Looking at all of the posts, "today's Superman is bogus, the silver age Superman ruled", reminds me of hearing people go on and on about how the 40's and 50's were a golden age where everyone got along fine, everyone had a job and America was the bestest ever.
I think what is happening is that we are getting older and long for our youth which happens in every generation. In our case we look at the books that were published when we were kids and go "Ah, if only comics were like this again! I don't understand the world today."
When people complain about "life today" aand how things were so much better when they were younger, I ask them this question, "Did you really appreciate what you had then or did you not think about it until it was gone?"
The nolstagia card doesn't really work with me. My life was somehwat crappy back then. My teachers used me as an example of what not to be.
I enjoy and appreciate what I have now.
Having said all of this, I think DC and Marvel both have gotten darker, in an effort to connect with today's audience. I think they are suffering from a combination of Marvel's initial success of "realism" and fans reaction to the X-Men "mutant angst".
Let's face it, some of the best stories from Marvel over the last 20 years have been from this area.
They are overplaying the angst and the darkness and the gore.
Kids related to these characters that were struggling to be accepted despite being different. Kids have always felt this way. The problem now is that they are being portrayed as being emotionally disturbed and dangerous. On the flip-side, they are portrayed as needing to be protected from all "negative" input but Barney.
This is the other problem. It is either Barney and the sugary sweetness or the darkness and gore. There is no middle ground anymore.
The Superman from the recent animated series is a respectable character. I don't mind reading stories about him.
If I compare the Adventures Superman to the Comic Superman, the Comic Superman comes up short in so many ways.