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Hello,
one problem which I have with YJ is that I strictly think that they should be aged up, because I think that it would attract more readers and I think it makes more easy to write stories etc.
I strictly believe that it attracts more readers if the heroes are older than 20 years...
Teenage may work with NEW Heroes, but I personally WOULD ALWAYS prefer to read Comics where the heroes are over 20.
Statistically, the most coveted age range for marketers is 18-24, so that's the age range most companies try to appeal to.
That said (in your example of Young Justice), teen heroes have almost always been an entryway for younger readers into comics. From Robin to Spider-Man and everything after, teen heroes or teen sidekicks are often used to bring younger readers in. For the most part it works, even today with books like Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl and the (what DC used to call) Zoom/Ink imprint. It's just not reflected in monthly sales now because that demographic is reading in different ways than the traditional "buy a book monthly at a comic shop" method.
[QUOTE=Noodle;4980239]Statistically, the most coveted age range for marketers is 18-24, so that's the age range most companies try to appeal to.
That said (in your example of Young Justice), teen heroes have almost always been an entryway for younger readers into comics. From Robin to Spider-Man and everything after, teen heroes or teen sidekicks are often used to bring younger readers in. For the most part it works, even today with books like Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl and the (what DC used to call) Zoom/Ink imprint. It's just not reflected in monthly sales now because that demographic is reading in different ways than the traditional "buy a book monthly at a comic shop" method.[/QUOTE]
To start maybe YES, BUT!!!
The big sellers of DC Batman,Superman etc. are all over 20 years old and even much older.
This is also a consequence of their age, because I dont believe that a teenage Batman or so, would also attract as many readers as Batman (in his current age) does.
[QUOTE=Masterff;4980264]To start maybe YES, BUT!!!
The big sellers of DC Batman,Superman etc. are all over 20 years old and even much older.
This is also a consequence of their age, because I dont believe that a teenage Batman or so, would also attract as many readers as Batman (in his current age) does.[/QUOTE]
And that's why Batman isn't a teenager but Robin is. And why they age up the Robins and introduce new, younger ones.
So you have the Batmans and Supermans for the older readers, but you still have to keep bringing in a new audience to replace the old one that dies out over time. You need to have the teen heroes to keep bringing in that new audience.
[QUOTE=Masterff;4980225]Hello,
one problem which I have with YJ is that I strictly think that they should be aged up, because I think that it would attract more readers and I think it makes more easy to write stories etc.
I strictly believe that it attracts more readers if the heroes are older than 20 years...
Teenage may work with NEW Heroes, but I personally WOULD ALWAYS prefer to read Comics where the heroes are over 20.[/QUOTE]
A lot of readers want their heroes to reflect them, much as the best DC is the one they started reading during.
There's no magic answer. Anime/manga is immensely popular with the coveted 18-24 demographic and most anime characters are 15-17. Dragon Ball is always super popular and Goku is either a small child or married adult with one or more children . Batman is the most popular hero and he's usually over 30. Peter Parker is beloved at 16 all the way to 30. It's not really that big a deal.
With Legacy Characters like YJ you have also allways the problem that ageing one generation ages the other generations too.
And is some cases characters that were created to be kids or teens, don't work that well as adults.
Different comics are aimed at different demographics. Young Justice and the entire Wonder Comics line have middle school/high school aged readers in mind. Which isn't to say it can't be enjoyed by fans of super-heroes in general.
[QUOTE=Masterff;4980264]To start maybe YES, BUT!!!
The big sellers of DC Batman,Superman etc. are all over 20 years old and even much older.
This is also a consequence of their age, because I dont believe that a teenage Batman or so, would also attract as many readers as Batman (in his current age) does.[/QUOTE]
That's actually part of an ongoing fan problem DC has had for more than 35 years. They hook new readers with titles like YJ, or NTT and LoSH back in the day, then many of those readers don't transfer their primary affections to the more valuable properties, wanting the favorites they grew up with to become the main characters of the line.
The closest they ever got to making that kind of transition was The Flash. The Wally/Barry fan split is still bitter.
At the same time, they don't package "the grown-up heroes" for the new crowd, but the deep loyalists. IMO, that's a mistake.