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Some people are idiots. And some, especially online, seem to enjoy pretending to be idiots so they can tell themselves they are "clever". Count the number of times you encounter a variant on the phrase "So what you mean is…" followed by something that has nothing to do with what is being addressed.

Decades ago I got into this debate in the letter column of the old COMIC READER. I invoked the "Seven Year Rule". It was seven years since the FF went up in that rocket, and always would be. "Okay," responded one of the editors, "but I have a hard time accepting that these stories are taking place in 1968!" (It was 1978 at the time.)

What's truly astonishing is that the people who seem most determined not to "get" this most simple and basic conceit of the genre -- the characters do not age -- are the ones who claim the greatest knowledge of the history of the characters and the industry. Rather akin to someone who claims to be the biggest baseball fan ever insisting Babe Ruth was a teammate of Reggie Jackson's.

...this ageless state...

Like the Archie characters? Like Bart Simpson? They've done just fine in their respective "age" slots for decades.

I think too many comic readers want their favorite characters to grow old as a kind of coping mechanism for their own advancing years.

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And the response will be "But they're CARTOONS! They're not meant to be REALISTIC!"

Because, you know, a kid who got bitten by a radioactive spider, and from this developed all the abilities of the spider and then some, is much more REALISTIC than anything that ever happened to Archie or Bart!

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I think too many comic readers want their favorite characters to grow old as a kind of coping mechanism for their own advancing years.

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Of course! And it's pure, unadulterated selfishness! Always has been, always will be.

When I first starting reading comic books, I had no interest in having the characters be similar in age as myself. The Hulk, Spidey, and Batman were all a nebulous 'older' age than me, which was just fine.

As I got older, and the new generation of creative folked aged the characters and gave them 'real life' problems, I wasn't too happy. I prefered the sense of agelessness that came with consistent models and stories that returned to a given status quo. At the same time, I personally chose comic books as a source of escapism, not a media where I expected and/or demanded reflections of my own daily life.

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This is something that has been especially misplaced in Spider-Man. Spider-Man was, himself, an "escape" for Peter Parker. As the put-upon nerd, he could throw on the costume and go kick ass. The dialog balloon on that AMAZING FANTASY cover sums it up perfectly.

But as Peter's own life got better and better, Spider-Man became a BURDEN, not an escape. He didn't WANT to be Spider-Man any more, rather than looking forward to the time when he could lose himself in Spider-Man.

I think too many comic readers want their favorite characters to grow old as a kind of coping mechanism for their own advancing years.

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I think you are right.

I personally chose comic books as a source of escapism, not a media where I expected and/or demanded reflections of my own daily life.

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SER: Exactly. There's a comfort in picking up an Archie comic and seeing the same character I first met 25 years ago. It would be nice to be able to do that with Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman but far too often, it's like looking up an old high school/college friend on Facebook: "Oh, man, he lost all his hair! Wow, did she gain weight! He was in prison? How did that happen?"

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But as Peter's own life got better and better, Spider-Man became a BURDEN, not an escape. He didn't WANT to be Spider-Man any more, rather than looking forward to the time when he could lose himself in Spider-Man.

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SER: I first noticed this with SPIDER-MAN 50, which inspired a lot of the second Spider-Man movie. It's Superman and Batman whose lives would be easier if they "retired" -- not Spider-Man.

Somehow, over just a few years, we went from a character who in his normal identity was bullied and felt helpless but was an idol to those same bullies in his superhero identity to a "swinger" whose superhero identity distracted from his ability to date two gorgeous women who both adored him.

Much of this happened after Ditko left. I'm curious as to whether Lee himself took the character into this different direction or if he was scripting what was drawn for him (the Romita Parker was definitely more attractive than the Ditko version).

Dragon Ball characters age because the story has a finale. Ditto for several other mangas. Plus, there is one single author, so the reader knows that whatever he's reading, that's from the author's mind. No newcomers ready to mess with Toriyama's work.

JB, the story about readers who think radiations can keep characters young... heck, I didn't believe that madness reached the lands of American comicdom, too. What I saw in Italy is enough, for me!

Just today in an Italian forum someone was complaining because Peggy Carter's current status... sure the "un-aging" radiations are a great solution. Uh uh.

Egad. 

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How is that different from 99% of the current crop of superheroes? Origin stories and issues became a big part of the formula very early on. Superman and Batman mostly skipped "origins", in the sense of "Now I shall become…", especially Batman whose first published adventure presented him as an established figure in Gotham, but Wonder Woman had an origin story, as did the Golden Age Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Atom, Plastic Man, and pretty much everybody else. ALL the Silver Age Marvel characters were launched with origin stories or issues. Spider-Man is nothing out of the ordinary where this is concerned.

The important element is WRITING IN THE MIDDLE. This was a phrase in common parlance when I joined the Industry, and it had been for years. We told ourselves what we were producing were NOVELS IN PROGRESS, and that we would always and ever be WRITING IN THE MIDDLE.

And you know what? WRITING IN THE MIDDLE is HARD. It is MUCH easier to write stories that carry things forward, than to create, as Shooter used to challenge new writers, "the Most Important Story in the character's history, that DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING." It's also a lot easier for a writer to CALL ATTENTION TO HIMSELF if he kicks over the apple cart. And, as we know too well, comics for the past couple of decades have been mostly about writers shouting "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!!"