The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **Victorian Squid** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:24 pm

We should ask Amy if Jude always has an excuse ready for anything. :lol:

by **DonnaMoore** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:25 pm

Jude Terror wrote: I just don't know. I'm thinking I might just start buying an extra copy of Amazing Spider-Man or some similar regular titles and keeping a box for them.

My advice: don't. No point in stockpiling material they may not like. Instead take them to the comic shop once a month (if it's a kid-friendly one) let them look at the kids rack and pick something out. Try reading it with them that night. When they like a title they will tend to pick it out again and again and again. Then you know what's worth subscribing to.

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:26 pm

Victorious Squid wrote:We should ask Amy if Jude always has an excuse ready for anything.

Oh I definitely do. :lol:

by **rdrsfn82** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:26 pm

sdsichero wrote:
Yes, that is what I was saying.

I was agreeing.

by **Victorian Squid** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:27 pm

Jude Terror wrote:
Oh I definitely do.

I know, it was kind of a rhetorical question. :lol:

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:27 pm

DonnaMoore wrote:
My advice: don't. No point in stockpiling material they may not like. Instead take them to the comic shop once a month (if it's a kid-friendly one) let them look at the kids rack and pick something out. Try reading it with them that night. When they like a title they will tend to pick it out again and again and again. Then you know what's worth subscribing to.

We order online. I tried going through the DCBS catalog with them, and guess which ones they picked out?

[Reveal] Spoiler: Click to Expand

All of them.

by **rdrsfn82** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:30 pm

DonnaMoore wrote:
Normal comics "of the day" were a far different breed than what we have now. My daughter loves Chris Claremont's original run on Excalibur and New Mutants to the point she may have read them more than I did at this point. They are challenging, but they do not ooze the "adult" content of mainstream titles. Sorry but today's Uncanny X-Men is far too sexualized to go into my 8 year-old daughter's hands. Between rampant oversexualization and the increasingly graphic depictions of violence the current titles are something she's just not ready for.

In fairness, Uncanny is an unreadable mess that no one should be reading thanks to that hack Greg Land.

And books like Booster Gold, Incredible Hercules, Generation Lost, and many others are no worse than the stuff I read as a kid and in fact are probably better for kids.

by **Victorian Squid** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:30 pm

Jude Terror wrote:
We order online. I tried going through the DCBS catalog with them, and guess which ones they picked out?

[Reveal] Spoiler: Click to Expand
All of them.

Well, we know you have access to bookstores and at least one LCS, at least so they could see what you're talking about. Do you really think ordering online is the best gateway for new young readers, or old Dad readers?

Why would kids understand ordering online intuitively?

by **Royal Nonesuch** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:30 pm

DonnaMoore wrote:
My advice: don't. No point in stockpiling material they may not like. Instead take them to the comic shop once a month (if it's a kid-friendly one) let them look at the kids rack and pick something out. Try reading it with them that night. When they like a title they will tend to pick it out again and again and again. Then you know what's worth subscribing to.

That's what my brother started doing with his son a while back. He likes the Superhero Squad and other Marvel Adventures stuff, but mainly he wants to read what his father reads. They read the current Marvel stuff together.

by **DonnaMoore** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:30 pm

Jude Terror wrote:
We order online. I tried going through the DCBS catalog with them, and guess which ones they picked out?

[Reveal] Spoiler: Click to Expand
All of them.

Kids don't get catalogs. They get the idea of "1" - which is why I suggested the shop. Oneof the covers willstand out to them.

by **Victorian Squid** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:32 pm

DonnaMoore wrote:
Kids don't get catalogs. They get the idea of "1" - which is why I suggested the shop. Oneof the covers willstand out to them.

Man, DonnaMoore, you seem to know a thing or two about kids.

by **False Prophet** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:33 pm

Great idea for a column! Bravo!

I think its pretty obvious that the most commercially successful properties in media tend to be all ages, and if comics want continued success it will accept that fact and adapt accordingly. It doesn't mean leaving the 20+ y/o's in the past, but revising the definition of the phrase "all-ages". You can have mature, metatextual content wrapped in a package that can be absorbed by the normal pre-teen. God, how many subtle sex and pop-culture jokes have we seen in Pixar movies? The opportunities are there, we just need creators smart enough to take advantage instead of relying on shock, schlock, and a false sense of realism that limits the lifespan of their intended 'classics'. Learn some subtlety.

by **DonnaMoore** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:34 pm

rdrsfn82 wrote:
In fairness, Uncanny is an unreadable mess that no one should be reading thanks to that hack Greg Land.

And books like Booster Gold, Incredible Hercules, Generation Lost, and many others are no worse than the stuff I read as a kid and in fact are probably better for kids.

Fine and good but they aren't the characters the kids recognize -- aren't on the t-shirts and bookbags.

by **S.F. Jude Terror** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:35 pm

Victorious Squid wrote:
Well, we know you have access to bookstores and at least one LCS, at least so they could see what you're talking about. Do you really think ordering online is the best gateway for new young readers, or old Dad readers?

Why would kids understand ordering online intuitively?

I didn't sit them in front of the computer and tell them to go through it, I went through all the section of comics I thought they might like and showed them the covers. This is the digital age, grandpa.

by **DonnaMoore** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 2:36 pm

False Prophet wrote:Great idea for a column! Bravo!

I think its pretty obvious that the most commercially successful properties in media tend to be all ages, and if comics want continued success it will accept that fact and adapt accordingly. It doesn't mean leaving the 20+ y/o's in the past, but revising the definition of the phrase "all-ages". You can have mature, metatextual content wrapped in a package that can be absorbed by the normal pre-teen. God, how many subtle sex and pop-culture jokes have we seen in Pixar movies? The opportunities are there, we just need creators smart enough to take advantage instead of relying on shock, schlock, and a false sense of realism that limits the lifespan of their intended 'classics'. Learn some subtlety.

I *will* be quoting this post in a future column! Very good observation.