I don’t hate teen superheroes. I grew up loving Spider-Man and Teen Titans, but I’m just tired of them. Comic characters never age, and every reboot resets them back to high school. Spider-Man’s been rebooted over a dozen times, yet he’s only been an adult in two animated shows. His best stories are when he’s in college or older, but studios keep him a teen to appeal to kids.

It’s not even just him — Ms. Marvel should be 28 by now, but she’s still 16. There’s no middle ground anymore. You’re either a teenage hero or in your 30s. What happened to heroes in their 20s?

  • tomkatt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    I posted this on your other thread in the rant community, but will add it again here in case others might be interested in some of the books:

    ———

    Consider more mature / adult oriented series, and literature. Marvel and DC will always appeal to the status quo.

    Try Image comics. Spawn started adult and things go on from there. Tons of shit goes down including the end and rebirth of the world. Savage Dragon has run on so long that characters who weren’t even born when the series started are grown adults with kids, and the main character is literally dead (not comic book dead, just dead and gone).

    In books there’s stuff like Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, Murs Lafferty’s Playing For Keeps, Paul Tobin’s Prepare to Die! (a somewhat vulgar example at times but also hilarious, the hero’s power is to take a year off someone’s life by punching them. Most villains just surrender when he shows up, and rarely want to fight him twice).

    Also good is Marion G. Harmon’s Wearing the Cape series, wherein time passes, crazy shit goes down, heroes get hurt, die, retire, etc. Starts with the main character at 17 I think, but as of the current book she’s well into her 20s and married. This one is a mix of junior and adult capes, where superheroes are state and government sponsored as a legal requirement.