Quote: Karl Hungus said: I think in general its also avoided because it can date the book and also may seem politically biased if any criticism is shown.
Yeah.
And the issue of making the story dated is especially acute in a genre where characters don't age but stories now remain in print as TPBs.
Remember, for example, Bill and Hillary attending Superman's "funeral"?
As a result, technically, you have to assume that Superman "died" at least six years ago. Which right now isn't too big of a deal. However, it will only get worse over time.
