SLIPPERY ROCK — In the movies, the superhero always wins.

Spider-man always defeats Dr. Octopus and the Avengers always send Loki packing.

Both big-screen movies and the little screen of television are filled with stories of heroes defeating the bad guys and saving the world.

All these stories spring from the pages of comic books.

Donald Kerchis purchased his first comic book when he was just seven.

It wasn’t long after he cracked open that first comic book that Kerchis became a fan.

Since then, the Slippery Rock University political science professor, 50, has amassed a collection of comic books and memorabilia too large to count.

He purchased a comic book guide a few years after that first acquisition and began combing tag sales and searching the newspaper ads, always looking for that “hidden treasure,” hopping on his bike to get to a seller’s house or store.

Spider-man, Kerchis said, has always been his favorite.

“Peter Parker reminds me of all of us” he said. “A teenage kid with problems like we do, parents tragically killed; he can’t get the girl.”

While his comic book collection is wrapped in plastic and stored in boxes in the attic of his mother’s Connecticut home, much of his memorabilia has made its was to Kerchis’ office in the Spotts World Culture building on the Slippery Rock campus.

Kerchis said he began decorating his office as a way of connecting with his students and to help them realize he’s more than the person they see in the classroom.

“More than decorating a room and turning it into a novelty freak show, it was a really good icebreaker,” he said. “It’s important for the students to understand I’m also a father to a 17-year-old son and someone who lives in town.”

The colorful pictures and stories about those with superhuman qualities are more than just entertainment.

Comic books and movies about superheroes can offer an escape in uncertain times, Kerchis said.

He speaks from experience.

When he was 12 years old, his brother had a diving accident that left his sibling a quadriplegic.

As attention was focused on his brother, Kerchis turned to his love of comics.

“They provided me with a little bit of escape,” he said. “I could go into the fantasy world and forget my brother had had this terrible accident.”

He thinks the recent resurgence of superhero movies and television shows are a response to the problems in the world.

“When we’re not pleased with the world, when it’s not all we hoped it would be,” Kerchis said. “People reflect a desire to escape, and what better way to do it than superheroes?”

Todd McDevitt, who owns several New Dimension comic book stores, including ones in Butler and Cranberry Township, agrees with Kerchis.

McDevitt recalled a theory he heard right after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“People were looking for an escape and a very heroic-themed escape,” he said.

McDevitt compares it to the surge of movies during the Great Depression.

“No matter how broke people were, they wanted that escape,” he said.

McDevitt said he’s seen a bit of an uptick in business as a response to the newfound popularity of superheroes with parents who read comics as a child bringing in their own children to purchase their first comic book.

Kerchis said it is easy to get pessimistic about society at times and the stories of those who triumphed over evil “lifts us up.”

With the situations in Syria and the Middle East and threat of ISIS, Kerchis hopes comics, movies and television portrayals of superheroes can inspire young people.

“We can all be victims and wear masks, but we all can find a way to unleash the superhero in all of us,” Kerchis said.