mattdic
asked:
I agree re: Cyclops. I do think lapsed readers who come back might have a problem with him, or with Tony, or let's say Otto-Spider-Man, but that's because they haven't been on the journey. To me it's so much more worthwhile when the characters do grow and change over the years. I understand that new generations of readers deserve to have iconic versions and how important the illusion of change is, but your most interesting characters this last decade are the most interesting for a reason: growth
See, I can’t worry about lapsed readers in this way. Lapsed readers might also have a problem with Wolverine and Storm and Nightcrawler being X-Men, or Daredevil wearing a red costume, or Iron Man’s armor looking different. There’s always change going on in the lives of the Marvel characters. But that’s not necessarily in opposition to keeping the characters iconic. What makes a character iconic is elusive, but you can maintain it while still changing things up from time to time. If things remain static for too long, even the readers who love them that way will begin to get bored and drift away, becoming those lapsed readers.