Comics Just Aren’t For Kids Anymore

Here's a semi-strange article that touches on the issue of the graying of the traditional comic book market, with a concentration on retailers in and around San Francisco. I say semi-strange, because I think if I were reading it from an outsider's perspective, I would be left asking "why not?" a lot. For instance, I don't really know why kids buying manga isn't kids buying comics, except to guess that saying so might shift the onus of selling to kids onto material with which some retailers aren't comfortable and sales techniques which many outlets aren't equipped to embrace.

I also think some of the conclusions are wrong. For instance, I would say companies launching kids-friendly initiatives are doing so not to vaguely correct the thrust of the market or to lay a groundwork for the future but because of the realization, made apparent by a segment of sales outlets that wasn't locked into a certain way of doing things, that there's money to be had there.

I'm also a little baffled by this much-traveled link about a kid trying to find an Iron Man comic. I know that the emphasis is likely the ironic (ha ha) undercurrent of not being able to find a sample suited for kids of a character and a genre that used to be nothing but kid-friendly. At the same time, I can't help but read this and think that although this is depicted as somewhat of an ordeal, it doesn't seem all that drastic in terms of satisfying a customer with specific needs. Moreover, it's a need that could have been anticipated. Wasn't Iron Man recently the star of a direct to video movie?

In general, I guess what I'm saying is that these things get complicated only if you take to heart a lot of a comics sub-culture's expectations and practices and invest them with a value I'm not certain they deserve. Plenty of kids read comics whether or not comics shops are equipped to sell comics to them. Plenty of Iron Man comics for kids exist even if some of them are listed at $8 instead of $.25 because of comics' unique back-issues culture. One would think that demand should be shaping the commercial culture, not the other way around, and I'll never understand a view that restricts fluid concepts like commerce and artistic fulfillment because they exist outside of someone's purview of choice.
 
posted 2:22 am PST | Permalink
 

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