[Continued from previous post.]
I think I understand what's going on. Marvel is jealous of DC having more-or-less successfully integrated their various Eras into a multi-generational continuity. The current Flash, for example, is the third of that name, having served his apprenticeship as the kid sidekick to the second (Saint Barry Allen, who was in turn inspired by the adventures of the first, Jay Garrick), and now has a Kid Flash of his own to worry about.
For Marvel, on the other hand, having few kid sidekicks and no elder statesmen, the transition must be even more awkward. What will we offer (they must be thinking) to the readers of DC's Teen Titans? This is what leads to the creation of Young Avengers. (Iron Lad, the Asgardian, Patriot, and... Hulkling?) And X 23, a teenaged girl with the powers (and claws) of Wolverine. (Cute costume, though.) And Araña, a teenaged girl with the powers of Spider-Man. (Of course, there's already a Spider-Girl, but being in an alternate future she doesn't count...)
And, now, the Pink Goblin (no, they don't call her that--at least, not yet), a teenaged girl with the combined powers of the Green Goblin and Spider-Man. (Remember that transfusion.) Coming soon, Scorpion, a teenaged girl with a poison touch. Vampire by Night, a teenaged girl with the powers of... Bela Lugosi, I guess.
(You know, ever since Frank Miller put an iconic costume on a teenaged girl, everybody wants to do it.)
Very easy to snipe at comics I haven't read.
But what we're facing is a problem that both Marvel and DC have had for years now: They've forgotten how to create characters. Look over the output of both companies: You can count on the fingers of one hand the number of books featuring a character created less than twenty years ago.
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