When does a comic book character count as an "Old" comic book character?

[neatoman]

About 15-20 years ago I thought of Spider-Man as an "old" comic book because he had been around for over 40 years. And the Wolfman Titans (Raven, Starfire and Cyborg) as not exactly recent but more contemporary creations, as they had barely even crossed the 20 year line. And something like Deadpool as recent because he was only then creeping up on a full decade.

Of course, it dawned on me that the Wolfman Titans turn 40 this year, meaning they would be old comic book book characters using that definition. And SPider-Man is, what? Really old at almost 60? And the TMNT will turn 40 in a couple of years as well.

I know it's ultimately always going to be an arbitrary number but is there a concensus for when a character is considered "old"? And yes, obviously a character like the Phantom will always be older than Spider-Man, but we don't think of people in 70's as young because people can live to be 120+.

[IMJ]

I imagine until you get a character that was quantifiably created decades and decades ago, that a lot of that is subjective based on when you were introduced to a character.

Then there's also the timelessness of a character. Superman for example was created a long time ago now, but is timeless enough that he can be updated to where he's an icon that doesn't feel old. Some people argue that the character is outdated, but the other side of that coin is that the character values are foundationally solid enough to be timeless. Spider-Man is truly the same way.

I think that characters start to feel "old" when they are intrinsically tied both visually and spiritually to an era they were created in. A lot of characters from the 90's are going to wind up this way. A lot of obscure characters from the 40's and 50's feel that way too, and therefore feel "old" whereas Batman doesn't.