Anyone who thinks Holocaust survivors en masse channeled a drive for revenge by warring on Arabs is nuts

QUOTE: Is that a secondary mutation? Fans -- and some pros -- often call up the "ages slowly" dodge, but it creates problems of its own. Such as When did this slowing of the aging process kick in? Puberty, like other mutant powers? If so, how long did it take Magneto to get from 13ish to 40ish (as seen in the first issue)? It stretches his timeline back further and further.

In all cases where I've heard a creator go into details*, long-lived characters are said to age normally until either puberty (for mutants, which makes it easy) or till they physically become an adult. (Though I recall and Eternal named Sprite that stayed a child, physically)

I've always wondered how this worked for Thor and Loki. We saw them having adventurers as children, but being gods, they don't play by the same rules a mutants.

*Actually, this might be old Handbook lore creeping into my memory.

When I was working on FANTASTIC FOUR, I received a very serious and sincere letter from a fan who suggested that the radiation in the blood of various characters not only slowed down their own aging process, but also that of people around them. Thus, for example, the fact that Peter Parker was himself "radioactive" kept Aunt May, and JJJ, and Harry, and Liz, and MJ, and all the rest, including villains who were exposed to him, from aging!

Of course, the central flaw in this -- beyond the obvious creation of a knot of "ageless" people who might THEMSELVES be inclined to notice something was amiss, even if NOBODY ELSE did -- is the presumption that characters with "radiation origins" are themselves RADIOACTIVE. While this might be true on some level for the Hulk, there's really no reason to make the assumption for Spider-Man, the FF, or (especially) the X-Men. It's an abuse of the whole concept of how radioactivity works, for one thing. While Stan did ten to use radiation like magic in the early days of Marvel, there should be a limit to how far you can go with this. The spider that bit Peter Parker was irradiated to the point that she became radioactive, and that was LETHAL. Almost instantly so. As it would be in the real world.

Willing suspension of disbelief is important in this fantasy world, but that should not extend too far.

Imagine creating Ground Zero, a superhero whose origin is linked to 9/11. No way to ignore the passing years without negating something of the character.

Just intoduce the ideas that for Super-Heroes and Villains to be "frozen in age" or to mature v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, and that a psycho dressed as a flying rat has endangered many children, are so unrealistic that we are cancelling all X-Men, Batman, and even tangentially related titles. Then watch the "realism crowd" suddenly have an epiphany that good stories with good art and good values are all that really what matters.

Willing suspension of disbelief is important in this fantasy world, but that should not extend too far.

***********************

I agree. But “not extending too far” is that nebulous region where it can get complicated. Each person's mileage can vary a lot concerning what they are willing to suspend belief on. I generally stopped reading comics in my early 20’s because they seemed…well…silly. I can still look back on those older comics from my teen age years with enjoyment. But actually going full bloom into collecting again would be very unlikely. On the flip side, others can enjoy collecting them well into their 50’s or 60’s. It just doesn’t bother them.

Saying characters *and their supporting casts* age slowly is a huge cheat and something that would get noticed within a handful of years. ("Geez, I thought I was supposed to stop getting acne long before I turned 38... and the girl next door is a grandmother!")

I much prefer JB's approach in FF, where fixed historical info simply isn't mentioned. Maybe some future writer will just ignore that Magneto was once thought to be a Holocaust survivor... We can only hope.