Comic Books for Kids

Recently a friend of mine asked me for some advice on what comic books she should purchase for her young son. He loves the cartoons featuring super heroes, so she thought it might be great to expose him to the source material these shows are based on. And as the wheels in my brain started spinning I realized, I had no idea how to answer her question.

Sadly, I have spent so much of my life trying to convince people that comic books are NOT just for kids that part of me has kind of ignored the comics that are aimed at a younger audience. Most of the titles in my weekly pull list would be positively traumatic for a young child to read. I dare say if I let my friend give some of my favorite comics to her little boy I would probably both lose her as a friend and traumatize the child.

The truth is, there aren’t a lot of comic books for a young audience. So many of the core comic book fans are people who have been collecting for years. It’s hard to attract new readers when in order to understand a character you need to be versed in years of history and storylines, not to mention the different continuities a particular character might exist in. Beyond just content of most comics, some of that is far too confusing for a young reader. How can I explain to a young child that in one version of Spider-Man his identity is Miles Morales because that universe’s Peter Parker died when the regular Amazing Spider-Man title he is an adult Peter Parker? And let’s not even try explaining Superior Spider-Man. That might put a kid off of comics forever (not me, I loved that story line).

Most people now only know most of these super heroes because of the various films and TV shows that are showcasing them. Some kids might not even be aware that The Avengers exist as a comic (and that both Spider-Man and Wolverine are members because that’ll never happen in the films, but that’s another issue for another day). I certainly have several friends who were not familiar with the Marvel verse prior to viewing the cinematic offerings and bombarded me with questions afterwards (“Who’s that pink guy at the end of Avengers?” was one I heard a lot).

And I can’t really complain about that fact. I love the slew of film adaptations being made. If you told me ten years ago I could look forward to a movie adaptation of The Suicide Squad (coming 2016) and a movie about the Infinity War (part 1 coming 2018 and part 2 2019) I would say you were mad. Now I am wondering what comic book characters AREN’T getting an adaptation. I also would be shocked to learn one of my favorite TV shows would feature Green Arrow. And that show would spinoff a Flash series as well. And of course I would have just had a stroke hearing about how cool Guardians of the Galaxy was.

A saddening fact is that we need these kids to get into comics. With the films and TV generating so much revenue, it could be easy for these companies to eventually just ditch the source material and make only movies and TV. The only thing that will keep comics published is if there is demand for them. And that means fans. People who read comics get older and a percentage of them will abandon the hobby as they pursue other interests. Without new fans to replace them, the demand for comics will diminish. That is why I am so glad to hear a young kid is interested in comics. But also why I am so dismayed by the fact that I could not readily suggest any titles for a young kid to read. In a way I am just as much a part of the problem as the publishers who don’t produce enough young content.