Comic Book Heroes 
(Words and Music by Rick Springfield)

There's times when real people let me down, 
when the temperature falls to zero. 
I curl up by the fire with a good book, 
and for awhile I am a superhero. 
You really need to be a superhero. 
'Cause many times people will hurt you 
and try to mess you 'round 
And anyway, my comic book heroes won't let me down.
Comic Book Heroes      

(total playing time :44)

This song can be found on the Comic Book Heroes LP and on Anthology. Rick performed this song in Mahnomen, MN on 11/6/04 

According to US

This is such a short song, I ‘ve really never thought of it as a song.  To me, it’s more of a preface, kind of setting the mood for the rest of the album. - rlh

Cute little ditty.

Hehe, I was gonna leave it at that. Really, what more can I say that hasn't been covered yet -this "song" is so short. I love the guitar strumming, and Rick sounding awfully a lot like he did on Beginnings. I think it sets the tone of the album off to a good start, with Rick being the storyteller of the myriad stories to follow. He offers you an invite to lose yourself and become a superhero and live in the world of the Comic Book Heroes. - Michelle P.

Ahhhh, 1973. In college. We're all growed up now! The time of 'Nam winding down, Watergate's waters rising, stuff still blowin in the wind, to stop children what's that sound everyone look what's going down. Simpler. Technology was a Texas instrument calculator with a bazillion functions. Electric typewriters with built in correction tape! GE was just working on computerized slide shows. Computers were for big companies, had data tapes and filled entire buildings, or floors of. Hey, this is Rick related. He'd remember a lot of this stuff, well some of it. Saturday morning cartoons still reined supreme and were not 1/2 hour product commercials. Comics were the great American art form as well as classic everyman, every kid literature. Adult, like us, "got it" when it came to comic books. So, this album concept was brilliant. There wasn't a kid (we were all still kids at 19, 20 and 21 in my day, okay? Don't trust anyone over 30? )

*There's times when real people let me down, when my temperature falls to zero. (the grown ups, the man, "them" did it again)
*I curl up by the fire with a good book (what was he reading then? Tolkein's Hobbits were big. Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov and the Dune series were, too) *and for awhile I am a super hero. (worked like a charm for me, those books. every time)
*you really need to be a super hero (you take care of you) *'Cos many times people will hurt you and
* try to mess you 'round. (you take care of you and others while you are at it)
* And anyway my comic book heroes
* Won't let me down. (books never intentionally hurt, helped and taught).
*Comic book heroes!

I never thought of this song as silly or simple. It just was. It was the light. This guy from Australia UNDERSTOOD exactly what it was like for me. And it was good.

My daddy, whenever I asked a question he could not answer, invariably turned up with a book down the road about the topic. Often without covers. Ha ha! Had no idea those were a no no. One of the few things daddy did right, look to books. It's bigger on the inside than the outside cover. And so it was with comic book heroes. I learned some of my best stuff from a comic book. Like Superman, Batman, those historical and literature Classics (way better than Cliff Notes).

This song comforted this little ones lost soul back then through many a dark night. Into the light. It would be okay. And it was good. See, it was always about the music. I didn't discover 16 mag until later~! - Mufi