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Frank Quitely has been part of his fair share of ground-breaking comics. From the eternally hopeful All-Star Superman to the Watchmen pastiche Pax Americana to the delightfully trippy Flex Mentallo, Quitely's unique style has graced some of the most impressive examples of the medium in the past couple of decades. So it stands to reason that he would be a good person to answer - what does society need from superheroes, or at least superhero stories, in this day and age?

That's exactly what Jake Zawlacki asked him.

Writing for The Comics Journal, comics journo Zawlacki posed the question to the artist and frequent Grant Morrison collaborator at a signing at Now or Never Comics in San Diego. After bringing up the much-talked-about idea that superhero storytelling helped set the stage for the rise of strong men authoritarian figures like Donald Trump, the interviewer asked Quitely where he felt superheroes fit into our modern condition.

"I think maybe you could use a superhero," Quitely said, "To actually explore what does patriotism look like now given the fact that more and more people are starting to get their news and current affairs from online outlets that are not vetted. What does it mean to be a patriot when you disagree with your president or your prime minister or your king or whatever? What does that look like?"

"It would be great," he continued, "If people who were better at writing stories than I am came up with the new scenarios for superheroes that actually satirize or criticize or whatever the problems that are facing our respective societies and the world in general."

We'll take a moment to point out that, broadly speaking, many comic readers would agree that some of Quitely's work does, in fact, address and satirize important political issues. His 2000 AD comic Missionary Man, for example, features a scene in which the titular character puts a nuclear bomb inside a Bible. Kinda hits some nails on heads, don't you think?

Anyway, Quitely thinks that, as effective as superheroes can be as important entertainment, they are at the end of the day just that: entertainment. And outside of how their fictional worlds are portrayed, it's also important how we their readers are acting in the real one.

"For all that entertainment is a distraction," Quitely concluded, "The fact [is] that most of us aren't doing enough to try and change the terrible situation we're in."

Get ready for what's next with our list to upcoming comics and how to buy comics at a comic shop.