BW’s Daily Video> What American Comics Can Learn From Manga

Catch more from Youngrippa59 on YouTube and see him put his words into action at the Rippaverse

I’ll challenge one idea: that younger readers aren’t important. You have to get older readers interested in comics, and kids are getting so little media now compared to older audiences outside of cartoons usually written by people who look down on kids entertainment (especially the preschool and elementary school age kids) and think they can be lazy about it. Kids know when they’re being talked down to and when adults are trying to think on their actual level, and comics have mostly treated them like idiots or unwanted. Comics I read as a kid now contain stuff I wouldn’t show to a kid the same age I was when I started reading comics.

Meanwhile, there are no action and superhero shows for older kids. It jumps from age five to maybe mid teens. Kids love superheroes and there’s plenty of evidence on the internet showing that, but show me a superhero story in comics or television/streaming for them. It’s a short list compared to when I was growing up, where I had more options than I knew what to do with in action and superhero entertainment safe for if not targeted to my age group. We need to get kids these entertainment options in animation and in comics, and we shouldn’t leave them behind under the foolish belief that will convince people that comics aren’t for kids by kicking them out entirely.

In the end, comic creators need to love what they do and be willing to promote it and demonstrate that comics are for everyone of every age group and interest. That’s something Japan knows and the US forgot when they got rid of the Comics Code and decided they could do whatever they want rather than what the customers want.