QUOTE: Here, on a comic book message board, between fans it probably isn't that big of a deal.  I'm sure nobody means it as a pejorative.  But like I said, it always makes me cringe.  I tend to think that if a non-comic reader stumbled into here and saw it, it would reinforce the idea that some people have that comic are an insular, nerdy habit.  But that's just me throwing my reaction out there.

Thank you, Patrick.  You've just come up with the words I've been looking for on this matter.  I agree with you whole-heartedly.

Brendan, it may not be a pejorative but it is a misnomer.  I am a "civilian" and have been reading comics for over thirty years.  So if I am a civilian and the non comic reader is a civilian how do you distinguish between the two?

As for JB's list, I think anybody that is willing to let him determine the criteria for whether they are too old or not to read superhero comics is on pretty safe ground to continue with their hobby.  

QUOTE: As for JB's list, I think anybody that is willing to let him determine the criteria for whether they are too old or not to read superhero comics is on pretty safe ground to continue with their hobby.

Personally, I think the list can be much shorter:

(1) You don't enjoy their stories anymore.

To me, that's when you're "too old for super-heroes."  Most anyone will flirt with the ideas on the list from time to time.  (I started to compose a long, point-by-point response, until I realized that darn near every one of my responses boiled down to, "Eh...sometimes.  But not really.")  When it's more than a flirtation, that tends to lead to no longer enjoying super-hero stories anymore.

And, when there's anything you don't enjoy, that should be more than enough to call it quits.  As long as you do still enjoy it, though, there's absolutely no reason in the world to bail.

"I've recently realized that I'm more ANNOYED than ENTERTAINED with certain books....so they are gone."

That's become my new standard and it's claimed all the Bendis and JMS books I used to read.  I read their stuff and there's almost always something interesting in it, but it's surrounded by so much stuff I can't stand that it is just not worth it.

Mike

Jay Matthews wrote: You desire for superheroes to kill or maim (or struggle with the issue of whether to kill or maim), because that's more "realistic."

Too broad.  It all depends on how it's used.  Superman's decision to kill the three Kryptonian villains, and his subsequent struggle with how to live with that decision is one of the best storylines of the Post-Crisis Superman.

Never read it.  I'm not criticizing the quality of any type of story.  I'm suggesting that when your mind goes down the road of

"Why doesn't Superman slaughter all the bad guys in a nanosecond" or

"Why doesn't Batman kill the Joker?" or

 "Why doesn't Zatanna use her mind powers to make bad guys good?"

THEN, you may have begun the "too old for comics" phase of your life.

As far as "Graphic Novel" is concerned, I had always considered a self contained in and of itself story published on its own to be a graphic novel...ie "Maus".  these are few and far between.  The term is now bandied about willy-nilly.  I avoid using it now.  Comics are comiccs and If I need to show that they can acomplish more than just "Superhero" stories,(which I enjoy wholeheartedly with none of the aforementiond problems.  I just pull out my standbys that prove illustraded or not good literature is goos literature.

D-