Do kids even read comics anymore!?

[roach]

I hate having a soul.

I sold mine to get into one of those "Eyes wide Shut" sex houses...it was sooo cool

 

[Darthphere]

Bastard.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

but that's not "the comics industry", that's two titles

there's dozens and dozens of comics marked as being for "mature readers"

College age kids are "mature readers".

And granted there are titles that are aimed at kids (The Disney characters/Teen Titans Go/Marvel Adventure/etc.), but in large part the majority of the marketing push by comic makers is toward the same set of demographics. Which falls in an age bracket between 13-25.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

I buy comics for a mentally challenged kid that lives next door and we read them together.

That's great!

 

[Darthphere]

Yeah his name is Alex, and he's 9. He wants to be Robin when he grows up.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

Yeah his name is Alex, and he's 9. He wants to be Robin when he grows up.

Shouldn't he want to be Nightwing?

 

[Darthphere]

I dont see why he would want to be either.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

I dont see why he would want to be either.

You did say he was mentally challenged.

Count your blessings! At least he doesn't want to be Starfire.

 

[The Cleric]

Darth....you are a genuine hero to all. two thumbs up. way to go. yippie kaiyey. thats great sport.

 

[Elijya]

College age kids are "mature readers".

And granted there are titles that are aimed at kids (The Disney characters/Teen Titans Go/Marvel Adventure/etc.), but in large part the majority of the marketing push by comic makers is toward the same set of demographics. Which falls in an age bracket between 13-25.

ah, but 20 years ago, there was no need for titles aimed at younger readers, was there? It was assumed an 8 year old could pick up the same random issue of Spider-Man as a 13 year old or a 20 year old.

Underground adult titles like Cerebus and american Splendor and what not had been around since the 60s and 70s, but now it's gone mainstream. Marvel started their Epic line with more adult tiles, and then DC started up Vertigo, moving Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Sandman there, and afterwards ushering in more and more adult titles like Preacher, 100 Bullets, etc.

Meanwhile, Dark Horse and Image started up, and their titles weren't kid friendly. You don't exactly hand an 8 year old Spawn, and I wouldn't give many 13 years olds Mask or Alien vs. Predator either. Savage Dragon even has a ridiculous amount of sex in it.They've since produced books like Conan (one issue even had a nude cover), The Walking Dead, Battle Pope, etc. etc.

Then Marvel started up the MAX and Icon lines, bringing back a hard-core Punisher, and books like Supreme Power, Powers, etc.

I would say the trend has most certainly been toward more mature books

 

[The Cleric]

all marvel has to do is keep making movies like FF, spiderman or xmen to spark the imagination of the youngens. my nephew loved the torch, and kept pretended to be him three months after he saw the movie. then he got into comics, just to see what was going on.

 

[Kotagg]

...just to see him get his ass kicked by a fat guy with a beer bottle.

Oh, the irony.

 

[The Cleric]

yep, one of my favorite moments. oh yeah, he is a spidey fan now...

 

[mathhater]

Still though, no matter the character, there are going to be stories that just aren't for kids, and should remain for the more mature readers. I know kids love Spider-Man, but I definitely wouldn't want any kid of mine reading say, "The Evil That Men Do."

 

[The Cleric]

i dont think they relate to the evil part. they admire the charecter, how they think, and how they overcome their struggles. i wouldnt mind letteing them read spidey. but comics like the punisher, there might be issues regarding who should read em.

 

[Mr. Walters]

I think it is nice that a lot of you say you do see kids reading comics. Maybe it is a geographical thing, because where I live, I NEVER once have seen a kid in a comic shop.

 

[War Lord]

I think it is nice that a lot of you say you do see kids reading comics. Maybe it is a geographical thing, because where I live, I NEVER once have seen a kid in a comic shop.

The comic shop that I go to rarely has kids in it, or at least I've never seen kids in there.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

ah, but 20 years ago, there was no need for titles aimed at younger readers, was there? It was assumed an 8 year old could pick up the same random issue of Spider-Man as a 13 year old or a 20 year old.

Underground adult titles like Cerebus and american Splendor and what not had been around since the 60s and 70s, but now it's gone mainstream. Marvel started their Epic line with more adult tiles, and then DC started up Vertigo, moving Swamp Thing, Hellblazer and Sandman there, and afterwards ushering in more and more adult titles like Preacher, 100 Bullets, etc.

Meanwhile, Dark Horse and Image started up, and their titles weren't kid friendly. You don't exactly hand an 8 year old Spawn, and I wouldn't give many 13 years olds Mask or Alien vs. Predator either. Savage Dragon even has a ridiculous amount of sex in it.They've since produced books like Conan (one issue even had a nude cover), The Walking Dead, Battle Pope, etc. etc.

Then Marvel started up the MAX and Icon lines, bringing back a hard-core Punisher, and books like Supreme Power, Powers, etc.

I would say the trend has most certainly been toward more mature books

But mature books don't necessarly mean readers above their mid-20's.

Also the mainstream DC and Marvel titles (and any new offshoot books) are aimed toward a Rated T audience. This isn't by chance, but by choice.

 

[Darthphere]

The comic shop that I go to rarely has kids in it, or at least I've never seen kids in there.

What time do you go? I tend to see kids in the earlier parts of the day.

 

[War Lord]

What time do you go? I tend to see kids in the earlier parts of the day.

To be fair, it's in the university part of town, but I've gone at all times.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

Kid tried to karate chop me in my shop as I was buying books just yesterday. He was about 8 and had an armload of Pogs.

 

[Elijya]

But mature books don't necessarly mean readers above their mid-20's.

Also the mainstream DC and Marvel titles (and any new offshoot books) are aimed toward a Rated T audience. This isn't by chance, but by choice.

yes, but they're rated T, whereas 20 years ago, they were almost all all ages

I'm not saying EVERY book is going to for mature readers. It's like the movies - 50 years ago, the idea of an R-Rated movie would have been appaling to the general public. Today, it's widely accepted - but the majority of movies will always be below PG-13 because that opens up a wider audience.

 

[SonOfCthulhu]

yes, but they're rated T, whereas 20 years ago, they were almost all all ages

I'm not saying EVERY book is going to for mature readers. It's like the movies - 50 years ago, the idea of an R-Rated movie would have been appaling to the general public. Today, it's widely accepted - but the majority of movies will always be below PG-13 because that opens up a wider audience.

I'll accept that there is an almost even 50-50 split between mature and general audience books. And yes that is a significant change since the 80-90's when only 8-10% of the books published were Mature rated.

But having a mature rating doesn't equal marketed toward an age bracket of above 25. To my knowledge anyone above 18 can buy a mature rated book.

The point of my post above was to say that comic book companies are selling to a specific audience. If you will allow me to use a generallity: It's like loud heavy metal music. Not everybody likes it. We should agree that most people that like it are young people. Music companies that want to sell heavy metal albums do market their product to young people. They will sign bands that are popular with young audiences and use current slang. These albums will be bought by a lot of people. Some of them will be older than the target audience. But that doesn't change the fact that the company is marketing to a specific segment of the population.

 

[Dread]

Do kids read comics? That's a good question. All anyone can offer is ancedotal evidence, because there's never been any sort of in-store poll or study taken to examine how many kids buy comics.

My area of Brooklyn in a way reflects the implosion and decline of the comic book market; when I was a younger kid during the late 80's and early-mid 90's, there were maybe 6 or so comic book stores within reasonable walking distance of my apartment. I didn't know where all of them were at the same time, but they were around. Then starting from the mid 90's, they started closing up, one by one in one form or another. Y'know how many comic shops are in walking distance of the apartment now? None. The LCS that I go to requires a 25-30 minute bus ride.

During the 90's, I saw more kids buying comics. Heck, I was a kid buying comics, which back then averaged $1.25-$1.50. Occasionally you got that "special edition hologram cover" that was extra expensive at $2.95. Nowadays, a typical comic selling at $2.95 would be 4 cents cheaper than most. Basically, for a kid, I am sure comic book prices feel like prices of stuff everything else. The price of everything gets more expensive, but your paycheck is still the same. The same with allowance (or whatever means kids have of making money; hardly any kid I know "worked" before high school, and some even then).

Nowadays, I rarely see kids entering a comic book store to actually buy comic books. Usually they're buying a toy, or more commonly, some sort of trading card game pack (Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, whatever's hot that year) or manga. Manga ailes have exploded in recent years, with every store I know, big or small, having to enlarge their manga section because more folks buy 'em. And THOSE folks are younger, sometimes in the high school or junior high crowd. But the Western Comics? I rarely see anyone buy 'em who is under 18. Some days under 20 is rare.

Comic books these days are not only more expensive, but more "mature". There're less restrictions on violence, horror, or sexuality (although, most times you're more likely to see depictions of violence or horror than you ever are of romance; we're very uptight about sex in America). True, many "cheesecake" covers can look like soft core porn, but frankly most kids see worse than that on WWE (which has one segment that airs in network prime-time). I doubt the "maturing" of comic books has had an effect on kids themselves, because they see far worse on cable TV or wrestling. Or movies. Most parents barely regulate what their kids watch, and I've rarely seen movie theatres honestly enforce their ratings system. It happens sporatically if some R picture is really gorey, but not that often. It also true that parents likely buy comics for their kids and so on; I HAVE seen/heard older comic buyers mentioning some comics "for their kids".

True, both Marvel and DC have "kiddie" lines for children, but those sell terribly (and I am pretty sure a lot of their readers are older guys anyway). That's simple; no kid believes they're a kid, and they don't want to be a kid; they want to be an adult and do/try adult things whenever they can. Therefore, if they see a comic that all but screams FOR TYKES, they'd rather try what "everyone else is reading".

Frankly, I think both Marvel and DC have realized that their hardcore fanbases are where their bread and butter are, and have all but adandoned trying to hook in new fans. DC's taken this stance head on, while Marvel still has delusions of new fans.

Plus, its hard getting kids to read ANYTHING these days. I wonder if in the age of CGI movies and hyper game systems (many kids have no recollection of things like SNES or GENESIS, much less "fogie" systems like Nintendo or, gasp, Atari), that many seem comic books themselves as "kiddie"? Maybe the genre no longer appeals to youth, but to older people, because comic books are no longer power fantasies (which appeal to a younger set), but soap opera melodramas (which appeal to older fans; just watch your grandma zone out while watching GUILDING LIGHT)?

 

[Darthphere]

I just think comics are too expensive. Parents pay for their kids stuff and I can see why some parents would think $3 dollar for a 22 page comic book that can be read in less than 15 minutes is a huge investment.

For example, you have a 6 issue Dr. Strange miniseries for $2.99 each issue. Thats $18, 132 pages.

For $20, you could get a copy of Harry Potter that has over 400 pages.

Which is the better investment money-wise? Of course the Harry Potter book.


I think, however Marvel has been doing a good job with their digests and TPB's. But theyre not really out there in the open. Book stores have made some smart moves putting their manga and comic book sections in the same place, hopefully more kids will wander over to the comic book shelf.