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Topic: The older he gets, the slower he ages. Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Wallace Sellars
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Posted: 20 October 2019 at 9:50am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

I like the idea of Superman's physical aging slowing as he gets older, and thought it was well used in GENERATIONS. In fact, I believe it was JB who first introduced the idea.

Robert Kirkman later used it in INVINCIBLE to explain the long-lived nature of the Viltrumites.

Has this idea been used in other superhero comics?

*This does not mean I have changed my belief that characters in most superhero comics should not age in books that take place "now."
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 20 October 2019 at 1:37pm | IP Logged | 2 post reply

There was a piece or two in Superman #400 as I recall that showed Superman aging, but not doing so as quickly as one would expect of humans.

Thor and Odin were shown to age very slowly - in one What If- if nowhere else (and no, that story had nothing to do with the ages of the Asgardians.)

I believe the Fantastic Four and Fantastic Five were both shown to be holding on youth strongly in the future (say, 30 or so years in the future for the Spider-Girlverse and Fantastic Four 2099.)

Mr. Majestic's aging slowed down or stopped at the end of the universe.

The Legion of Super-Heroes showed that their aging had slowed considerably.

I suppose you could say that, in a way, Jim Corrigan's aging stopped after a certain age. Ditto for Boston Brand. And the Phantom Stranger too.

There's probably others, but that's off the top of my head.
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Wallace Sellars
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Posted: 20 October 2019 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Thanks, Eric. However, I am specifically referring to the idea of
characters in superhero comics whose physical aging slows the older
they get.

It may be that Superman and the Viltrumites (as a whole) are the only
two examples of this, and I am seeking something which isn’t there.
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 20 October 2019 at 3:14pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I thought that a lot of the ones I noted are exactly as you described, so I fear that I missed your point, my friend.
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Mike Norris
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Posted: 20 October 2019 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

Namor and his fellow Atlanteans must have that slowed down aging thing since their aging seems to have been moving at a crawl since the late 1930's. 

I recently discovered Lady Dorma dates from Marvel Comics #1. I had always assumed she was a Silver Age creation. 
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Peter Martin
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 7:55am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

I suppose you could say that, in a way, Jim Corrigan's aging stopped after a certain age
--------------------------------------------
Eric, Wallace is asking for characters that still age, but in an exponentially decreasing way as time progresses.

So, two criteria:

First of all, they are still aging. And second, the rate at which they age is constantly changing, that rate dwindling as time passes.

Characters like Corrigan and the Phantom Stanger, who simply stopped aging at a certain point do not meet this criteria.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 8:10am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

The slowing down of these characters aging process was my not-so-subtle comment on what actually happens with them in the comics. The first few years they seem to age in real time, but the longer they are being published, the more slowly they seem to age.

And for the anal fanboy microbrains reading this, NO, that is not an actual story element.

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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 8:35am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Peter M. - thank you for your clarification. Yes, I know that the Spectre and Deadman aren't aging anymore... I noted that. We don't know if the Phantom Stranger is aging or not, though.

Most of my other suggestions are still aging, but not at the same rate as normal humans.

I don't want to start a fight, or even a debate; I just wanted to know why my suggestions didn't qualify.
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Phil Kreisel
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 11:14am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

One aspect of character's aging that should be taken into consideration is that the telling of a story that goes over several issues may, int their world, take place over 1-2 days.  The monthly gap in publication does not mean that the characters are aging one month between issues in thier story.

Knowing this can throw a monkey wrench into the process.  And don't get me started on what happens in TV/Movies with young actors/kids - eg. Carl Grimes in the Walking Dead (TV).
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John Byrne
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 11:18am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

One aspect of character's aging that should be taken into consideration is that the telling of a story that goes over several issues may, int their world, take place over 1-2 days. The monthly gap in publication does not mean that the characters are aging one month between issues in thier story.

•••

You are far too rational to be in this discussion!

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Vinny Valenti
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 11:45am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

BREAKING BAD was one of the only shows that I recall using "comic book time". Though the show ran for 6 seasons, the first 5 took place within one year, with the remaining episodes making jumps to end 2 years to the day of the pilot.
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Rick Whiting
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Posted: 21 October 2019 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | 12 post reply

One aspect of character's aging that should be taken into consideration is that the telling of a story that goes over several issues may, int their world, take place over 1-2 days. The monthly gap in publication does not mean that the characters are aging one month between issues in thier story.

____________________________________


I used to think that this was common knowledge and that most people with common sense knew this. Even as a young kid reading comics, I knew that these stories only happened over a few hours or days and that these characters weren't supposed to age and that their stories didn't take place in real time. It amazes me that there are fans and pros who think that these stories do and should occur in real time and that these characters should age. It's even more grating when creators will see a specific date or time period in an old comic story that was intended to be contemporary and then try to keep that date cannon by offering some in story explanation about why the characters haven't age instead of just ignoring those dates and trappings of said eras. For example, a number of modern day writers who have worked for Marvel over the last 15 years think that the old SHIELD stories from the 60's and the old Blade stories from the 70's actually took place during the 60's and 70's. One writer even took the stated year of birth (which was stated to be in the 1930's) of Blade from a comic that was published 45 years ago as being cannon and then went on to retcon the character into being a dhampir who stopped aging once he became an adult. Then there is one current Marvel writer who has gone out of his way to tell a story that explains why time passes differently in the MU. These kinds of in story explanations are unnecessary,a waste of time,and just plain stupid.
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