"Mawwiage"  (and Comic Books)

Industry gadfly DCWomenKickingAss tweeted (https://twitter.com/dcwomenkicknass/statuses/375723082339454976): 'So "industry sources" have told the Daily News that teen/20 somethingcomic readers aren't interested in their heroes becoming domesticated.'

Wherein lies the problem of the comic book industry — DC Comics in particular — today: the conflation of 60s sitcom stereotypes with 20-something-at-heart fanboyz who are running the show these days, leading to a view of reality that is … problematic.

DC is, itself, notorious in the past few years for very obviously and intentionally shedding itself of any married heroes, either through Major Dramatic Events (Hawkman and Hawkgirl; Ralph & Sue Dibney) or the DC "New 52" universal reboot (Superman and Lois; Wally West and Linda Park; Barry and Iris Allen; Jay and Joan Garrick; Adam and Alan Strange).  Marriage is, apparently, "icky" — or perceived to be so for the putative purchasers of comics.

Marvel, itself, is something of a mixed bag.  Reed and Sue Richards have been happily married since the 60s. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne's marriage broke up due to spousal abuse. Scott Summers and Madelyne Prior's marriage was destroyed about five or six different directions.  Hawkeye and Mockingbird broke up under a succession of writers. Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson's marriage was destroyed at Marvel editorial's diktat as part of a deal with the Devil.  All that said, it still seems more like a variety of approaches rather than DC's virtual phobia about marriage under the current management regime.

A fundamental problem seems to be the idea that marriage = "domesticated" — that the only way that readers (or writers) will be interested in a male/female relationship (to take an example) is if actual oaths of loyalty and love don't exist.  

Frankly, that strikes me more as an issue with the writers (and editorial) than with the actual state of marriage.  I mean, the idea that marriage = domesticity = boringness is straight out of a 1960s sitcom (and, hell, there were still plenty of those that managed to find such marraiges entertaining). 

Granted, a marriage makes it less likely that a hero will, James Kirk-like, boff anything of the opposite (or, today, same) gender that crosses his or her path.  I'm not sure that's a bad thing, and certainly there is room for a marriage relationship — whether between a hero and a "normal" or two heroes — that presents an interesting array of relationship and interaction stories.  

I mean, is the only wish fulfillment that comic book readership (or, more accurately, comic book management/editorial) has focused on romancing anything in a skirt / tight pants? If marriage is not on the table, do the relationships that do occur simply serve as commitment-less titillation?  Without asserting that marriage is the norm, is instead lack of marriage the heroic fantasy aspiration?

Let me offer my own writerly assessment: if the only stories you can write about people who are married are dull, boring, and "domesticated," I suggest that is not a commentary on marriage (or contemporary audiences) so much as a commentary upon your own writing abilities and your hang-ups about relationships.