Come back, PCK!

Phua Chu Kang should be retired; that is what many Singaporeans seem to believe. They say that he is outdated, and his humour is no longer fresh. Looking at how Marvel and DC have been for so many years, the complaints do not seem very valid.

PCK could have been honorably revived. DC and Marvel characters having been around for so long is a proof of that. It is just a matter of whether characters can be kept up to date. But by modernizing characters, the original essence of the character might be lost.

Spider-Man started out as a whiny everyman. He was nerdy, average in looks, failed with girls and was mostly average in every aspect, except that he has powers. Today Parker is still very much a whiny everyman, except that he is handsome, married a supermodel, and stands among the Avengers. Some things were definitely lost.

So it is not PCK, but those who write him that are at fault. They lack the creativity to find new directions for the character.