Teen heroes burned by spotlight is quickly becoming a regular problem in superhero comics. It’s not a new one, it’s just got more decorations. A lot of the reception comes down to a few things by the big publishers: capitalizing on viral popularity and laziness. It’s as though the publishers and the creators they put to take over for follow-ups just don’t have the patience to see what made these youths so popular in the first place. Like all they see is the outbursts after dealing with slow burns.
Teen Heroes Before Burned Spotlight
I’m not gonna waste time telling you how good teen heroes had it decades ago. Because most of them are unknowns or sidekicks chasing after Robin’s trend. Unless you were Captain Marvel in the 40s or Spider-Man in the 60s. Even in the 80s where teen heroes really started to be a regular thing, it’s the New Teen Titans who stick around. Mostly because the ensemble casting allows for greater chances at character development. Yes, there are heroes who first show up around this time like Cloak & Dagger but it took 30 years to have a direction.
What Youth Looks Like
Most characters can only be so lucky, just ask the Power Pack. They were a pretty popular series back in the 80s thanks to the bold risks Louise Simonson made by actually making them feel like kids in the insane world of superheroes while handling social issues with tact. This allows the Pack to last 6 years. So notable, they got relaunched with digest trades in the 2000s for an accessible younger audience for the same amount. Better than a forgotten mini-series in the 90s. But ask anybody who the Power Pack is and you’ll mostly get a shrug. But maybe they got lucky in keeping their dignity.
There were a lot of characters with a lot of potential that fell flat. Just look at Hawk & Dove at the peak of their time in the 80s and how the 90s wrecked them. The Teen Titans meanwhile suffer hits and misses due to following trends of the time. Young Justice thankfully picks up the slack near the end of the decade. How? Again, by actually looking and acting like teenagers. Sometimes they get one-ups on each other, sometimes they get close with one another, sometimes they struggle with their assigned roles, sometimes they revel in the superhero insanity.
What Maturity Looks Like
Meanwhile the Titans show what happens when former teen heroes don’t get burned by spotlight. They’re now adults with responsibilities with years and experience to back them up. Friendships and hardships that come with these years equally last as long. No looking back on glory days, because they’re no longer the same people as those times even when the present gets bad.
Even Spider-Man goes into this at his best. Despite the Parker luck, he’s no longer wishing for his simpler days as college student. He’s taken on the responsibilities of being Spider-Man with the maturity of a married man working with his wife. Everything that came before is about Peter Parker being a better person. He’s still got a few slip-ups but at least it’s manageable.
Going Retrogression
And then there are the executive attitudes of going back to glory days. Marvel and DC in their own ways tried everything to go back to getting those sales numbers to record highs. But the ones that people lean towards the most are One More Day and the New 52. Go check out reboot woes on why the big picture doesn’t tend to work out.
To make it short here, trying to reset everything to bring in younger audiences has mixed effects. It tends to come down to a lack of commitment. Just look at the strawmen Red Hood and the Outlaws and Teen Titans; continuity aside, casuals thought these books were needlessly dark. For characters readers were supposed to get to know, the “teen” heroes had no personalities other than teen angst. They don’t even grow as people, they just go around slapping whatever bully comes their way.
Teen Heroes Burning The Spotlight
But now let’s talk about young heroes that got to avoid this starting with the Super Sons. Under Peter J. Tomasi, the Damian Wayne Robin gets much needed development and direction. No longer just the bratty, brutal Robin raised to be an assassin. He comes to see the Bat family as his family, growing with them in hard times. Dying and coming back with temporary super powers can do that to a person.
Also under Tomasi is the Jon Kent Superboy. Thanks to his parents, Jon got to be a regular kid you’d want to be friends with. Not only that, being the Son of Superman gave Jon a lot of personal expectations when his powers come out. Would people look at you differently if you went out of control over something you were born with?
So when Tomasi brings them together in Super Sons, their arcs catapult forward. Their dynamic of experience meets power is a good tug-of-war and means for character dynamic. Jon becomes more confident with his powers while Damian becomes less combative.
On the Marvel side, we’ve got the Miles Morales Spider-Man, the Sam Alexander Nova, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur. Each deal with expectations, staying connected to someone you love, working towards a life balance, and overcoming anxieties and doubt.
Teen Heroes Get Burned In The Spotlight
So what happens afterwards? Instead of focusing on growth, the publishers think the characters’ viral status is enough to make them headliners. Like making the 11 year old Jon Kent 17 and mastering his powers off-panel. Or putting three teen heroes in the Avengers because they’re popular rather than their relationships with them. Adding to this conundrum is how even after acknowledging that these takes weren’t as good as publishers hoped, characters go off in so many different directions without aim. It’s like their lives outside of being superheroes don’t matter and just latch onto stakeless action scenes or trends to catch on.
Yes, I know… these aren’t exclusive to the young’uns. They’re just the where it’s felt the most.
This isn’t just something from years ago either, it still happens. Like how DC’s Speed Force has tone deaf characterizations that feel like this:
Who’s The Target Audience?
At the core of these practices is trying to combine a younger fanbase with an older one. Back on All-New All-Different Avengers, the teen heroes come across as ads for their fanbases to check out the book. Only for those readers to notice the tonal shifts away from character sagas happening at the same time in favor of generic superhero romps. A similar thing happens in Adventures of Jon Kent, where an arc for Jon with his new powers is thrown to the side in favor of a crossover with the Injustice video game universe.
These as well as the above reboots of familiar names all come down to lazy marketing. Plots, pacing, and patience is thrown out in favor of creating a spectacle with trends or nostalgia. Don’t believe me; DC had Tomasi create Sinister Sons, a supervillain reskin of Super Sons.
Teen Heroes Burned By Panderverse Spotlight
But now the question is why the publishers take the lazy option. Honestly it comes down to investing money in the safe options. Because why bother developing characters who never went viral like Lorena Marquez the Aquagirl? Like I said a few times, the publishers don’t care about the quality of their stories as much as how far the IP can reach. In this attention economy, it’s who gets the most reactions, searches, trends, and mentions without spending a dime who succeed. I can almost guarantee that if anyone saw this video, they’d more likely pick up Action Comics 1057.
Someone dubbed over the opening pages of Action Comics #1057 pic.twitter.com/xDGt7rtLBb
— QUͧEST 🧭🌹 (@Hi_Its_Quest) April 8, 2024
And since people who do this kind of free marketing are usually over 18, why bother waiting for youthful characters to mature? Because they might not act like the users on social media when they do? Aren’t the majority of them middle-aged?
I don’t know, but I have a feeling if these publishers were serious, they wouldn’t be in a rush to lump every comic fan under one big demographic. That would give a new fanbase and characters time to adjust.
Thanks for coming to the end and… (Sigh)… don’t feel like ending that.