What average age do you think Marvel editorial writes for?

[Grey]

Ok hear me out-

When marvel editors sit down and try to create stories and narratives, what age do you think they target their xmen books towards?

I am NOT saying “what age do you think reads more comics” or “what’s the average age of the comic reader base.”

I’m talking about things like reading level, appropriate themes, etc. in the story decision making.

Personally I think they write them for a young teenager audience, but they are obviously aware that a great deal of adults read them. I think this also explains why it may seem that they care less about continuity, because in their eyes their target age reader isn’t worried about decades of continuity, which specific panels to reference etc etc. I think the editors are aware of all the continuity but to them it’s more important to tell modern stories relevant to today’s issues even if that means ignoring some continuity, because they want the material to resonate with younger readers.

In other words I think the adult readers dissect it way more than editors ever intend it to be dissected. On the same token though I don’t think they care about the results of said dissections. I think they are happy o retain their older audience but I don’t think their material is necessarily directed at them.

So if you had to give a number... what age do you think the typical Xmen comic is written for?

*obligatory disclaimer- I know average is relative. Just go with it for the sake of discussion*

[Psyknight]

They want to be like tobacco companies: hook ‘em while they’re young.

[Silver Fang]

Depends. I think different writers & editors go for different things.

Like Gail Simone, and whoever her editor is for Domino, seem to be writing it for 13-17 year-olds.

Same with Pak & Robinson on Weapon X given all the comedy focus.

And Deadpool goes without saying as now be a lame comedy character for teens.

Seems the sillier the books get, the more they're trying to dumb them down to family film level.

But certain writers still give the more gritty adult stuff.

[Izanami]

I long for the days when silly books could actually be mature without being dumbed down. There are soo many types of humor, how are we just stuck on potty jokes and such?

[Killerbee911]

Still males from like 10-35. The stories vary up or down like Hickman Avengers or Morrison X-men was example aiming higher, The current Avengers book or Avengers versus X-men books feels like targeting 12 old kid in me who wants Big stupid fights.

[Rover]

That's a really interesting question. I can see them wanting to hook young readers, but on the other hand it's the adults who are going to spend the most money on comics each month.

Maybe I'm speaking from my own experience, but I'm an adult with the same tastes as a 14 yo when it comes to entertainment. And I feel like a lot of comic fans are like this. So I don't think they're writing for a specific age range, they're writing for people who enjoy this type of entertainment.

I think they might make efforts to get young readers interested, but they are also making efforts to get the entire reader base to keep buying the comics. Having books that focus on the young students, making the O5 young again, and connecting the comics to the movies are efforts to get young readers to try the comics. But overall the stories are developed to keep everyone coming back for more.

I don't think the problems with continuity have anything to do with Marvel making comics for young readers. They figured out that not caring about continuity doesn't impact sales and makes the writing process considerably easier. It's a company that releases 20 issues a week...they need to make the entire process as efficient as possible.

[DearMachine]

It depends on the book. Some books are aiming at a more mature audience than others. For instance, Red is dealing with mature themes and ideas, while MMX gets quite raunchy at times. Blue, Gold, and X-23 seem to be more appropriate for younger audiences, while obviously not excluding older readers.

But, yeah, I find it very hard to pin down specific age ranges for those audiences. I think Marvel is adopting the MCU approach, where they want most of their books to be appealing to teens and adults.

I disagree, though, that is the reason they don't care about continuity. As someone who started reading X-Men in her teens, I was freaking obsessed with continuity. Teens have time to read carefully and obsess over the details, and are passionate about people getting their favorite stories and characters right. Teen me experienced a great deal of righteous indignation when Marvel effed up any aspect of Gambit's (convoluted) history, because I knew alllll the details.

[thechronic92]

The Cyclops era books were written for teens and young adults. Rightclops ticks a couple of toxic masculinity boxes.

[Knives]

This varies depending on the comic but would say between 10 and 30.

Red is clearly for older readers while Blue, Gold and Astonishing for the younger ones.

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

Judging from recent authors...they don't care about the audience and write whatever the hell they want to write and then justify it with "well you can't please all the people all of the time"

[Sundown]

I'd guess males from 12-25, still. I also think the bulk of their buying audience is male, though maybe a slightly higher age range, since 3.99 is a steep price for the average 12 year-old.

Male lead books still, on average, seem to do better even though editorial got ripped apart in the media when they stated as much in an interview a few months back.
https://news.avclub.com/marvel-exec-...ity-1798259814

I think you're right about continuity and a younger audience. At the same time, I started reading as a young teen, and it was the continuity that kept me reading for so long. /shrug

[Sin Nick]

The Cyclops era books were written for teens and young adults. Rightclops ticks a couple of toxic masculinity boxes.

I personally never associated Cyclops with terms like masculinity lol. Also, why do folks throw around "masculinity" like it's a bad thing? What's so toxic about it? I'm asking this while doing my daily one handed push-ups btw.

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

The Cyclops era books were written for teens and young adults. Rightclops ticks a couple of toxic masculinity boxes.

How?

How was the way Cyclops depicted any different from any male character that came before? 60's Xavier was an outright ******* who could give a crap about his students. How is Cyclops' masculinity any less than Wolverine's? How is what Kitty does any different than Cyke?

Toxic Masculinity is more like bad romance novels with women at the man's legs fawning over him....Cyke didn't exactly have a harem at his knees. He doesn't stink of Mysiogny.

[Dementia5]

Judging from recent authors...they don't care about the audience and write whatever the hell they want to write and then justify it with "well you can't please all the people all of the time"

Basically this. Marvel editorial crafts stories targeting audiences about the average age of Marvel editorial.

[Grey]

This varies depending on the comic but would say between 10 and 30.

Red is clearly for older readers while Blue, Gold and Astonishing for the younger ones.

At first I thought red was written for adults but I started second guessing that.

If you look at the issues discussed- yes they are very pertinent real world political issues for adults. But a lot of adults already have crystallized ideas about current events. I think younger folks on the other hand are More malleable and I can see, as a writer, trying to extend your influence or at least give more exposure to your ideas by targeting a younger group, who are more susceptible to aligning with said ideas.

Just a thought I had.