richardmurray

A REPLY

Well, it would kind of be the same as creating a new character. Sure the name is the same, and sometimes the costumes are the same, but the person inside isn't and that makes a difference.
At this point, with everything that has been going on in comics that fans don't like change. They don't like for new people to take up the mantel (except for maybe a story or two), or to see them age, or whatever.
I said before the issue stems from all this talk about realism. If not for that people wouldn't even think about characters aging.
People reading comics in the Golden Age or even the Silver Age didn't think much about characters aging, there was just a vague timeline, people stayed the same age for years and the only people who even commented on (as far as I ever heard) were non-comic book readers who would make fun of it.
To me, as long as you don't comment on it or make a thing out of it I don't think anyone really cares that much.

MY RESPONSE TO THE REPLY
I see your comment as true, but I will adjust some wording from my own interpretation of the issues you bring up, I don't iterate symmetrically to you....1) I know people who read comics. Most comic book readers in the golden or silver age  didn't care, but not all. Yes, majority rules, I didn't say you were wrong, but, how many are in the minority matters. and if it 30% not 10% then...  2) most people are making a realism argument but I am not. i am making a writing argument. I think its poor writing. most of the most beloved superheroes can have 90% of their comics eliminated and the remaining 10% can cover every story they ever had. I use la morte d'arthur as an example. Most people know the basic frame story in the death of arthur. But what is the difference between arthur and superman? Arthur has no new stories. people merely recreate what is already been written. Superman keeps getting unnecessary additions. Just recreate. Superman is in a never ending, never changing story for the most part. I Argue it is poor writing and I argue that readers are poor. I believe in this very group I have spoken on my view that readers are poor at reading. If la morte d'arthur was a usa comic book, mordred would be fighting arthur now, in another new attempt, to do the exact same thing 80 years ago. That is bad writing for me. Just reissue the comics, or just have artist redraw the comics, but keep the story, no need for anything new. 3) I want to restate, I said in my original comment the financial reality. So, i am not refuting marker research. I am not refuting <this is symmetrical to your paragraphs> a) comic book buyers reactions b) comic book buyers revenue response , though I think readers or buyers in the usa are poor at it c)the majority arguments made , though they are not mine d) the majority of readers or buyers ways in the past, though not all in the past were like that e) most modern comic book fans don't care , though I and others in minority do care for varying reasons  4) this brings me back to milestone...  and I think our dialogs have reached the same place before  in this group where, milestone as a more recent company, in all earnest , has acted inappropriately in mirorring dc or marvel. and I say this comprhending DC still has large say or ownership over milestone so it isn't technically that free from dc but back to my point, I don't see why. Milestone is modern. why? I can comprehend, DC or Marvel all started by whites, lets be honest, all started in the 1940s or 1950s but why Milestone. Started by Blacks. Started in the 1990s. why? and I am not asking you to answer that question. I will love to get Cowan's answer. That is who I want to answer the question and I already asked through polite channels and got no reply. ... And as someone who submitted to the milestone initiative, I realize, Milestone at the moment is looking for artists who go alongside your thinking or the thinking of your realists, but I am not in line with either of you and Milestone isn't considering that angle at all. so , stings as milestone is my favorite usa comic label.  
 

A REPLY
Another thing about comics, and I heard one of the youtube comic book channels point this out as well, is they're not really built for people to read them their entire lives.
They tend to repeat themselves because they're more intended for people to get into them when they're young than age out after about 10 years or so (a recent video put the point most people ' outgrow' comics at around 16).
That was then, now you have people who are into them their whole lives and either stay the whole time or dip in and out (which is what I did).
In some ways, I would say they're like American soap operas that are built to run in circles, endlessly (or where since most of them, as far as I can tell, have been canceled at this point).
Let's say that DC decided way back in the Golden Age to let Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman age normally (I don't think Wonder Woman was immortal at that time and I don't think anyone had pulled 'Kryptonains age differently than humans' card at that point). What then?
Do they just die and are then forgotten and replaced by new characters or do the pass on the mantel and do we get Dick Grayson as the second Batman, another am*zon come in and become a new Wonder Woman and, I guess, a new Kryptonian shows up to become a new Superman?
Is that what we're talking about here? Either Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman live and die and the world moves on or do we get new ones, every decade or so?
Is that really sustainable? Would DC and Marve even exist today under these conditions?

MY RESPONSE TO THE REPLY

Chris McWilliams to answer your questions. and I answer this first one knowing it is a pure thought experiment, in no way will the owners of dc allow it, but 1>Superman at age 150 to me has white hair and wrinkes, and is still stronger, faster, higher jumper than any human. Yes, not as high /strong/fast as at 1940 but in no way human. That slow decline I think is interesting. Don't you?  It isn't real, there is no superman and I wrote years ago, my technologically advanced alien race doesn't all die except for a baby sent into space by a lone couple while others ignore their dying sun, they terraform a planet for many children. To be blunt, my kryptonians did it a while back:) but anyway, to what was written, throughout that 20-150 life span, his relationship with louis will change, cause it isn't just kal-el who ages but louis too, the aging isn't just for these main characters. Does louis want kids? is not that a decent question to ask for any female character? She can say no, but some kind of discussion, right? I would eliminate all the aliens criminals and even though I love braniac, that includes braniac:)  and keep superman with the originals criminal set. And in tandem, don't they ever try to band together and kill everybody around superman, the reporter lois lane, her friend, clark kent, the photographer, jimmy olsen, perry white and his newspaper, Superman is a legend but can he really save the daily planet if the criminals act together? and then the government. I can see the government framing superman and forcing him on the run, ala bruce banner. At some point clark kent has to die or retire, not superman , but clark kent. I think many stories abound. To Wonder Woman, in the same way as kal -el, diana is made of clay from the gods, I say she never gets old, isn't immortal , meaning she can be killed but not by time. I think it make senses with her golden age story. And with the tech plus magic of the amazons in the golden age, I can see it with her, so she will not look physiclaly different over time, but I think her consciousness need to evolve. meaning, Diana left the island to learn about man plus protect man right? i think diana is a world traveler, literally. in her comic, we can watch her travel with steve all over the world, literally. Humanity isn't the usa, it isn't white europeans, it is all humans and since she is from that island, she covets the earth too. and I think that love of nonhumans, as well can be mephasized. so that is where I will take her. On that journey it begins with steve but eventually steve may die or leave, maybe she becomes pregnant, she doesn't have to but a man and a woman traveling, never get it on, come on:) Fantasy can become stupidity at times. I am not suggesting reality again, I don't even comprehend why diana want to leave thymyscera honestly, but...  And lastly is the batman, I think batman needed to be the same way robin is. Robin has versions but so should had batman. let's be honest. I can see Bruce's batman older being accompanied by nightwing/grayson , gordon/batwoman , drake/robin, I can see Grayson being batman with drake as robin. I can see gordon as batman with jason todd, My idea is, Bruce is the original batman but as he gets older and batman's job descript grows, managing the justice league or et cetera to do all this he will need the others in the clan to done the bat, and instead of it being clayface, why not grayson? ...2> so bruce wayne eventually dies but he dies replacing alfred in alfred's role, but readers of the comic will have been engineered since the 1950s to expect different members of the bat family  to done the cap and cowl and nightwing, like I can see , Grayson as batman- Todd as Nightwing and Drake as Robin, do you see where I am going? Each batman can have unique elements, so for example, only bruce's batman talks with commissioner gordon or goes to the justice league headquaters as batman. I think women will love the gordon batman episodes.  it opens up batman to be a rite of passage, each bat family member gets their own batman guise, and if a male junior gets a robin guise, female junior batgirl, and then batwoman, but everybody gets to be batman. if you start of this process in the 1950s i think readers will accept it. not now of course.  and to the question of succession, one day grayson takes bruce's place as the new alfred, you know. This allows for easier continuity up to batman beyond in all earnest. for wonder woman, based on her original creation, i say she doesn't age once mature, she is made of clay:) formed by the gods, come on magic right, it doesn't mean she can't be killed, but time doesn't whither her. So she si wonder woman all the way but, I would bring her away from this american thing, i think wonder woman is a global citizen. which i think is interesting storytelling. imagine wonder woman in the soviet union, comprehending the way of the life in the soviet union in a positive way, and doing the same in the usa. she is trying to help all of humanity, not support one part of it. Now after 60 publication years of traveling all over the world, a complex relationship with steve rogers, she can say she has learned all she can from all in humanity and saved many but now what to do, I have no clear idea but the next writer can take the helm.  As for kal -el I said he can be 150 and still a superman. I do think him plus lois after 60 years of comics, might finally have a kid? moreover, based on my 150, like diana, he would still be powerful in the year 2021, but is lois still here? is jimmy olsen still a photographer:) One of the problems with age in comics is everyone focuses on the main character and forgets everyone else. PErry white is still running the dialy planet:) 3> is that sustainable, would dc or marvel exist today? unfortunately, I can't say yes or no. The reality is, industrial history can be statistically assessed, but assessing what would had happened if industries had different managements in history is impossible to do. It is all false assumption cause how can any of us know what human beings will do unless we have raw truth. Computer simulations are by default a lie when it comes to assuming industrial replies by consumers in the past. so I can't speak for MArvel or DC. MErely theory:) and , even for Milestone, I can't assume the response if they had restarted the way I wanted. my argument is, and I know dc has influence regardless, restarting similar to the way I suggested was clearly worth attempting over a near century old comic book firm like dc or marvel.