I remember a bit you posted positing that the whole point of Worm is that the correct choice of which of the Big Two superhero settings to live in is "none of them". I do kinda wonder: How do you think one would go about creating a superhero setting that doesn't kinda suck to live in, assuming such a thing is even possible/desirable (fictional settings that don't suck to live in are honestly rare)?
Astro City by Kurt Busiek I think got closest, sort of by the nature of the project- it's a multifaceted vignette-based look at the ups and downs of a superhero setting with a 100+year-long internal timeline, and therefore it's kind of inherently predicated on the idea that things are generally going to turn out all right on balance, in an anthropic principle sort of way. (And this is an attitude that's generally been adopted by the populace within the setting; one of the earliest issues involves a sequence where the residents of an apartment block set up a party on the roof to watch a giant galactus-type crisis situation, because they have no control over whether or not the heroes will be able to deal with it, but all things being equal it's a hell of a thing to see.)
Of course, many, many capes within the setting end up dead on the job or weighed down by the events of their past, but less in a way that feels like the story is trying to aggressively make a point about how dark the underlying conceit of superheroism is, and more in a way that if you took a birds-eye view of any subculture over a 100-year period, you'd obviously see a bunch of luminaries die or retire because that's just a really long period of time even before you get into the lifestyle risks.
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Long distance cb4cb culture is being needy and so. much. splitting. Since you can't be physically close to get a read on them, your mind just spontaneously decides how they feel about you with zero evidence. And you know the only thing that will help is seeking reassurance, but you're terrified that if you're too needy, they'll leave
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Wow I sure do love being called an 'animal abuser' for having a 'severely overweight snake' and then having the other person double down on me in the most condescending way possible by citing a drawn chart and two photos of Juniper...despite said chart being inaccurate for female ball pythons, who have notable sexual dimorphism ala heavier bodies than the males, and a simple google search directly stating that the ideal range for yearling female ball pythons is 600-800g, which Juniper is neatly in said range despite being a year and a half old. It's not like I've spent literal years ravenously absorbing all snake knowledge I can and frantically cross-referencing said knowledge with multiple people who have several years of snake keeping experience under my belt. No, I apparently am 'not the only person with eyes' in the world and am somehow at fault for getting mad at being told blatantly false information from someone who clearly knows less than I do because overweight pets are a real concern and is actual animal abuse.
(Which it is. But also. Juniper is at a perfectly normal weight for a female ball python. And I know that she is because I have asked multiple people with snake experience if shes at a good weight, cross-referenced her with other female bps, have been following the feeding chart of herpetologists who are very concerned about snake welfare, and have also been staggering her feed times specifically to avoid overfeeding and provide some level of enrichment. Not to mention she went on a hunger strike and didn't eat for a month, so I am hardly overfeeding her)
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