“Heroes, Villains, and Me” is a new weekly article on Geeky KOOL about the world of comic books and my reaction to it. “Heroes, Villains, and Me” is not a comic book review article. I will write about current events, speculation and rumors, or my own wacky thoughts about the world of comic books.
When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, most boys my age read comic books at least casually. You could find superhero comic books at the pharmacy, in the grocery store, at convenience store, and often at the barber shop. Many parents allow their kids to sit down at the comic rack and browse the comics while they did their shopping. If we were good, we might get to purchase a comic when they checked out. It was common in my home town to see both boys and girls gather around checking out this month’s issue of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.
Those days are long gone. Nowadays, you pretty much have to go to a comic book speciality shop or read them online. When I enter into my local shop (which I love), I rarely see children and teenagers. If I do see kids, it is often because there is a Magic or Pokemon tournament going on. The only kids I personally know that are into comic books are children of adult comic book readers.
Studies show that the average comic book reader is now over 35 years old. The good news for the comic book industry is that readers have more money to spend. The bad news is often that money is spent on other life expenses and their readership will die out in a few decades if they don’t find a way to bring in new and younger readers.
The comic industry is putting out more kid related series every year. This is a positive start but I don’t think it is enough. Here are a five challenges I can see facing getting kids into comic books.
1) Expense
When I started reading comic books, they were $.25 a piece. I remember them going up to to $.30, then to $.35 and it continued to climb fairly slowly. When I was a teenager and most comics were a Dollar a piece, we wondered when the madness would stop. Now the average is almost $4.00 a piece. Even with the inflation, it does not compare. If a kid wanted to just read 5 comics a month, it would cost them $20.
2) Too Many Other Alternatives
I remember having 4 channels on my television: ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. During the summer vacation, the only thing on in the afternoons were soap operas. Now there are hundreds of channels to chose from. Kids can spend their time surfing the net, playing games with friends online, all of the video game consoles and hand helds, and all of the other kool opportunities that I didn’t have. The writing/story on some video games is better than most comic books.
Sometimes kids are so busy, they would not have time to read comics if they wanted.
3) Lack of Accessibility / Exposure
As I mentioned earlier, comic books used to be everywhere. Kids were exposed to them all the time. Now comics are only found in a comic shop. We have made these great geek havens but unless we bring in the younger generation, comics will die out.
I grew up in an extremely small town. I know my home town does not have access to a comic store. The nearest one is over 30 miles away. The children growing up in that town have little to no chance to be causally exposed to the great storytelling of comic books.
4) Lack of Age Appropriate Intriguing Comics
Some of the children’s comics are really well written and a ton of fun such as Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man and Tiny Titans. But often kids comics will not work for a 12 to 13 year old. But most of the regular comic books may not be appropriate for pre-teens and teenagers (neverless yonger kids).
When I was an eight year old boy, my family was not concerned about me reading the Action Comics, Detective Comics, Amazing Spider-Man, or X-Men. All of the stories had to be approved by the Comic Code Authority. Sometimes this limited stories but it did keep comics safe for kids to read and created a love for these characters at a young age.
I remember when some comics first went away from the Comic Code Authority. These comics were only found at comic shops and on the top shelf away from kids.
My daughter (now 11) has been collecting Supergirl comics for years. Over the years, I had to censor what issues I allowed her to read. Some of the stories were not appropriate for a nine year old. I am an avid Spider-Man fan but some of the recent stories in Amazing have been adult oriented.
I don’t care if there are comics with more adult themes. I do have a problem with making the big named hero comics to be adult oriented. Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Avengers, Justice League, and so on are the comics that will bring kids back throughout the years. They need to be appropriate for 8 year olds and up while telling good stories. This would not be easy but has been done in the past and could be done again. These comic books are a draw for little kids and adults alike.
5) Controversy
This one is related to the previous point. Controversial storylines may bring in free publicity and cause a temporary increase in sales but often they will give parents red flags about comic books. If parents are uneasy about comic books, then it will be unlikely that their kids will be exposed to comic books (even kid friendly comics).
Take the recent focus on DC making Alan Scott, the Original Green Lantern, gay and the publicity over the X-Men’s gay marriage. I don’t care what your personal opinion is on this issue but my focus is on how it affects parents and kids in relationship to comic books. This is a socially divisive issue that split this country and often family and friends. Around 30 States (most in the central part of the country) have a Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. Other states have laws defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.
I understand that most comic book companies and creators are either on the East or West Coast. Being a Midwesterner, I know plenty of parents that were uneasy and nervous about the gay marriage in comic books (both in Archie and in X-Men) and with Green Lantern coming out as gay. Several parents have made comments on Facebook that they are now uncomfortable with comic books. They don’t realize gay characters have been around in comics for decades. But now there is a public controversy that made the national news. This publicity may harm comic books in the long run.
Next week I will examine some of the positive things that might bring kids back to comic books.
