Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett Bennett takes a look at the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip demographics and offers a couple of mini reviews.

Lots of Websites (this one included) already mentioned this, but early this year the status quo of the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip was reset to take place before Peter and Mary Jane were married, bringing it in line with comic book continuity.  But on Monday Pete woke up to discover his living with Aunt May had been "all a dream" -- a helpful block of text informing us this was (a) "in answer to your ton of requests" and (b) Wolverine* was soon going to be making an appearance in the strip.

I make note of this here because I think it shows the difference in demographics which exists between comic books and comic strips.  We all know Peter had to make that deal with the nondenominational devil to rid himself of his pesky true love so he might once again appeal to the all important 20-35 year old male demographic which equates marriage with death.  And while I strongly disagreed with the way Marvel did this I'll happy concede Spider-Man is a character who skews young, appealing to everyone from young adults to preschoolers.

Which is true everywhere, except apparently on the funny pages where an older demographic (meaning, heaven help me, people my age and older) rules.  They take a proprietary interest in long running strips (it surprised even me but Amazing Spider-Man has been running for over thirty years) and really, really hate change.  So when, say, a newspaper drops an older skewing strip like Mark Trail which does poorly in a reader's poll this demographic arises and isn't afraid to call their local paper until their strip is reinstated.

And while I sincerely doubt there was a deluge of protests I'm sure there was enough that newspaper editors passed them along to the syndicate.  I know this will sound weird but I'd guess regular readers of Amazing Spider-Man don't even think of it as being a superhero strip.  To them it's probably not much different than any of the other reassuringly dull story strips (Mary Worth, Judge Parker and Rex Morgan MD) they unironically enjoy.  That's opposed to would be hipsters who read these strips online as a source of snide amusement, if the snarky comments they regularly post are any indication.

And you could hardly blame them for thinking it. I've been following it for years and except for the intrusion of the occasional superhero villain the glacially slow moving storylines are pretty much interchangeable with whatever's going on at Judge Parker's office.  And I've always been troubled by the strangely thick way that Peter and Mary Jane are drawn; they'll never come out and say it but clearly they're supposed to be middle aged.  And middle aged (and married) makes the couple more relatable to newspaper readers.

So what's my point?  Nothing, except clearly there is a way to reconfigure comic book material to appeal to an older demographic, we just may not like it.

I don't "do" comic book reviews here for good reason, but since the subject is comic book material that can appeal to different audiences I'm be remiss if I didn't point out a couple of recent Marvel comics: Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers.  I was looking forward to this one for the sheer wonkiness of the concept, thinking I'd be getting more of the Silver Age style fun found in the recent Age of the Sentry miniseries but came away surprised.  It's definitely not the flimsy whimsy we've come to expect from Chris Eliopoulos, the man who gives us Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius.  He does a remarkable job of playing it absolutely straight, making you care about a bunch of animals, especially the heartbreak of poor Lockheed.  Sure, it's an old fashioned superhero hero comic (with animals) but should also appeal to anyone who enjoys epic fantasies with animal protagonists.

Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos:  It probably fell under your radar but Marvel published a war comic this year, a Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos one-shot that managed to hew close to the characters and themes from the original comics while adding just enough sex and violence for readers who grew up on Vertigo comics.  Frankly, I'm always a little suspicious of television writers who suddenly become comic book writers but Jesse Alexander (Heroes, Alias, Lost) does a fine job of mixing genre staples (Nazi super-weapons) and moments Stan Lee wouldn't have dared imagine (a scene where the Commandos take five in a bordello).  Plus there are guest appearances by Barons Zemo and Strucker, Adolph Hitler and a heretofore unseen WWII Black Widow I'd dearly like to see more of.

* Which I suppose would have made for some handy cross promotion if it had happened when, say, the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine first came out, but now I'm not sure what exactly it's in aid of.  And while typing the character's name entirely too fast it came out "Wolferine" -- try saying it, its fun!

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.