I don't know about you all and with no disrespect to Carolyn Hinsey (one of daytime's most influential voices) but even though Ryan Lavery may be Brian Frons hero, and even though he may be the writers and executive producers of All My Children's hero and he may even be Carolyn Hinsey's hero but under no circumstance is he my hero.
This post has absolutely nothing to do with Cameron Mathison (who is probably one of the hardest working actors in daytime in terms of number of shows he's on this season) but I find it hard to fathom how anyone could consider the character he portrays to be a hero.
Is it because he looks like a Spartan when he rips off his shirt and ravishes Annie? (shuddering in horror)
Is it because he's treated Kendall and Greenlee like trash practically the entire time he's known them?
Is it because he made excuses for his psychopathic murder of a brother?
Is it because he's always right and never wrong?
The answer to all is, in my opinion, I don't think so!
According to Dictionary.com the definitions of a hero is as follows.
1. A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
Uh, when was the last time Ryan was courageous or portrayed any form of noble qualities other than ones that turned out to be self serving?
2. A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
I'd say this one is a wash. Executives and mainstream soap media may consider Ryan a hero but I'd be very interested to see how many fans actually consider him to be a hero.
3. The principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.
Ok, so this means that just because All My Children has turned into the Ryan Lavery show that Ryan Lavery is a hero? I don't think so.
To be honest I don't know if there are any true heroes on All My Children today.
Adam, Zach, JR, and Josh are bad boys
If you count locking a man in a casket and burying him alive as heroism then Tad is a hero.
Derrick is a cop but as we all know, when it comes to soaps, cops are rarely heroes.
Del is a schemer and we haven't seen him in months.
I suppose by a loose definition Aiden Devane could be considered a hero but this might have more to do with the fact he's a detective and his entire job requires him to rescue people.
Jackson is the closest I can think of that could actually be considered a true hero but he's never in a front burner storyline, just a supporter of Erica.
I guess it just bothers me that every time an All My Children soap fan turns around Ryan Lavery is being forced upon us like some sort of political ad during an election year. Doesn't anyone in the mainstream soap media or any of the executives wonder why All My Children is doing so badly in the ratings?
Might I suggest they look at the cause and effect of the storylines they have been telling for the last four years.
It's only my opinion but at this point the ONLY thing that could salvage the character of Ryan Lavery and make him a hero once again would be to bring back Esta Terblanche back as Gillian Andrassy. I actually like Ryan Lavery back then and back then, believe it or not, I was rooting for Gillian and Ryan.
If All My Children wants to really boost some ratings by bringing some characters back I say bring back the Gillian Andrassy and Demitri Marick (even if it were a Demitri recast). If they can bring back someone who has appeared as a ghost then they can bring back a second.
For once I'd like to see the mainstream soap media not drink the koolaid.
Is Ryan Laver your hero?
Us Magazine did a profile on All My Children's Cameron Mathison's family and talked with his wife about their children. 
