because of the new Spidey movie, huh?

To me a lot of it comes down to two things: creators who want to "clean" their characters, who prefer their heroes to be spotless and always in the right, and editors who want their characters to be as palatable and likeable as possible. So when the two currents meet, things like character flaws or moments of genuine weakness/failure will be sanded off so the writer can be satisfied and the editor can have a more marketable (in their eyes) character.
The problem is that likeability is a very short term way of thinking if it's not backed by anything of substance. And that's what character flaws give, when written well: substance. It gives characters avenues for development while also making them more compelling to readers who may identify or recognize those flaws. Doing away with them is sacrificing the filling for the sake of making the icing more sparkly.

You should read Gwenpool then

Or it turned out that all the innocents he killed were all human-eating skrull infiltrators who rape-murdered little babies.

Corporate interests

Diiisneeey

Remember how Lobo has killed millions, including his entire species,
But is a perfectly fine candidate for the Justice League?

>Is it just a result of the medium of comics,
Read more non-superrhero comics before you try to talk about "the medium".
>or do companies not want their characters to make major mistakes?
Read more creator-owned comics before you try to talk about "the medium".

If you're looking for recommendations for comics where characters fail and face consequences, Cerebus the Aardvark is my first pick. I can't think of any character who embodies what you're looking for more than he does. There's a reason he was put in the top-right corner here.

>Princess Sofia
>Suffering

Wot?

Just a tiny bit.

Perhaps the revelation that señor See-Drick being a backstabbing malo wizard instead of a nice cool friendly magical uncle kinda hurt her a little bit.

But yeah, she hasn't really suffered that much.

Fear.

Same reason Peter Parker can't grow up and Dick Grayson will never truly inherit the cowl. They're afraid that taking risks will ruin the appeal, so they make short term changes they can backpedal on instead of moving forward.

Moments like that mark your life forever.

example: Captain Hydra

we should all make a bet about how long they'll take to ignore everything he's doing right now.

5 issuse of whatever ongoing he gets shuffled into where they have him have a half assed redemption arc.

Because fans are cancer.

Because fans can't handle seeing their favorite characters less than perfect without having a meltdown, user.

this is another thing perfectly exemplified by Captain Hydra

I still can't seriously believe we live in the timeline where there was an actual meltdown for it.

>Why don't heroes fail anymore?
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;_;7