Originally Posted by
Garlador
Then the story is effectively over. If the character cannot move forward in life like a relatable, flesh-and-blood human being, he's effectively ceased to exist as a compelling, narrative-driven character and is in effect a soulless mascot devoid of any future.
BUT, as has been argued many times before, the rest of the Marvel universe IS AGING. It may be slow, but Jubilee is no longer a plucky teen sidekick; she's a single adult mom. Normie Osborn was conceived, born, and has grown into a 10 year old 5th Grader. Entire younger generations of heroes like The Champions have come along that view heroes YOUNGER than Peter as the "old guys".
If they want a younger Peter, screw it. Reboot the book. Do another Bendis. Do a "Beast grabbed the younger versions from the past" X-Men thing. Do another teen Tony. But they won't, because they know fans would hate it, and they don't want to erase all those beloved adventures the ADULT Peter had (just the marriage he had when all those beloved adult stories happened).
It's as you said, the genie is out of the bottle, and so we're at a state where Marvel really wants him to be this "youthful" hero... but he isn't. He's still listed as nearly-30 and complaining about how badly his adult years have gone with major divorced loser energy. He's older physically than he EVER was in the marriage era. So they fail on that regard. So neither those that want him written more maturely OR those that want him to recapture his youth are really satisfied. He's just stuck in this frustrating limbo that makes NEITHER side happy.
And yet the biggest complaint readers have is the character relationships are evolving BACKWARDS. Character history that is defining and established is being ignored and regressed. A soap opera is fine, but even my grandmother watching her old soaps would say that a long-running season would suck if the characters suddenly started acting like they did 20 years ago. Even those soap operas have characters get married, have children, those children growing up, having their own drama, etc.
Why do we accept that? Raise your standards. Demand better. Demand MORE. You're the customer paying good money for a book.
Why on earth should anyone accept largely repetitive, unoriginal, regressive slop with a smile and thank them for it?
I don't believe in throwing up our hands in apathetic surrender that we have "no choice" but to accept substandard comics as a result.
There has NEVER been a more accessible time for comic readers to catch up than the current modern online age. The entire archive of Spider-Man history can be found for interested readers.
A good example of this is the new X-Men '97, which is a direct continuation of a show that went off the air in 1997, over 27 years ago. My wife wanted to catch up on the original and, wouldn't you know, it's right there on Disney+ for a new fan to experience nearly three decades later, without missing a beat.
The idea that episodic, repetitive stories are the path forward - especially for a comic like Spider-Man that often engaged in years-long serialized storytelling - is laughable.