Paul,

Even with the wordsmithing, I believe you're still engaged in a faulty premise, at least prior to the 1970s. The majority of the Marvel Comics in the 1960s period were written by Stan Lee, with a handful by Stan's brother Larry Lieber, or other old hands like Jerry Siegel. Yes, Roy Thomas was the young kid on the block, but he was mentored by the old guard and adopted their voice, as did the even more youthful Jim Shooter over at DC. Adult heroes behaving like adults was still the name of the game. Institutions remained respected, and the established order remained firmly in place. One only has to read how Peter Parker takes on the college protester troublemakers in those mid-1960s Spider-Mans to see that Stan was writing a Spider-Man more in tune with an older adult in his attitudes than a college student of the time.

I think 1968 is a tipping point, both politically and organizationally. In the nation there were protests in the streets, assassinations, young people making their voices heard loud-and-clear politically for the first time thanks to their mass numbers from the baby boom. Marvel expanded its line thanks to changing distributors, so Stan no longer maintained direct writing control over all the titles (and within four years would be out of the mix almost completely). Over at DC, many of the old guard of writers and artists got shoved out the door for wanting pensions and healthcare, creating many creative vacancies.

The influx of new talent brought forth new types of comic books. I think the most noticeable changes occurred at DC because the existing order had been so well established (and because the talent DC shoved out the door found places over at Marvel). Relevance got introduced into the mix in titles like Green Lantern/Green Arrow where two adult heroes -- one an accomplished military test pilot (turned insurance and toy salesman as the Vietnam War became unpopular), the other a former millionaire turned champion of the working class -- had the equivalent of an adolescent's pre-college summertime voyage of discovery. At the same time the Teen Titans dropped their colourful costumes (three decades before the "groundbreaking" Grant Morrison did the same in the X-Men) and they became more focused on real world concerns, reacting like YOUNG adults as opposed to young ADULTS. Heck, in the course of a single issue Wonder Woman turned from a "middle-aged mindset" military careerist to a happening young modster with little more than a haircut and a change of clothes. (The realization of new 'do, new attitude...)

The seeds of the shifting towards youthful attitudes were planted, but they wouldn't ripen until a few years later, as similar shifts took place in society.

I'd have to say that I don't recall youthful figures ever being given a predominant role either in that time or in anything published before it.

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New Mutants
Cloak and Dagger
Power Pack

It was the youthful movement of Marvel that drew in new readers of the 1960's. Teenager Johnny Storm got his own solo stories in STRANGE TALES. While Amazing Spider-Man (a teenager) became the icon for Marvel Comics. The X-Men were the strangest teens of all time. Yes Marvel had adults. But they were young adults to be sure. Even Prof. X wasn't the old man he is portrayed now. While Steve Rogers might have been a man out of time he would still have been a man in his early 20's. The same age many soldiers that fight in war time. While certain characters like Dr. Strange, Reed Richards or Bruce Banner might have been doctors. They at best were in their late-20's.

A teenager or a person in their early 20's is not considered old.

The younger the characters the more popular Marvel was. The older the characters got, the sales slowly dropped. That was the point of my musing.

I'm just wacky that way, Michael.

You are right about the WWII thing. So I'll give you Reed.

Bruce Banner could easily been late 20's. General Ross was the adult figure that told the younger Banner what to do.

Dr. Strange was egotistical and full of himself. You can't get more stereotypical of a young Doctor than that. The grey temples of Strange were there after the "years" of wisdom he took from the Ancient One. Was there any real time frame given to him becoming a Master of Mystic Arts? I always thought his training time would have been a few months.

Paul,

You wrote "The younger the characters the more popular Marvel was." As they say in the south, that dog won't hunt.

The most successful young character at Marvel was Spider-Man, although he acted more like a grown-up than a punk kid. He was Spider-MAN under the mask, after all, and the villains he fought had no reason to suspect he was a mere youth.

Yes, the teenage Human Torch had solo stories in Strange Tales, which started at a time when the Marvel superhero bench wasn't very deep. They were cancelled August 1965. Replaced by Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD.

Yes, the teanage X-Men had their own title. It was cancelled March 1970 after 66 issues.

Reed Richards (and Ben Grimm) in their late 20s? Madness! It's established in Fantastic Four that Reed and Ben had both fought in World War II, so if you take an earliest age / last possible date of both chracters as 18 in 1945, they would both have to be at least 35 in 1962. More likely both chracters were closer to pushing 40, closer to Stan and Jack's age.

Dr. Strange had to be at least in his mid-thirties as well. He would not get out of surgical school until 27 or 28, and then need some period of time to establish himself as a world-renowned neurosurgeon, then a period of time to search the world for a way to heal his hands after that car accident.

You're pushing water uphill on this one, my friend...

I may be pushing water uphill, but my initial musing was that when the books featured younger characters they sold better. When they started to age them, they sold less. It seems that Marvel is trying to reverse this by making established characters younger again. Yes you can outsmart me by saying that a certain character was already "old". But I think my point (not even a point. Just me thinking out loud on the forum) stands, the younger they were the better they sold. They older they became the less they sold.

So if Ben was 42 in FF # 1 and Peter was 15 in Amazing Fantasy #15 then Ben and Reed are now 65 because Peter is established currently at 38.