Why Age Matters

The rise of the Silver Age in comics provided a fresh perspective on the graphic novel in many ways, which the X-Men comics showcase well. There are larger stories for females, a more diverse cast of characters is introduced, and most of all, the range of featured ages shifts. Rather than once again focus on adults in the workforce and their alter egos as both the Justice League and Avenger groups do, the X-Men comics primarily features children and teenagers as the heroes of the day. Certain contrasts can be made between the adult and teenage supergroups, but one that I thought was particularly interesting was the dialogue.

Superhero comics are known for corny dialogue, that at times seems cringeworthy when coming out of an adult's mouth. Superman especially set the trend for gearing writing towards children through adult characters, which often led to childish and immature sounding dialogue and speech patterns. In the X-Men comic series, the style of dialogue does not change drastically- the mouthpieces do, and reducing the age of the characters that say these cheesy lines makes the lines themselves seem less hokey because this time, the intended audience and the characters are closer in age. This is brought to light in the Avengers/X-Men crossover, as we have both adults and teenagers speaking in very similar manners, but the style clearly is suited towards the teens. In many ways, the X-Men comics show a progression from the original superhero comics to the ideal that the original comics were trying to encompass.