The problem is Johns wants to write them like epitomal Silver Age Christ-like figures walking the Earth, and really play that up. But you can't DO that anymore. Readers want characters with flaws just as ugly as the things that make them beautiful now.

Barry and Hal as a by-the-book Police Scientist and a fearless, ladies man air pilot worked in the 60s because their secret IDs were second fiddle to the costumes and the bad guys. In this day and age, the trials of the human are just as important as the super human.