So in X-Men Monday today, JDW states:

"But when you look at a single character like Superman, I think it’s kind of a bummer that Superman has aged so much that he’s now a married guy with a son. And I know that some people want Spider-Man to be that and I’m glad he’s not because it changes the character from being someone you can relate to into someone who is like your dad. Now Superman is a weird character actually to do this with because not everybody relates to him in the first place. He’s kind of aspirational to begin with.

So let’s say Spider-Man. He’s an everyman — you can relate to him and his problems. A Spider-Man who is married, growing up with a kid — of course, I can relate to that because I’m a married grown-up with a kid. But I don’t know that that’s fair to the world and to culture, to say I want Spider-Man to grow up with me. I think keeping Spider-Man for new generations to continue to read about is important and good and Marvel has done it in a way that tries to have it both ways to say we’re going to keep everything in this nebulous Marvel time so readers can come in and the characters are still young and vital in many ways. But also, we’re not going to reboot the universe so that people who do want to keep reading from 10 years ago, from 20 years ago, from 30 years ago — all those stories that you read happened, you just have to like squint your eyes a little bit sometimes."

I guess my thought is that X-Men readers aren't necessarily made up primarily of teen - young 20s white males anymore? So why are stories being marketed as if they are? Why is teen - 20s white male Spiderman the "every man" we are meant to relate to, basically forever? Because I sure don't, even when I was that age. New Spiderman audiences have options like Miles Morales, Ben Reilly, Ghost Spider, Silk, etc.

Personally I much prefer that the traditional superheroes be allowed to age up and give us the stories that come with more maturity while new characters are brought on to take the mantle with those fresh youthful perspectives.

I would think new generations of younger audiences would want a fresher take on those character concepts anyway? Want new, more modern designs and more diversity?

At some point won't they say "That's my Dad's Spiderman." anyway?

Also, as readers age, do they want to continue reading comics if they keep retreading these same themes and ideas without moving the characters forward? Do we not care about keeping those readers?

What is worth more, keeping an older audience or catering to a new one? And shouldn't they want to be doing both?

And why are we treating people over 30 like boring and ancient creatures who can't possibly do anything interesting or physically challenging anyway when it's just not true?

And what about the younger characters that cannot get panel time or major pushes forward if OG characters don't move forward themselves?

Thoughts? I know ya'll are chalk full of them!