History NotAllowedToGrowUp / ComicBooks

** Comicbook/JubileeMarvelComics, has the dubious honor of reaching adulthood three times. When introduced she was fifteen-year-old in 1989, but aged down to ''thirteen'' when she was added to the cast of the ''Comicbook/GenerationX'' title. When Generation X ended she reached adulthood, the first time, and moved out to Los Angeles to start a film career. She later joined X-Corps and The X-Men along with her former teammate, and best friend, Husk. Husk at the time was in a relationship with Angel with was a source of Squick for readers. Marvel tried to placate fans by stating that Husk was 18. However, as Husk was canonically two years older than Jubes, this knocked her down to sixteen. This was confirmed in her short-lived self-titled series in 2004. After M-Day she became an adult again as well as a political activist [[note]] This wasn't outright stated, but heavily implied as minors can't rent an apartment, obtain a business license or operate a halfway house without being emancipated or parental consent. Part of the reason why she goes to live with her "aunt" in the 2004 series is she can't legally live on her own. [[/note]] However, this turn was widely hated and ignored by later writers. However, everything was ignored and in her 2011 miniseries was said to be seventeen. Making her a minor again...Sharp-eyed readers have observed that this means that, due to other screwing around with the continuity of the X-Men comics, Jubilee is now younger than ''Pixie'', who was the youngest of the New X-Men when introduced in ''2004''. Furthermore, the subject of the 2011 miniseries was Jubilee having come to terms with her new vampirism and thus never aging again, even though under Marvel's officially-stated time system says she should have been 22.[[note]]Marvel officially says that 3 years real time is 1 year in the Marvel Universe. In practice, this example is more of a rule than an exception.[[/note]] Despite her vampirism, the character did turn 18, but due to said vampirism, she continued to functionally still be a minor. However, her vampirism was eventually cured and she was allowed to age again, mostly so she could legally adopt Shogo. [[note]] minors can't legally adopt in the United States. [[/note]] That said VagueAge is enforced as she should be in her mid-twenties, but as a result of being a vampire for a decade looks 18-19.

** The New X-Men were all high school age when they were first introduced in ''New Mutants Vol. 2''. More than a decade later, they're ''still'' high school age. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that Marvel Editorial has stated ''outright'' they have no intention of allowing them to "age out," out of a sense that there's too many adult characters. The only clear exception is Comicbook/{{X 23}}, who has been allowed to age from around 16 years old when she was first brought into the book, to somewhere around 18-20 by the time of ''Comicbook/AllNewWolverine''.

* The original ComicBook/{{Robin}} (Dick Grayson) was twelve years old for something like forty years. It was really only after ''Comicbook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' that DC characters started aging, and even then characters often stay around the same age for a very long time.

** There was some aging going on at DC before the Crisis. Dick went off to college in 1969's Batman #219. He stayed 18 through the Seventies and was 19 or maybe 20 by the time he changed his name to ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}. Creator/JackKirby had officially aged Comicbook/JimmyOlsen to 21 in the 1970s. And Comicbook/{{Supergirl}} had gone from a little teenybopper to a full-grown young woman by the '80s. After the Crisis, though, [[DoubleStandard Jimmy got turned back into a kid,]] [[SidekickGraduationsStick while Dick got to stay an adult,]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog and poor Kara got erased from existence.]]

* Franchise/GreenLantern: Kyle Rayner has been in his twenties since his introduction in 1994. In this regard, he isn't unique; thanks to ComicBookTime, other members of his generation (like Roy Harper and Dick Grayson) are also portrayed as being in their twenties, no matter how improbable that might seem. What makes Kyle seem particularly prone to this trope is that he was portrayed as [[TheBabyOfTheBunch the youngest member of the JLA and the Lantern family]] for ''years'', as the Lantern franchise lacks any kid sidekicks to give him the illusion of aging. Thanks to the introduction of less-experienced Lanterns like Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, however, recent stories have begun to portray him as an experienced veteran (even if he still has yet to turn thirty).
** All of this seemed particularly strange pre-Flashpoint, as Kyle's friend [[Franchise/TheFlash Wally West]] started out roughly the same age as him but was aged up into his mid-thirties after having children. But since his reintroduction in Rebirth, Wally has also been portrayed as a twenty-something, making him another example of this trope.
* Franchise/SpiderMan and [[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Human Torch]] are interesting examples. Both started as teenagers, roughly the same age as the original X-Men. Both have been aged into responsible adults with wives, only for some writer to come along and turn back the clock. With the Torch it tends to be more his emotional age to maintain his place as the youngest on the Fantastic Four. However, after ''Comicbook/OneMoreDay'', Spider-Man is explicitly stated to be in his mid-20's, closer in age to the former New Mutants, than the original X-Men.
* In the ''Comicbook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'', Donald, Scrooge, and the nephews have been the same age since the fifties. The only Duck-writer who seems to avert this is Creator/DonRosa because his "present day" stories are all set in the fifties.

* Averted and then played straight with ''ComicStrip/{{Dennis the Menace|UK}}'' from ''Comicbook/TheBeano'', originally the character looked quite young but as the years progressed Dennis got taller and ganglier so much so that by the '70s he resembled more of a teenager than a 10-year-old boy. However, after this, the original artist stopped drawing the character and Dennis did not age for much of the '80s until the '90s when he got younger in part to make the character easier to animate.

* Chase Stein of the Comicbook/{{Runaways}} turned 18 shortly after [[spoiler:Gert's death]]. But the rest of the team still appears to be underage.
* Justified with [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] as Billy doesn't age when he in his Captain Marvel form, and he is in this form ALOT. The end result is he looks like he's just approaching 13 despite being a hero since the 1940's. This has actually had the effect of making him younger than his younger sister Mary. In fact, in 2003 when Mary joined the Super Buddies, she was sixteen a full three-four years older than her older brother. Mary got another bump into adulthood in 2008, although this was to deal with the UnfortunateImplications of her newfound MsFanservice status. Billy however remained a child which began to stretch believe-ability. Eventually, DC settled the issue when it rebooted it's universe in 2011 with Mary was retconned into being Billy's unrelated older foster sibling. As well as already being an adult when she gained her powers.
* Horrifically deconstructed with the character of Super Sally Sonic in Creator/GrantMorrison's ''Comicbook/SevenSoldiers''. As a little girl, she was offered a magical artifact which made her nearly immortal. Because she never aged out of her teens, when her parents died she was declared to be underage, lost her house, and eventually ended up on the streets.

** When ComicBook/MilesMorales takes up the mantle of Ultimate Universe Spider-Man, he's explicitly stated to be a middle schooler, around twelve or thirteen. This comic also featured a year-long TimeSkip in which Miles visibly older and had begun high school, but [[VagueAge no exact number is ever given]], which becomes a running gag in ''ComicBook/MilesMoralesSpiderMan'' #10, his BirthdayEpisode. The closest we have to a proper age for Miles is "old enough to know his way around high school but not yet freaking out about college", par for the course for most teen superheroes.

* In the ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'', Reed and Sue's son Franklin was born in 1968. Aside from an incident of using his powers to temporarily age himself to adulthood, and the usual range of alternate reality versions, he has remained a child for more than four decades of real-world time. The fact that he was injudiciously given a StoryBreakerPower contributes heavily to the problem of ever letting him grow up. It is very glaring though because characters that were born long after him are now either teenagers or actual adults. Case in point in the 1980's when Franklin joined Power Pack, he was seven while Lightspeed was nine-ten. In 2005 Lightspeed joined the Loners, she was seventeen and three years later Franklin turned eight... The most recent Fantastic Four series finally averts this is finally with Franklin becoming an angsty teenager. Furthermore, implying that he was a kid for so long because he was using his powers to extend his childhood.

* In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Peter has been roughly 15 or 16 since the beginning. In 2000. [[WordOfGod Brian Michael Bendis]] even invoked this trope: "''The Simpsons'' have kept their ages for more than a decade, we can do that too." He plans to have 100 issues equal 1 year, and if Spider-Man lives that long he will eventually be old enough to drink. Of course, it became academic when [[spoiler: Peter bit the dust. In a newspaper article seen in ''ComicBook/SpiderMen'', Peter is said to have recently turned eighteen at the time of his death]].

* Used and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''ComicBook/MonicasGang''. The comic has been running for over 59 years, but the main cast is always 6. Every year, however, there's a special comic featuring a character's 7th birthday -- which then snaps back and they're 6 again. In a recent example, someone asks Jimmy Five how old he's turning. "Seven," he replies, "just like ''[[ElmuhFuddSyndwome evewy]]'' other year." Further lampshaded in their ''Teen'' AlternateUniverse, via the {{Shout Out}}s to the main continuity. Possibly prone to even more of this now that the latest storyline focuses on this universe's Marina's [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday Dangerous Fifteenth Birthday]] (which is the Brazilian equivalent to 16 in America).

* Used and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''ComicBook/MonicasGang''. The comic has been running for over 30 years, but the main cast is always 6. Every year, however, there's a special comic featuring a character's 7th birthday -- which then snaps back and they're 6 again. In a recent example, someone asks Jimmy Five how old he's turning. "Seven," he replies, "just like ''[[ElmuhFuddSyndwome evewy]]'' other year." Further lampshaded in their ''Teen'' AlternateUniverse, via the {{Shout Out}}s to the main continuity. Possibly prone to even more of this now that the latest storyline focuses on this universe's Marina's [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday Dangerous Fifteenth Birthday]] (which is the Brazilian equivalent to 16 in America).

* Used and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Comicbook/MonicasGang''. The comic has been running for over 30 years, but the main cast is always 6. Every year, however, there's a special comic featuring a character's 7th birthday -- which then snaps back and they're 6 again. In a recent example, someone asks Jimmy Five how old he's turning. "Seven," he replies, "just like ''[[ElmuhFuddSyndwome evewy]]'' other year." Further lampshaded in their ''Teen'' AlternateUniverse, via the {{Shout Out}}s to the main continuity. Possibly prone to even more of this now that the latest storyline focuses on this universe's Marina's [[DangerousSixteenthBirthday Dangerous Fifteenth Birthday]] (which is the Brazilian equivalent to 16 in America).
* In the ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'', Reed and Sue's son Franklin was born in 1968. Aside from an incident of using his powers to temporarily age himself to adulthood, and the usual range of alternate reality versions, he has remained a child for more than four decades of real-world time. The fact that he was injudiciously given a StoryBreakerPower contributes heavily to the problem of ever letting him grow up. It is very glaring though because characters that were born long after him are now either teenagers or actual adults. Case in point in the 1980's when Franklin joined Power Pack, he was seven while Lightspeed was nine-ten. In 2005 Lightspeed joined the Loners, she was seventeen and three years later Franklin turned eight... The most recent Fantastic Four series finally averts this is finally with Franklin becoming an angsty teenager. Furthermore, implying that he was a kid for so long because he was using his powers to extend his childhood.

** [[Comicbook/RobinSeries Tim Drake]] debuted at fourteen and eventually turned sixteen towards the end of his onging series, which ran from 1993 to 2009. Pre-Flashpoint, he was stated to be 17: but he hasn't aged a day since, and actually lost a year when Detective Comics recently gave his age as 16. This trope also applies to [[ComicBook/YoungJustice his best friends]], all of whom are ''still'' being portrayed as teen sidekicks even though a younger generation of heroes has cropped up to take their places.