It’s funny that so many people think Spider-Man works best as a teen...

[marhawkman]

I love this fantasy argument people conjure up about 'new viewers', they always assume they won't go back and research/watch the older/better seasons, which are always widely available. A great deal of older Pokemon seasons I know for a fact are reran on UK television.

For the record, I was always of the opinion Ash's story came to a natural end in Pokemon: The Power of One, just as Peter's story came arguably to it's natural end with MC2.

Isn’t that precisely why people think that others won’t read the back issues? You’re referencing a 22 year old non-canon movie as an ending as though nothing happened afterwards.

It’s telling that most people can’t be bothered to learn about any of Spider-Man’s villains beyond the Ditko ones. It’s basically saying that they have no intention of actually reading the series. It’s why so many series just decide to reboot their continuity after a certain amount of time.

The Pokemon anime... with Ash(not all of them have Ash) is weird because it's taking the stories from the games and warping them to use Ash as the MC when it's a story written for a different character. And this is part of the non-aging thing... it's a new, young PoV... because it's a story meant for a different new young protagonist... who is NOT Ash. Like... Dawn.... she was the MC in her story(the video games Pokemon Diamond and Pearl)... not Ash. But the anime warped the story to make her Ash's sidekick.

I think Goku is probably a better comparison than Ash.

In part because Goku is ACTUALLY the main character in his stories. Also, in the first episode of the original Dragon Ball, Goku is a little kid who doesn't know what the word "marriage" means and his future wife actually tricks him into agreeing to marry her because of that. Granted Chi-chi wasn't a bad wife, and decades(both in and out of universe) later Goku is a grandfather.

Yeah, some episodes don't even have Goku in them. But most do, and all have a defined point in Goku's life when they happen.

[Lee]

Yes. Precisely. It would lack verisimilitude.

And that throws readers out of the story and causes them to stop engaging, because the stories don’t matter. The character’s lives are nonsensical.

If that were the case, nobody would be reading any Marvel or DC Comics today. It's implausible that all of these characters have had thousands of adventures over the decades and are still young. But it doesn't matter. They're cartoons, they don't follow the rules of reality.

[Mercwmouth12]

If that were the case, nobody would be reading any Marvel or DC Comics today. It's implausible that all of these characters have had thousands of adventures over the decades and are still young. But it doesn't matter. They're cartoons, they don't follow the rules of reality.

They are called AU or elseward stories. Can have any story with a character and have them at an age or make it ambiguous

[Triniking1234]

I think Goku is probably a better comparison than Ash.

Goku is a bad example since the character actually ages.

Better examples would be Archie and Charlie Brown.

[Jman27]

I think Spider-Man is a very different type of property than Pokemon though. Like, Peter is meant to develop far more than Ash is.

idk ash became a champion in the last 5 years what develop did Peter had in the last 5 years?

[Kevinroc]

Goku is a bad example since the character actually ages.

Better examples would be Archie and Charlie Brown.

Peter Parker isn't in High School anymore, and hasn't been for a very long time.

Goku's a fine comparison.

[Jman27]

Peter Parker isn't in High School anymore, and hasn't been for a very long time.

Goku's a fine comparison.

goku strange cause we have his end of his story and while he is getting current new story it all takes place during the final 5 year timeskip of DragonBall. Peter story has no end point sure he aged but he isnt continuing to age due to different writers changing his age. Like when he got back his body from ock the number 1 issue said he is 28. But spencer said he is in his mid 20s which i guess means he is back go being 25-26?

[Matt Rat]

Goku is a bad example since the character actually ages.

Better examples would be Archie and Charlie Brown.

Even Archie's had ongoings where he's been married, both to Betty and Veronica, and they brought that story to an end by killing him (but because it was an alternate reality, they were able to tell another story of both his marriages with a version who never endured that tragedy)

I don't think ol' Chuck has had any story outside of parodies where he has been explicitly shown to be an adult.

[Kevinroc]

goku strange cause we have his end of his story and while he is getting current new story it all takes place during the final 5 year timeskip of DragonBall. Peter story has no end point sure he aged but he isnt continuing to age due to different writers changing his age. Like when he got back his body from ock the number 1 issue said he is 28. But spencer said he is in his mid 20s which i guess means he is back go being 25-26?

The problem is they originally didn't want to go beyond End of Z. But they're pretty close to End of Z with the Superhero movie. They're eventually going to move past End of Z.

[TinkerSpider]

Goku is a bad example since the character actually ages.

Better examples would be Archie and Charlie Brown.

A confirming piece of evidence that Slott didn't understand the character of Peter Parker was when Slott compared Peter to Charlie Brown.

Classic Archie and Charlie Brown are designed to be episodic characters. People read the self-contained stories or strips for the comedic gags; they don't read to follow the characters' lives.

They are not analogous to Spider-Man, who from his very first appearance went through major personal growth and change in his life.

[Lee]

Several Peanuts characters have been aged up. Charlie Brown himself was 4 years old to begin with, and was eventually aged up to 8 and frozen at that age. Other characters were introduced as babies and gradually aged up, with the rest of the cast remaining frozen at the same age. Realistically, Charlie Brown should have gotten older as Rerun did, but he didn't.

Spider-Man was aged up from a higher schooler to a 20-something, which he's now frozen at.

The Runaways have been around for almost 20 years, and unless I'm mistaken they're still teenagers. Kamala Khan and Miles Morales will almost certainly be frozen as teenagers for decades to come.

Marvel characters are brands, owned by a large corporation. There will always be a "to be continued" and anything that is done can and probably will be undone, if it's in service to be the brand. They're never going to be Savage Dragon or Love And Rockets.

[Matt Rat]

Spider-Man was aged up from a higher schooler to a 20-something, which he's now frozen at.

Largely in 616 only, and that doesn't follow the original timeline anymore. Post-OMD Spider-Man is essentially only fourteen years young.

[Agent Z]

I don't know why you would think that's funny. Doesn't every always mention how great a job Stan and Steve did setting up Spider-man and his world? It just makes sense that people would want to go back to such a beloved and iconic version of the character.

There have been a lot of great Spider-man creative teams since then, but nothing has ever reached the legendary status that Ditko and Lee produced.

That simply isn't true.

[PCN24454]

The problem is they originally didn't want to go beyond End of Z. But they're pretty close to End of Z with the Superhero movie. They're eventually going to move past End of Z.

I think it’s more that the audience didn’t want them to go past End of Z because they still view the Z era as the Golden Age.

[Kevinroc]

I think it’s more that the audience didn’t want them to go past End of Z because they still view the Z era as the Golden Age.

No, it's on Toriyama not wanting to go beyond End of Z. But they're pretty close to it with the Superhero movie. Toriyama really wanted to milk the time skip between the defeat of Majin Buu and the End of Z. Considering Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, all of Super, Broly, and Superhero exist (as well as some manga-only arcs), I'd say they did a good job exploring that period of time.