Originally Posted by
Kurt Busiek
I don't really know what that means. But I believe in treating different characters differently, to make the individual books interesting rather than to have everything treated the same way, as if they're interchangeable.
That's not how I'd read that scene. They're all busy, but they don't say anything that suggests he's a "junior" superhero. He's got six months publishing time on the X-Men, and Spidey's got a whole one story lead on him.
I don't particularly want to see a teenaged Batman, myself, and don't think that stories of Bruce in his teen years have "flourished."
And we have seen stories with an older Peter, even as a father to a next-generation hero.
But I do think Spider-Man is a stronger character when he's presented as young. I think he's far less of a Benjamin Button than Iron Man, too, since Spider-Man was 15 at the start and late twenties now, but Iron Man was mid-to-late thirties when he debuted and is in his early thirties now; he's actually aged backward. So has Reed, to a degree -- he was solidly over 40 when he debuted and now he's in his early 40s. Superman and Batman are both presented as younger than they used to be, despite all the Robins that have piled up.
But I also don't particularly worry about movie box office -- if you do, it suggests that Aquaman and Black Panther are hugely popular character compared to the others, but they've got pretty checkered histories in the comics, sales-wise. I don't think Spider-Man would be more popular if he was in his 40s, and if the SHAZAM movie does really well, I don't think it'll have any bearing on whether the character has had more development in the comics; I think it'll be about whether the movie's funny and exciting and engaging.
I think Spider-Man's probably the single strongest character Marvel has, in terms of audience appeal and storytelling power, so I don't really care if he's "transcendent," just whether he's interesting. If I was writing Spider-Man, I wouldn't be comparing him to other characters and wondering if what had worked for them should be applied to him just so he could have it too -- I'd be trying to do a terrific Spider-Man, and leave it at that.
kdb