Yeah, with my thread "Popular Music without Glee", I think out of my element. I don't know that much about popular music trends, or what influences them. I also think I might have misinterpreted Todd's statement about Glee being the millineal MTV. So, I might have overestimated Glee's influence on the charts. People have noted on the thread that it was a bad idea, but I think it was worth a shot. However, this one will go more to what I know.
Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight returns" are considered masterpieces in the comic world. Both were dark, complex, morally ambiguous, full of themes and thematic elements. There is no denying that these two books helped shaped comics. In particular, it helped bring the slew of ostensibly morally complex superhero comics, in an era fans call "The Dark Age of Comics" So, obviously know where I'm going with this.
What if these two books never existed? Would there be any replacements? Would the dark age of comics still come? For the latter, would Batman still be considered campy and comical, like in the Adam West series. And finally, how would the careers of Alan Moore and Frank Miller go without their magnum opus?