Jason Smith, contributor to the Escape Pod Comics blog recently wrote an article questioning the need for all-ages comics or bringing kids into comics. First read his article so you understand the context of what he’s saying–before I tell you why he’s wrong.
I shouldn’t have to say “why I think he’s wrong”, do I? You gathered that’s what I meant I hope? Because sometimes people don’t. We call them idiots.
Right in the first paragraph he tries to frame the argument by champions of “all-ages” comics and pretty much gets a good part of it wrong.
I have heard many people, experts and fans, state openly that without kids reading comics that comic books are doomed. They will never exist without billions of children reading them because eventually the aging comic book reading population will die out and nobody will read them anymore. So, the argument goes, what we need to do is flood the market with “All-Ages” titles because that’s the way to get kids into comics.
I don’t know about “flood the market”, because what you need to flood the market with are GOOD comics that respect the characters, the creators who came before you, and the mythos you’ve been given. Unless it’s all you like Savage Dragon; then you need to respect the world you’ve created and the fan base you’ve built up.
The idea is that young readers will be readers for life and not drop out as they grow up.
No, even in my generation, who had mainstream comics geared toward all ages, people grew out of comics as they found other interests that comics couldn’t fill. Now since independent comics and translated manga have brought more storytelling diversity you could make the case that’s changed, although people still grow out of it. Some people also grow out of porn, if they were ever into it in the first place. The idea is that new readers will invigorate the market and those that remain may become readers for life, or perhaps even be drawn (no pun intended) to become comic creators themselves.
The other idea is that new readers will keep coming in to replace the old ones since there are always children around.
Basically he has this one right, although he disagrees with that statement. New fans come in to replace fans who have grown out of comics or passed on. That’s how any medium works. You can make the same case for sitcoms or Kids Bop really. Heck, even Sesame Street.
I completely disagree. First of all, children are not the demographic comics need to be going for. Kids have no money. Their parents control the wallets and they’re not shelling out the 3 bucks each for a single comic. They just aren’t.
Says who? Prices on all periodicals have gone up, from magazines to newspapers. If a kid bugs his or her parent/grandparent/older sibling enough for a comic they see, they will have a comic, provided said comic isn’t gory or full of questionable depictions of women or something. This is how kids have gotten stuff since YOU were a kid and before. I’m sure young Noah asked his dad enough times for nails and wood so he could build a boat for his bathtub.
(And for you Biblical historians out there, that was a joke. Relax already.)
And as for kids not having money, what about birthdays? An allowance? Kids don’t get those anymore? Back to the previous point, the first comics books I ever owned were gifts and did convince my parents to get a subscription (or I may have saved up for it, I don’t remember) to The Transformers, and that was because it wasn’t showing up on the magazine rack at the grocery store anymore and the comic book store was out-of-the-way. I spent my own money when I bought those two Robotech comics during a trip to Vermont. Kids do have money and they will spend it on comics because they’re cheaper than a video game or a DVD. Those media kids need the parents to get for them unless they save up for it.
The demographic that comics need to aim for (and in some ways already are) is TEENAGERS. Why? Teenagers have the highest disposable income in the country. They have no bills, they often have their first jobs and they can spend like nobody else. Teenagers run the economy.
And I think this where the usual misunderstanding of the term “all-ages” slowly pops up. Let’s just get this out of the way since it will influence most of our discussion later. All-ages means ALL ages, as in everybody. All-ages isn’t just for seven year olds. It can be enjoyed by seventeen year old, thirty-seven year olds, seventy-seven year olds–you know, ALL OF THE AGES!
If the above quote has any merit it is the absolute FAILURE of the comics industry at every level to get that point across, so teens somehow immediately connect “all-ages” with “kiddie crap”, and sadly so do some of the comic creators and even a few dealers. This is why the comic tie-ins to kid-targeted animated shows are often more “kiddiefied” than the show itself, as he complains later, only saved by good writing. Yes, younger people, to paraphrase C.J. Henderson’s comment in that “Writing For Different Mediums” panel, have a lot of money and no sense to spend it wisely because they need or think they need stuff. Of course, that doesn’t explain the lack of any ads in comics that don’t involving shilling that company’s merchandise or licensed merchandise.
What American comics do need to work on, though, is getting teen GIRLS and young women more interested in comics. Manga has grabbed that demographic and flourished, so it’s obviously NOT that girls don’t like the medium. It may be content issues or other aspects that keep them away.
The passage I most agree with in the whole article. Indies and manga have taken note. DC has become a power base of male fantasy and Marvel…well Marvel’s just a mess but they did try. Not very well, but they have tried.
By in large, a child does not keep the same fascinations all through childhood. With the vast number of cartoons, video games, Disney movies, books, and so much more trying to get their money kids are constantly marketed to with flashy new gimmicks and multi-million dollar ad campaigns. Comics honestly cannot compete.
They shouldn’t BE competing, they should be USING. I mentioned in a recent review that I thought Young Justice the comic was trying to sell the cartoon which is why the comic is ending with the cartoon, and this what they got wrong. The cartoon should be used to bring people to the comic. For example, ABC’s Weekend Special and CBS’s Storybreak were animated adaptations of books (although the ABC show did break out the occasional original story). This should encourage kids to read the book and possibly find new, similar ones, thus encourage life-long reading. At the same time Super Friends interested me in the DC Universe. The original titles were continuing adventures (in my mind) of the heroes when they weren’t hanging out in the Hall of Justice, allowing for character depth that is hard even in a Justice League comic book. The Robotech cartoon used to have a bit at the end encouraging kids to pick up the comics from Comico (which were only episode adaptations except for one special and one issue of Robotech Masters that didn’t want to spoil the end of the first war via Dana’s heritage) and even adult adaptations encourage viewers to pick up the source material.
He mentions in the same paragraph the DC easy reader novels, but that will lead kids to books, not comics, or if it were there are no comic for them to latch on to, leading to a gap in time between outgrowing the easy reader novel and being old enough for the current comics. Now I love novels, but why doesn’t the same argument apply to Dr. Seuss or Harry Potter, a series that grew with the audience? The majority of novels are targeted to adults. We grew up with comics as part of our personal culture as much as national/world culture but now there’s no encouragement to do that. Most of us read comics now because we grew up doing so and shared that with our kids. Now there’s little for our kids to be introduced to, and of what there is isn’t around for very long.
(Sidenote: I disagree with this “three-year cycle” that toys companies and kids television seem to think exists. How long as Scooby-Doo gone as a (ignoring the movies) all-ages production, and how may years did Super Friends air? How long has Sesame Street gone on, and no they don’t get money from PBS.)
Comic book shops form a lynch-pin in the modern comic experience. People think these make it impossible for children to enjoy comics. I honestly don’t think that’s a bad thing.
What? You want to make it impossible for children to enjoy comics? Sir, we’ve had our disagreements but I’m losing some respect for you as far as the argument goes. Now your skirting “everything for meeeeeeeee” territory, like that guy who told me “kids have enough stuff” when I commented that the Michael Bay Transformers movies were kid-UNfriendly despite being based on a STILL ACTIVE kids toyline. And who is to say you can’t make a separate experience for kids? Hell, BW Virtual Mentor Jerzy Drozd has made that part of his career with his annual Kids Read Comic convention as well as his own all-ages work, and while he isn’t a superstar like Geoff Johns he does help support himself and his wife, who has her own job as a librarian and also promotes comics for kids. They also see comics as influential to a love of reading as the easy reader books.
Comic books are, in a large majority, a collectable medium.
Which is a whole other problem for another time. In the same vein, however, books are a collectible medium, as are home videos, trading cards–which now include card battle games, some of which are all-ages or outright targeted to middle school kids, and video games (since a good game will be worth playing again). Should kids not be allowed those?
So now we want those same shops, flooded with kids who like jumping, playing around, sticking their fingers in their mouth and touching things.
I’ve seen kids in my local comic book store on Free Comic Book Day. They have a kids section right as you walk in the door. Either way, they did not act as you depict up there. Argument invalid.
Or we want comics to be sold in grocery stores and everywhere that kids go, except that’s been tried and guess what? The comics didn’t sell. The grocery stores, Wal-Mart, and drug stores all stopped selling them. Major retail bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million still carry comics, but they rarely sell and if you peruse their selection you’ll see the book are often badly damaged; folded in half, covers ripped or torn, and other disasters that make most comic fans cringe. Some say they don’t sell because they’re made for adults and not for kids. Well… yeah.
“Well…yeah”? Did you just make our point? Oh, and to you and anyone else who fall apart if a comic book is slightly damaged, you’re taking the term “art form” way too seriously. This isn’t the Mona Lisa. This is a storytelling medium. I have comics without covers and I still enjoy them. I try to keep them undamaged so I can read them again, not because I’ll die if it isn’t in mint condition.
Oh, and by the way Stop & Shop still has a comics spinner rack–and most of them are the non-kid-friendly stuff currently being produced. Older fans are getting their comics at the comic store or now through digital services like ComiXology so they don’t need them. This is exactly where kids and all-ages comics (again, not the same thing) should be since it will keep the kid quiet in the store–especially if trapped in the shopping cart, and this will go on pretty much every week. But there aren’t any kid-friendly comics on the racks so parents ignore them.
“All-Ages” titles don’t sell. They don’t sell not because they’re sold in comic stores instead of mass market because they ARE sold in major bookstores all over the country. They don’t sell because they’re “All-Ages” titles. What exactly is an “All-Ages” title? It’s a title written typically to kids that adults are also supposed to enjoy. The idea is that the appeal is to everyone, but it rarely works out that way.
Bull…crap! I know plenty of people who enjoy all-ages comics. They’re sold in bookstores? Yay. Do you know know how few people I see hanging around the magazine rack at Barnes & Noble? They don’t sell because you are there to buy a book! So you go to the bookshelves and not the magazine rack since the big name stores and convenience stores have comics. The smoke shop I used to buy wrestling mags from (when I cared about wrestling) had comics during the all-ages days so the kids had something to look at while daddy bought porn wrestling mags that’s what we’re telling mom and tobacco.
But wait, IF they don’t sell, why are they there? Why is there a section for graphic novels and manga? The reason they don’t sell, sir, is that they are never promoted the way the main comics are and they buy into the same “kiddie crap” stigma you appear to rather than convincing readers that good storytelling can happen in something like Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam!. (And looking at Billy Baston 52 the formerly-known Marvel family are worse off for it.) They aren’t treated like normal comics and I don’t think the New 52 cares about younger readers at all. This is the adults party and no kids area allowed, when superheroes mean a lot more to the usually less cynical youth.
The assumption when writing an “All-Ages” title is that the work needs to be dumbed down or made cutesy so that kids can understand it but it seems writers often don’t understand what kids can actually grasp. I’m against the whole concept of “All-Ages” titles not because I don’t think we need comics that work for all age groups but because the label causes readers to shy away and writers to dumb down their writing (see recent Marvel Power Pack minis for a great example of this, the kids are all dumbed down to make it work on a child’s level. Another example is Super Hero Squad, which was often very kiddy).
Sir, I have read the restarted Power Pack and I wouldn’t call it dumbed down. One storyline involved the kids traveling to Asgard (against the advice of the older brother) to find apples to save their grandmother from the plague of being old, and another where the guy who gave them their powers is straight-up killed. It was certainly lighter in tone that the main or Ultimate Marvel universes but that’s not “dumbed down”. See also the Marvel Adventures line. As for Super Hero Squad, of course it was kiddy. That was an ACTUAL kids comic, like Tiny Titans. In fact SHS was meant to sell a line of preschool-aimed toys but I guess that bothers you, too. Hate to see a 5 year old who likes Iron Man. Iron Man is only good as a falling-down drunk with a bad pacemaker, right?
The goal should be, instead of producing a specific brand of comics (which isn’t working) to create a comic similar to the original Power Pack, a title that works for kids (and has relatable and likeable kid superheroes) and adults ON THE SAME LEVEL. There are numerous cartoons that do this balance amazingly well. Avatar: the Last Airbender,Batman: The Animated Series, Legend of Korra, Ben 10: Alien Force, Young Justice (Invasion), and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are just SOME of the recent examples.
And from DC and Marvel this is a problem. The problem that, much like you, they don’t understand the concept of all-ages or even kids comics. I’ve seen interviews where they’ve stated that they were told to tone it down beyond the show. And yet Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender comic is right in line with the how the show works, as is Young Justice thanks to having Greg Weisman, one of the head writers, working on that comic and tying events in the comics into the storyline of the TV show in ways the DCAU “Adventures” lines should have.
The problem is we can’t seem to get a comic that works on these levels, by-and-large. It takes a special type of writer to do this and, anyway, a title that FINALLY manages this balance will be hampered by the “All-Ages” label that has been slapped on so many sub-par kids-only comics.
So you’re solution is to give up? I know plenty of independent all-ages comics writers whose only wall into getting in the Previews catalog is the way Previews does business. I’ve read plenty of all-ages comics that weren’t just kids comics with a few drops for the adults. A good writer will write a good story regardless of supposed target age. This is why My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic has adult male fans despite having the exact opposite as a target audience. This is why Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures In The Eight Grade is my favorite mini-series and my previous one was Fanboy, a tale by Mark Waid and Sergio Aragones about a kid trying to find himself among his love of comics and tendency to fantasize, occasionally missing the bloody obvious.
To write off all-ages comics is a mistake and to write off kids as comic fans is to be shameful. Kids deserve their entertainment, their superheroes, and to keep comics from going the way of the hoop and stick as entertainment sources. This doesn’t mean abandoning the teen market, but that doesn’t mean throwing all-ages under the bus because you think it’s “kiddie crap”. It’s the same stigma that leads people to demand comics be called “graphic novels”, even when they aren’t actually novels. Yes there is a difference, and there is also a difference between all-ages and kids comics. If the industry fails to understand that, if the editorial department fails to treat all-ages stories as good comics without the “mature themes” and try to promote them like any other comic you will see fewer and fewer kids in future generations who pay comic any mind.
But my biggest problem here? That people continue to both deny kids their comics and superheroes and treat comics like some niche that’s potential movie fodder. One would think you’d want a larger audience for comic books than a smaller one. It’s why the Wii kicked butt last console cycle, because they’re something for everyone. I don’t want to deny teens/college kids their stuff, but they need to stop denying stuff for the rest of us.
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