Hopefully by posting here, I can get some info to ksgemini, and others. Of course, take it all with a grain of salt, as it's purely my opinion.

As I stated in the holy crap fest thread (also known as the Photos you may not have seen thread), comics these days are really hitting the young adult market. (By comics, I'm stating the mainstream DC/Marvel universe)

Topics such as domestic abuse, murder, teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol addiction, etc are used in many storylines. What has happened is that the people that were reading comics back in the 80's and 90's (and earlier!) have grown up with these characters, and the comics have grown with them.

It's not that far off from the way sitcoms and other tv shows used to be (think growing pains, cheers, airwolf, dukes of hazzard, punky brewster, love boat etc and now what the equivalent shows are like. 30 rock, Big Bang Theory, breaking bad, CSI etc.)

So, the problem is, with more adult themed storylines, how do you get the kids into it?

ksgemini wrote:
"thats interesting I guess just the people I know in that age bracket aren;t amongst them,,,,besides that u all know more than me...I can;t imagine at 30-my 4th year of teaching17 years ago buying comics,,,but its cool if its a hobby for some...so what do 10-12 year olds buy instead if the market is aimed at adults... probably should move and continue this in Off Topic Sorry moderators "

First, at almost 35, and been in the construction and project management industry for 17 years, I still buy comics. I'll freely admit though, that I still act like a kid :P Comic-Con in San Diego just happened, and over the 4.5 days, there was over 120,000 people that walked through the doors. It's a huge industry, and it's constantly evolving and growing. A big part of it, is that it hits a demographic that really has some money to spend. The late teen early 20 year olds for the most part haven't gotten married or bought a house yet. They're making a bit of money, and have disposable income.

Now, as for what 10-12 year olds are buying? Actually, at that age, they're probably getting into the mainstream comics pretty hard already. Kids really are growing up faster it seems like.

Webcomics are also huge. If you can think or a premise, there is probably a webcomic out there already being done. (Maybe not well, but, it's probably out there ;))

Manga / Anime became super huge. Pokemon, Naruto, Sailor Moon, and the like hooks kids in from a really young age (4-9 year olds) And they grow with that.

Now, DC and Marvel are trying to put out more kid friendly books, but it's a hard thing to straddle. A couple of friends of mine do Tiny Titans for DC , which is kind of like a li'l archie type of style of dc characters. Another friend does the Plasticman book, and it's also very kid friendly, with a bit of young adult humour thrown in. (Actually, a lot of the kid friendly type books try to throw in young adult humour.)

There's also a ton of independent and small press type publishers that are putting out stories that are aimed at kids. It's a niche that is trying to be filled, and I'm looking forward to that.

Rick said:
"The day I spent with Oak down at the Comic Show was a day definitely worth remembering. Meeting Mike was pretty cool too. "

Rick had a can of mace on him, to keep the mouth breathers away from him, but he looked like he enjoyed himself, at least a little bit. He was still pretty intimidating.

That was the day I got to meet both Rick and Oak. I wish I wasn't rushing around so much at the time. Next June I should be back in Calgary, and I'm really hoping to be able to grab a drink or something with you guys.

And Oak and Freesh,
Thanks. I know a bit, and travelling to all the conventions is a lot of fun. Again though, this is just my thoughts on things, not gospel, and hell, I'm sure you could ask 100 different people in different parts of the industry, and not get a single matching answer. :)

Mike

The industry has certainly made big moves in the last 30 years. Some people don't realize how much comic books have achieved over the years. Maus by Art Spiegelman won a Pulitzer Prize and Watchmen is noted as one of Time's best novels of all time.

The challenge with getting young readers is just to cost of it. $4 a month for just one book hits a kid's wallet hard. I think it was either Joe Quesada or Tom Broovert who said kids would tend to rent a game rather than buy a comic, which is a reasonable presumption. They'd have to go another route to sell people on a paper-based product. Solid movies and other media is how the industry will the hook that brings young crowds in, IMO.

Yeah, that's where the animated movies/tv shows are coming in.

I have a few of the animated movies, and they've done a pretty good job.

Personally, I'd love to see some titles come out without the fancy paper, going back to a newsprint type of paper, and cutting down on the costs. I'd also like to see more titles do self contained issue content, rather than ongoing series. When it's ongoing, it's hard for the casual fan to get into.

Mike

I agree on the paper stock, but it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing. It'll bring costs down, but the artwork won't be as enhanced or "clean". Hard to say if that'll be acceptable in today's era of flashy artwork.

Thanks I stand better-informed..One thing I did notice at bookstores was they are reissuing Warreen B/W mags like Creepy and Eerie in hardcover...I'll freely admit when/if I get the $ I'd like to revisit them and I am 47...I understand better what u say...sometimes I hate to see kids grow up so fast though...when I saw the Family Guy for first time- parts were really funny but I was appalled it is run at 6 pm here as its not a kid's show. Thanks I understand better Gosh i didnt mean to start a war ..at first I thought the clique comments were for me and was puzzled...even my real clique has up and moved away here...I put myself in debt like a fool with Oakley's and some gifts for wife and am stunned at comic prices..I never got an allowance as a kid Had to work in neighbors' yard so never had hardly any money til real work much later Thats the pitfalls of a family of educators..really no bad feelings People can get what they want..a friend of mine has 5000 dvd's..every collectible alien/terminator head case etc ever made...that's his thing I never judge..it was more shock and awe when I visited...I think he bought graphic novels too althoughnot sure ...He's 36 years old Nothing wrong with that I am not condescending unless married guys like me are ignoring wives for collecting stuff then it mystifies me...
PS: I remember Plastic Man...he ought to switch to Oakleys!
I really hated to see people get so worked up over It I shouldnt have said what I did but then took on a life of its own I dont even understand beyond comics and into personalities...thank u for an informative post on the topic.

Glad you got some good info out of this. The industry changed massively in the '80s, so if you weren't around then or afterwards, your opinion would have become outdated.

As for the other thread, don't worry about it. Only a small handful of posts had to do with what you said. The rest was just addressing another specific member's constant hypocrisy, and a number just got tired of the member's contradictory nature. It had more to do with that after a while than what you said.

Either that or another specific member's inability to apologize for a condescending attitude - that and to continue to fan the flames.

Does anyone smell fire?

Cuz it looks like someone is looking for a fire......


On topic though, I would appreciate more comics that you can just pick up and read without having to know the entire story. The iOS app store has some strong Comic apps and its nice to pick up the stories of characters I remember from growing up but I am soooo lost on alot of the story lines now though.

I second that.
Long and crossed stories are by far too hard to follow.
I'm sick when there are so many references to parrallel series that you can't really follow the main story. It happened with The Darkness for which you had to buy Witchblade, cyberforce, and a bunch of crossovers to finally get the complete story.

Since Apple/iOS was mentioned, I'll say the Marvel iPad app is brilliant. It's an amazing way to read, though it's a shame they're selling single issues instead of a yearly access subscription to their entire online library. It's also a shame the iPad doesn't have Flash support. If you already have an online subscription with Marvel, you won't be able to view it on your iPad, since it's Flash-based. You'd have to resort to buying the single issues again ($2 an issue on iPad vs. $60/year for the entire collection using your computer). A shame. I know the subscription is only a rental of sorts, but it's more cost-effective for those who only read something once.

oh i still am sorry abt all this...when i get money i am looking for those Warren m agazine reprints...i always get afraid though when reprints start they wont carry thru til the end..Maybe no one was being really condescending things on a keyboard are not the same as face to face...i'd still like to believe every1 can get along thru the O

As long as we remember that we are hear with a common bond we are good. Text never carries the same connotation that face to face words do, one may make a remark one way but put the inflection a different way and no one worries about it. Flip the inflection around and it can be very rude or uncalled for.

But we all know this and thats why internet forums can either be hellish war zones or open & accepting groups of people who roll with the punches and avoid calling each other out or taking things personally or overly literal.

I know salt is not good for our lenses but we could all toss a grain of salt around here on the forum and enjoy the fact that the creator of our favorite products is stronger than ever.

The creator is not strong, Dann is weak weak weak !

Kevin, not only Dark Horse are putting the collections of old Creepy and Eerie material.

They started putting brand new material, keeping the names of both those magazines, they should get collected in the near future.

The Creepy hardcovers by Dark Horse are solid products. Not expensive either at $32 per book on Amazon. There's something like 7 or more of them out now, so you have a lot of reading if you do decide to move get them.

I cant believe anyone on here knows Eerie and Creepy..wow! If I do anything it'll be Dec ish Still paying for Maine trip etc...I saw one of the Eerie books but it was sealed in plastic but from looking at Amazon they do look interesting...thanks for replies in what could have finished as a bad thread Its turned out to be informative for me...