It's the same with any entertainment form whether it's movies, TV, books or comics. It's all about how well it's written and how well the author/writer is able to lull us into thinking that maybe, just maybe, the hero or some of his friends might not make it. Obviously in horror movies every character is up for grabs except the heroine (or hero) usually, although many movies have used exceptions to that as a twist to shock us. But even in non-horror fiction like '24,' there were many times when cliffhangers were shown that had me - at least - at the edge of my seat. And shows like Law and Order frequently have episodes where the bad guy gets off at the end and the cops/law DON'T 'win', just to show us that things aren't always good in the end.
But even if you do have the good guys always coming out on top, of course you can just make HOW the hero solves the problem interesting enough that it's not just easy and trivial. And in comics with their massive continuity you have other questions like how the characters are changed by the storyline going forward. I think one problem that comics have given themselves recently is that with the revolving door that death has become, even when a hero doesn't get through a story in the end, the fact that we know that somewhere down the line they'll come back has really taken the edge off. When it was just people like Jean Grey back in the 80s that was just about ok, but now post death-of-Superman and the return of Bucky (once considered the last permanently dead character) the suspense over whether a character will die or not is really reduced. Like Captain America and Batman recently where, sure they died, but almost immediately we knew there was a back door they would go through and return soon. So maybe that does affect our enjoyment. A real sense of peril during the story that has some meaning is necessary IMO.
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