"But women who get hooked on soaps mostly do so as adults, in large part because children are in school while they are being aired."

Lots of daytime soap addicts in their 30s-40s became hooked as HS and college students. Don't know if Guiding Light is the right choice, though.

First, the name is Whedon, not Wheedon.

Second, Joss has nothing whatsoever to do with the Guiding Light crossover, nor does Laurell K. Hamilton. The Brandweek article is referring to a couple of Marvel comics that he's writing: The Astonishing X-Men and, in a couple of months, The Runaways. Tangentially, Joss is also writing and directing a big-screen Wonder Woman movie, although WW is a DC property. Needless to say, Joss gets around. For her part, Ms. Hamilton is involved in the translation of her Anita Blake novels into comics.

Anecdotally, I am a 37-year-old man who only came to the comic book world in his thirties. Oddly enough, I watched Days of Our Lives as a high schooler. I guess that kind of stands your theory on its head. But in general, you are probably right that boys get into comics at a younger age than girls get into soaps.

I would also like to point out that a) as the average age of comics readers gets older, there are more alternatives to superhero comics, and b) even the superhero comics are not what they used to be--it is quite common for superheroes to NOT save the day, or for their victories to be Pyrrhic ones.

In contrast, for a certain population of older boys and men, the superhero -- with his disguises and gadgets, weird exclamations and fights to the death -- continues to cast an ineffable spell.

One of the most common cliche's of comic books is that no one ever actually dies! You knew that, right? Death in comic books is reserved for sales promotions & big events.

And gradually, girls stories -- whether it's Ramona suffering through first grade in suburbia or Laura Ingalls Wilder suffering through a Long Winter on the frontier -- tend to become more about enduring than imposing. Despite the sequined dresses and opulent dinette sets, the soap opera genre flows from these narratives. Bad things just keep happening and no one saves the day.

I refer you to the aforementioned cliche'. Ramona & Laura Ingalls Wilder don't have a corner on the "bad things just keep happening" market. In a typical year, a single comic title publishes beteween 26 & 52 issues, and in each and every issue, bad things happen to the hero, not all of which are resolved. The villians always survive, and often escape into the shadows, to plot anew. What keeps the superhero character going isn't that the day is "saved", but the knowledge that even if today is saved, (in the words of another 'enduring' female character) tommorow is another day!

I agree that this kind of cross-promotion seems poorly thought out & unlikely to connect, but modern comic books have a lot more depth than you seem to be willing to credit them. At worst, they're modern moraltiy plays, fables in four color. At best, like much speculative fiction, they use metaphors to explore personal issues that all sorts of people can connect with. Brian Signer, director of the two very successful "X-Men" films offered a very good explanation for the frachise's success: who couldn't relate to being 'different' or 'wierd', finding a safe haven for learning & being accepted, and standing up for yourself and others who are "different"?

I could try and argue other literary and conceptual elements present in comic books that have redeeming value beyond the "rubber mask" stage of development. I could point out the success of "Smallville" as a 'superhero' story that has no gadgets or weird exclamations. I could suggest you try actually reading some of the comic books out there ("Civil War" is I believe this years 'big event' comic) but mostly, I'm just too dissapointed that you fall into stereotyping so easily. You argue that adult women won't become drawn into a storytelling medium unless it has compelling, interesting drama surrounding the characters, but you're perfectly willing to assume that men will be drawn in, as long as it's got explosions and lycra-clad characters?

Wasn't there a Broadstreet post complaining about tired cliches' on men's & women's eating habits? But women being drawn into soap operas as bored adults and men being compulsive comic book readers because they're immature children apparently is OK?

We did misunderstand the nature of Whedon's project with Marvel. We'll fix the item (and the spelling of his name).

Several people have commented that this crossover seems unlikely to attract new comic book fans. I also wonder how it will affect the soap opera fans. I was a long-time watcher of Guiding Light, starting when I was in middle school. (My mother watched it, and it was on when I got home from school.) I watched it for over a decade, until my job made it difficult to keep up. The idea of a character "obtaining superpowers" seems like it would alienate the traditional soap fan, especially on GL which is an older, more traditional soap. (Unlike, say, Passions, which attracted a younger and more "ironic" viewership, and could get away with stories about talking dolls.)

Back in the 1990's, GL tried to introduce a "clone" of popular character Reva, and this story was extremely unpopular, particularly among longtime fans. The publicity brought a short-lived ratings boost, but fans complained and left the show in droves, and eventually the ratings dropped so drastically that the show was almost cancelled. I think this tactic may backfire and end up not only not gaining new fans for superheroes, but driving away fans of soap opera.

“But women who get hooked on soaps mostly do so as adults, in large part because children are in school while they are being aired.”

Are you sure that’s true?

I got hooked on soaps during the summer months when I was a little girl along with lots of my friends. There was a story line on ‘Days of Our Lives’ (30 years ago?) about a man who invented a time machine out of a phone booth that totally captured my imagination as a child (not a comic character but still involving mystery, adventure, magic and lots of disguises). There was even a little actress who was my age who had her own story line (she’s still on that show too). Tune into any soap in the summer months and the story line involving the teen and pre-teen characters will be highlighted to draw young viewers in. It worked on me and lots of women (and some men) I know.