That's a sound point. That era of comics in particular was doing stuff that had never been seen before (especially within the confines of DC). It's probably not realistic to expect subsequent generations of reader to fully get why it's such a big deal to those of us there at the time.
In a similar fashion, there's probably no explaining the impact of The Fall Of The Twin Towers on 9/11 to anyone born after 1995 or 1996.
"Good-bye. Good luck. Good riddance."