Off THEIR Minds: Should Characters be Allowed to Age?

In one world- YES!!!!

I think its very story specific in term sof aging , for example i loved old man logan , but i wouldnt want current wolverien to be like that full time. It is kinnda of weird thou when the younger xmen or kids in general age when people around them dont age a day however. But i guess hats all part of bring more people into the Fighting mature age so the characters can be used more.

They really should because otherwise the age thing is really confusing to me.  I personally would like to see a listing of superhero/supervillain ages.  Not realistic I know. Still...

I think one absolute pre-requisite for wanting a character to age with you - and not looking like a hypocrite in the process - is that you NOT choose a character who would have been old already when you started reading in case this aging process was applied from the start of the characters history.

I'm saying NO

honestly wolverine shoudnt have aged at all in old man logan at least not nearly as much as he did

due to his healing factor remember he hasent really aged a day sense before ww2

Yes, but very slow.

i like how DC has been working the Batfamily. And honestly, now that he's back, i kinda wish Bruce had stayed dead.

I think they should dare age them. Yes.
And about telling stories with those heroes, younger? Write books taking place in the past.
Or better, do like the Hellboy comics, have dates, why does all stories need to take place in the present all the time in US comics? Can't they play around with eras, etc..?
I've seen this a lot in francobelgium comics, but not at all in american ones.. (apart from Hellboy and 2-3 other comics..)

" Yes, but editors hate the idea, that's is why Spider-man is no longer married and why Jubilee is constantly deaged. "

It's not about being allowed, it is what it is.

Characters should age about 1 year for every 2-3 years if they don't it's ridiculous, I mean Franklin Richards has been around for 4 decades and he's still like 12 or somethin' and The Ultimate Univese is a decade old but only 2 years have passed since Ultime Spidey debuted, it's just weird.

No, no aging whatsoever. However, there should be more flashbacks involving afros and rotary phones to make a clear picture, but only if the artists were to use the style and settings from an older comic.

I've been a big advocate of character aging for a long time. Trying to keep characters current is a big problem which is why continuity gets messed up so easily. Such as keeping Golden Age heroes active in the modern day, I'm talking about the JSA. Soon enough it's just going to be absolutely ridiculous for them to still even be moving let alone fighting crime; those guys should be pushing their 80s. Letting characters age also allows for good character growth - the idea of superheroes aging is kind of unexplored in mainstream comics. I think that's why any kind of title set in an alternate future is exciting to a lot of us, like Kingdom Come or Earth X or Old Man Logan, because it's our favorite characters being in a state that we've never seen them in.

Also if you let characters age and eventually fill a grave you can have new characters fill those roles; characters with new histories and adventures and maybe keep comics from fatally falling into the ever drying up well of ideas.

It'll probably never happen though; keeping them young and stupidly current and constantly re-vamping origin stories make the comic companies lots of cash.

@RedheadedAtrocitus:  For something I was writing in high school I did figure out the ages of a bunch of Golden Age heroes and villains. I had a five page list, it was a lot of hard work but surprisingly fun.

Should character age? In my opinion yes. As much as certain characters might work better at certain ages, I think getting old, marrying and eventually pass on the legacy are all part of life and they have to be considered in comics (art is based on life). Granted that superheroes have tons of ways to slow down the aging process (healing factor, speed force, downright immortality etc.), but even in this case none should be allowed to run around in their prime forever , except fully immortal like Thor or Hercules.
There's also the problem with unaging children, starting with Franklin Richards and the Power Pack.

I agree with Scott Snyder...keep them the same age but show glimpses of what the future may hold...like Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come, Earth X, and Old Man Logan

I want my favorite characters to stay with me and I don't want to read stories of them get alzheimers and crapping their beds

I'm on the fence about this.
It doesn't matter really, 'cos 70 odd years from now they'll be asking the same question.

The question is how much realism do we want in our comics?   We already suspend disbelief for so many things.   What's needed is a hardcore aging comic.

I'm an advocate for aging (around 1 year of comic book age for every 5 to 10 years of real time) because I want to see characters pass on their mantles to future generations as well as get some consistency with all of a companies characters. For DC, we've seen some characters age like Dick, Jason, Tim, Wally West, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Barbara, Billy Batson, Mary Batson, Freedy Freeman, Jerry White, Keith White, Power Girl and a few other all age while at the same time characters like Courtney Whitmore or more importantly the original heroes (Superman, Batman, original Justice Society, etc) have not.

I do think the comic industry is afraid to age their characters because of the comments made by the last writer about comics being like soap operas and a new generation of readers expecting the same characters that they heard about from the last generation but also see this as a paradox as soap operas do change characters as old ones age and become out of touch with new generations and at the same time wouldn't it be better for a new generation to grow up with younger or new heroes that take up the mantle of the old and have the reader grow up with this new character and see the struggles and triumphs he/she goes through?

The Batman family is a good example of how effective an aging Bruce Wayne and transitioning from one generation to the next can be but you also have Superboy, Supergirl and the various members of the Teen Titans and Justice Society that should be allowed to grow into the next generation of heroes. Heck, the Justice Societies whole purpose is to train the next generation.

I think if they committ to it and push this concept as a company rather than individual writers the concept of aging could work and be far more satisfactory than simply killing a character off. For someone like Superman, who even in old age would still be amazingly powerful, have him pass the responsibilities on to Conner and Kara by willingly removing his powers in order to spend the remainder of a normal life with Lois and just being Clark Kent. Much like Batman Beyond you show Bruce come to the point where his body simply can't handle the strain anymore and he becomes a coordinator/advisor. Does it fly in the face of "tradition"...yes...but at the same time it leads to good stories and starts to break apart the archaic notion of these characters always winning out and always being around.

Plus, for those that look at comic as modern myths (which I do in some ways), please point out to me a myth or culture lore where the people and creatures within them are never beaten, never in the wrong, never age, rarely make mistakes, and all the other concepts we associate with comics. I haven't found any. Ancient myths and lore were filled with heroes making mistakes, dying in their quests, living to old age and passing on their knowledge and treasures to the next adventurer. It's only with the advent of the comic book and the American 20th century notion of a "perfect hero" that these ideas have came about. They were a reflection of the times during which they were written. Today we expect more realism from comics, movies and tv and we've already started to see that expectation fulfilled by Marvel comics in its new movies so its time the comic books they were bred from follow suit.

Yes and no. Yes, I will love that to happen. No, it can't be.

Some characters have been growing up over the years (mostly characters that appear at first as late teenagers or their first 20's -Peter Parker, most of the X-Men and the New Mutants...) but then some haven't grow up, not even a little (all the characters that are in their 30's or more like Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Professor X or even Aunt May -come on, how old is she right now? 1000 years old?). Personally I don't like this to happen (some characters growing up and some staying the same age forever), I like when characters grew, get old and that stuff (one of the reasons I like mangas like Dragon Ball or Naruto), but I think in Marvel and DC universes this is a necessary evil. First, because teenage characters can't be in school forever, that doesn't make any sense, and second, because if older characters grew up (at least at the same level as characters like Peter Parker have grown by now) we've seen lots of superheros dying just because of their age by now.

It would nice to see that comic characters age, but I rather then all stay young and continue fighting bad guys.

If characters age think about how old they would be Spider-Man would be 59....Superman would be 83!!!

" If characters age think about how old they would be Spider-Man would be 59....Superman would be 83!!! "

i like the idea that they age...its definitely a hard question tho...especially now...we are hitting a point in time where we gotta ask ourselves where these characters are going. i agree with the repetitive stories that kinda just should fade off...example we didnt really see how batman got started till Batman: Year One which was created 40-50 years after the thought of batman.  I think its important to the characters how they first became who they are but i would also like to read about how their careers as superheroes or villains ends. I think no matter what people will go back and retell stories with new art and what not...maybe a few hidden stories to fill...idk. it would be neat to tell stories of when one character passes the mantle down to a younger person if then they were still fighting along side or against someone like wolverine or other characters that dont age fast or are just immortal. plus i think with comics you can pretty much do anything with a storyline...my point being they could easily take a character age them, then somehow make it to where they get changed back into a kid...who knows but i say yes they should age...the characters will be around forever and retold over and over again

Comic book heroes should never age much.  If a writer wants to write the character older, they have alternate universes and time travel available.  The characters have subtle changes over time, mostly related to the cultural changes in society, but the core of the character remains relatively unchanged.  Part of the enjoyment of reading about enduring iconic characters is watching the world change around them while they stay true to themselves.

for me, it depends on the character. i'm an x-fan, and i've seen how age issue is addressed by the people behind them.

Yes; I am surprised that so many people agree! Honestly, there should be a certain level of turnover in the superhero community, and having them age is a nice way to bring in new blood and have a realistic way of phasing out old characters. Right now we have a glut of superheroes because the characters just pile up. Interestingly, I always identify more with the "New Mutants" and "The Fantastic Four" because the characters grew and matured contrasted with characters like Wolverine and Peter Parker who just seem stagnant and never progress, because they are stuck in a certain phase of their maturity. It would be great if they aged one year for every five or so real years.

I'm very iffy with this idea because if the character gets aged eventually the character will die of old age and as the character ages his/her personality might change.

I think this is a great discussion, the fact that Cap n Thor have been around for so much longer than I have been alive and have always been relatively the same age.  I have no leaning one way or another, because I love to see characters grow and mature, but on the other hand heroic, iconic characters should always remain ageless. 
I think what makes this difficult now is the fact that they try so much to draw from real life that they show the age of characters at times.  This is not the old school self contained comics with no flowing storyline.  Ultimately I would be ok with a little age, give Supes, Batman, Cap and some others some grey hairs, but don't push them into a walker just yet.....

"

I'm an advocate for aging (around 1 year of comic book age for every 5 to 10 years of real time) because I want to see characters pass on their mantles to future generations as well as get some consistency with all of a companies characters. For DC, we've seen some characters age like Dick, Jason, Tim, Wally West, Donna Troy, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Barbara, Billy Batson, Mary Batson, Freedy Freeman, Jerry White, Keith White, Power Girl and a few other all age while at the same time characters like Courtney Whitmore or more importantly the original heroes (Superman, Batman, original Justice Society, etc) have not.

 

I do think the comic industry is afraid to age their characters because of the comments made by the last writer about comics being like soap operas and a new generation of readers expecting the same characters that they heard about from the last generation but also see this as a paradox as soap operas do change characters as old ones age and become out of touch with new generations and at the same time wouldn't it be better for a new generation to grow up with younger or new heroes that take up the mantle of the old and have the reader grow up with this new character and see the struggles and triumphs he/she goes through?

 

The Batman family is a good example of how effective an aging Bruce Wayne and transitioning from one generation to the next can be but you also have Superboy, Supergirl and the various members of the Teen Titans and Justice Society that should be allowed to grow into the next generation of heroes. Heck, the Justice Societies whole purpose is to train the next generation.

 

I think if they commit to it and push this concept as a company rather than individual writers the concept of aging could work and be far more satisfactory than simply killing a character off. For someone like Superman, who even in old age would still be amazingly powerful, have him pass the responsibilities on to Conner and Kara by willingly removing his powers in order to spend the remainder of a normal life with Lois and just being Clark Kent. Much like Batman Beyond you show Bruce come to the point where his body simply can't handle the strain anymore and he becomes a coordinator/advisor. Does it fly in the face of "tradition"...yes...but at the same time it leads to good stories and starts to break apart the archaic notion of these characters always winning out and always being around.

 

Plus, for those that look at comic as modern myths (which I do in some ways), please point out to me a myth or culture lore where the people and creatures within them are never beaten, never in the wrong, never age, rarely make mistakes, and all the other concepts we associate with comics. I haven't found any. Ancient myths and lore were filled with heroes making mistakes, dying in their quests, living to old age and passing on their knowledge and treasures to the next adventurer. It's only with the advent of the comic book and the American 20th century notion of a "perfect hero" that these ideas have came about. They were a reflection of the times during which they were written. Today we expect more realism from comics, movies and tv and we've already started to see that expectation fulfilled by Marvel comics in its new movies so its time the comic books they were bred from follow suit.

"

of course, just a few a months at a time.

I think it's stupid if teenage heroes never grow up.

I got to say that I would like Franklin Richards to grow up. I remember when I was a little kid reading Fantastic Four when Scott Lang was a part of the team, and his daughter was there hanging out with Franklin and they were portrayed to be the same age. And now when I read the comics, Franklin viewed as a ten year old at most, Cassie Lang is around 18. I don't much like that, he should age, just as easily as everyone else. I mean look at the original X-Men. Bobby was in the youngest, and now he is shown to be in his late twenties if not thirties. Others that bug me are Artie and Leech, they are still kids. But Jubilee has gone from teen to young adult. Even the New X-Men are aging faster then they should.

Character age is fairly moot.  I don't care how old Superman is anymore then I care how old Bugs Bunny is.  Age is not a factor unless it is made a factor. I have no idea how old Kramer was during the last episode of "Seinfeld" it was totally irrelevant.  Comics are a serial medium.  It is necessary by their nature that the characters remain constant.  The Bat-Family as mentioned handles things pretty well. Yeah Dick Grayson and Bruce's ages aren't as far apart as they should be but the experiences is what makes the years relevant not the chronology.  All that being said I would enjoy books by a publisher that work in real time.  It would be a lot of fun to literally read about a characters life.  See the impact of age, witness the physical changes and how they adapt to their limitations.  See how they handle their legacy.  But it would have to be something from the get go.

" Should character age? In my opinion yes. As much as certain characters might work better at certain ages, I think getting old, marrying and eventually pass on the legacy are all part of life and they have to be considered in comics (art is based on life). Granted that superheroes have tons of ways to slow down the aging process (healing factor, speed force, downright immortality etc.), but even in this case none should be allowed to run around in their prime forever , except fully immortal like Thor or Hercules.There's also the problem with unaging children, starting with Franklin Richards and the Power Pack. "

I know this video mainly concerned American super-hero comics but as someone from the UK who grew up  reading 200AD and Judge Dredd in particular, I really appreciate the fact that the character has aged and the world of Judge Dredd ages at the same rate as the real world. Obviously Rebellion aren't stupid - there are little plot devices dropped into the broader Dredd fiction which explain why he's still kicking ass and taking names in his 60's but it gives a real sense of permanence to the stories being told. I think it's also allowed the character to develop in a more gradual and believable way. Instead of having one huge event that changes his perspective, you get to see dozens of different experiences accumulate over time, gradually altering his attitudes and behaviour. 

well i don't think they need to age, since they are after all, comic book characters, however some times it can get annoying, especially when some characters age and others don't for instance Batman and Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson has aged over the years while Bruce, more or less stayed the same, i think if Dick aged ten years then Bruce should have too

It really is dependent on the comic book companies and their success with their characters for one, but there is another factor. 

 One comic book issue usually gets published every 30 days.   Said comic book's story is flexible regarding the amount of time in that story; it can take place in just a few minutes, hours, or days, and can also take place over the course of weeks or years.  Usually though it is the former and not the latter. 

While this amount of time transpires in the comic book, in the real world, naturally, more time has elapsed. 

So the comic book companies have found that their characters haven't necessarily "aged" like the rest of the world.  Which may be a good thing for them, because generations  have grown up reading characters like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man.  Each one having a different take on the character.  The Golden Age Superman and Batman far different from the Bronze Age incarnations.  Yet each has maintained his usual age over the span of 60 + years. 

It is just a flexible issue which the companies will decide.  I don't mind them aging, but not dramatically. 

Erik Larsen has aged Savage Dragon in his comic book a lot more than other characters.  

Great answers by the writers. I agree with the majority of them. Just depends on the definitions used. 

I feel betrayed by several writers here, seriously Dennis Calero, what the fuck were you talking about ?!

The only reason to support a floating timeline would be for companies like DC and Marvel, mostly because they have bought and produced so many characters over the years that if they rest one character and then renew it with a fresh title, then the character would age considerably in the time it was dormant, unless a floating timeline was applied.

 I seriously can't believe how much it bothers some people that their characters age, it's part of life, and it should be represented in comics.

If fiction has no bearing to reality, then what's the point ?

" @leokearon said:

" Yes, but editors hate the idea, that's is why Spider-man is no longer married and why Jubilee is constantly deaged. "

Bingo, that's one of my favorite things about Ennis' Punisher. Also that's why I prefer Vertigo/Image titles, indy comics in general. That's what's awesome about British comics as well. I really find that the most interesting thing about John Constantine. The real time aging was one of my favorite things about Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come.  "

Is  Dennis Calero really Jeff Goldblum written by Joss Whedon?  He's entertaining to listen to.

I'm not sure, while it would seem a heck of a lot more realistic to have them age,, it would be difficult as fans to watch your fave character grow old and die and like a new one, also how much money would go into marketing new characters when there's a chance the new ones won't be nearly as popular. I guess you could fill gaps in the dead/aged heroes timeline with new stories in graphic novel one-shots

"@JonesDeini said:

" @leokearon said:

" Yes, but editors hate the idea, that's is why Spider-man is no longer married and why Jubilee is constantly deaged. "

Bingo, that's one of my favorite things about Ennis' Punisher. Also that's why I prefer Vertigo/Image titles, indy comics in general. That's what's awesome about British comics as well. I really find that the most interesting thing about John Constantine. The real time aging was one of my favorite things about Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come.  "

I agree with this. "

I think some of us just take characters too seriously. No. Comic book heroes shouldn'r really age past a certain point in their history, I like that younger heroes grow up some and age, but there's a point in between the age of 20 and 50 where they should develop an "Ageless" quality. Speaking personally, there's a lot less shifting in physical appearance between those ages and we mostly stay looking the same. I mean all it takes for me to look 18 again is a quick shave of my facial hair and I could be 18-20 I think comic book characters should have that quality. The premise being that most Superheros abilities probably grant them some resistane to aging in one form or another. We know that these characters will age eventually.. they'll grow old and make way for the new heroes. Batman started in his late 20s early 30s in a visual appearance as far as I can tel... he now looks to me like he's in his 40's or nearing his 50s But like anyone who stays fit and healthy, Age doesn't have to cripple you or make you look "older" you don't have to get grey hair and such.

That's the problem with some people... aging characters in comics would be fine, if we didn't equate age to feebleness. If you saw spider-man at 50 doing the same things he did at 16(a character who has aged I might add) then you'd start complaining that he couldn't cause he was too old. My point being that if you age the character, he's going to have to leave the show.... Which isn't always so bad but do you really want "M2" to be the new  Marvel world? Do you really want the last age of comics to end with a crappy Spider-Girl and a lame-ass geeky Juggernaut?

Depends on the character. Punisher aged in real time for years up until only a couple years ago. It worked for him. No one wants to see a 55 year old Superman though. Although Superman I imagine is one of those characters who wouldn't age as fast. You know what I mean hopefully.