I think we're far from the era where Western comics are doing fresh and cool stuff

that the rest

of pop culture aren't doing or you can't find anywhere else. So much so that you have to rush to
a comics store to be hip. Think 'The Dark Knight Returns' and 'Watchmen' when they first came
out. Or the rise of Image comics that even Eazy E frm. NWA bought a copy of. Or the Nu Marvel
era with the gritty, realistic take on Marvel superheroes that brought them into the War on Terror.
None of those fit the popular notion of superheroes and had visuals and storytelling that films,
TV and even videogames have not yet contemplated.
'The Dark Knight Returns' flew in the face of perhaps the ONLY popular view of Batman at the
time, which is that of a goofy costumed guy plus silly sound effects. It even dared to be political
and incendiary towards a very popular Republican president. 'Watchmen' also did this but with
9-panel grid structures and philosophical dissertations about the nature of humanity and war.
Image had the wild and crazy art that no one has done before. And Nu Marvel was like Marvel
superheroes but what if they were created in 2000 instead of 1960s - then became a vehicle for
examining and comprehending the Bush regime.
They got stuff that only comic books were doing and comic books were doing FIRST. That
makes them new, shiny products and more than enough to draw the media's attention and
eventually the rest of the public.
The closest thing to that are the things you're regularly seeing in the independents and 2000AD
but these are being ignored by most of comics journalism. Even the ones that are actually
selling with real crossover appeal such as Keanu Reeve's BRZRKR are spoken of by SOME
comics journalists with contempt for being too violent because apparently violence is the virtue
signallers' next target, after waging war on sexuality throughout the 2010s, esp. the kind they
don't agree with.
DId I mention Ultramega which is apparently a wicked take on kaijus? No? Figures LOL
Which is why the whole SJW thing is incredibly misguided. Not questioning the underlying drive
for equity and representation - which should be a SOP in the first place - but in practical and
objective terms, not only is a gay Robin in a typical DC comic book story still a typical DC comic
book, but the identitarian thing is already being done across the board. There's nothing of it that
you don't see in movie, TV and streaming these days - and those you can see for free.