http://icv2.com/articles/talkback/8852.html

So these kinds of fans are all that's left in the marketplace, and that's why we get Sins Past and Civil War. It's pandering in its purest form, and it's going to take a long time to fix, if indeed it can ever be fixed.

A little more than being a thirty-something married man??

What's wrong with this picture:

"Maybe I'm being an idealist, as I know that Spider-Man is basically just intellectual property to be licensed out to the highest bidder, but I know most readers my age would probably relate to him a bit more if Marvel would let him grow up a little. "

I'm probably in the age bracket the author refers to, but I certainly don't want Peter to "grow up a little".  Is this guy sad that the PEANUTS characters are still in grade school?  I related to them when I was their age, but I never expected them to "age" and "grow" with me.  Is this guy disappointed that the Archie gang is eternally stuck in high school?  Is he fretting that Winnie the Pooh and the characters in The 100 Acre Wood haven't grown up so he could still associate with them? 

I think it's a valid discussion to have regarding who these characters should be marketed to, but it's wrong headed to me to insist that they "age" and "grow" with an audience that has been reading them for 30 or more years.  If you can't accept the conceit of mainstream superheroes**, then I, for one, do believe that you should leave them to those who do.  These characters will be dead and gone by the time my grandkids would consider reading them if we see the mainstream lines at Marvel and DC "age" and "grow" the characters in such a way as to be relevant to an aging fan base.  Tell me who wants to read about a 40 year old Peter Parker who deals more with prostate problems and sending his kid through college than with a character who, you know, is a hero and fights super-villains.  The author of this article would have you believe that most his age would, but I strongly disagree.

**As evident by this quote, the author certainly doesn't "get" the conceit:

"I myself am interested in watching Peter deal with his marriage, have a family, and deal with the many issues of balancing responsibilities that I face in my daily life.  The reason I don't read too many stories about sixteen year olds, is that I'm not a sixteen year old anymore."