Today is Free Comics Day! Should be a national holiday. I guess we'll have to settle for it being a Saturday.
It's the day when the comic industry puts out a double-dozen or so comic books intended for comic retail outlets to hand out to anybody who'll come by. It's a lot like Halloween in that kids can't just take one of all of the choices, but can usually work the retailer for a book or three.
Many of the comic books are nothing but advertisements for the product lines of the various publishers. Many other publishers adopt the policy of putting a new cover on an old title (of a popular character) and making the word FREE very prominent on the cover. Some, the smart ones, commission new work that serves as an introduction to their characters' universe.
All in all, it's a good effort. For one day each year. The rest of the time? The comic business couldn't care less about new readers.
Sure, they SAY they'd welcome new readers. But actions speak louder than words. I was struck by that during a visit to my local comics emporium (Comic Warehouse) and saw that the most recent Fantastic Four issue included a teen rating.
What is Marvel thinking? These are the characters who were featured in moves twice in the last few years. Untold potential new readers went to those movies. Instead of having kiosks in each movie theatre with free samples to hand out to youths exiting the movie (Plus directions on how to get to the local comic shop to get MORE), the rapidly aging free-thinkers at Marvel opted to up the sex and violence quotient of the book to the point where a teen advisory was slapped on the cover.
Does that strike you as the actions of an industry interested in the 10 year olds they left behind a generation ago?
It's only an example. The big two publishers, Marvel and DC, have engaged in the last few years in actions that just spit into the face of new readers. Recap pages describing "What has gone on before ..." are rarer than hen's teeth in books. At the same time, any popular character has multiple comics devoted to him or them (no hers at this point). Some have books that have mature ratings on one publication, no such rating on another. It's madness. Marvel will tell you, in defence of the FF strategy, that there IS an all-ages Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four. YOU explain the difference to a young reader, just being introduced to the medium.
And don't get me started on the crossovers that each company are running. You CANNOT read just one title and get the story. Too much of its story is off being told in some OTHER comic book, featuring a character you have no interest in. And I'm not talking about threading a story between titles from the same character, such as the various Spider-Man comics. I'm talking about needing to buy the FULL output of the company for MONTHS at a time to get all of the story you bought ONE comic to read part of. The companies have lost my support and my dollars. And I'm not alone.
I want kids to read comic books. It's how I learned to read when I was younger. Reading has been wonderful for me. A book (comic book or otherwise) has always been there to entertain me when there were no friends to play with, no shows to watch on TV, no music ubiquitously available to listen to. It's helped me get through schooling comfortably. It's informed and entertained me. It's made my life better. And reading all started with comic books.
There are a few comic book publishers out there trying to do the right thing. Archie Comics can always be depended on to provide something worth reading come Free Comics Day. And their stuff, harder to find that happy hens these days, is worth looking for. There are book-shaped comic books that feature comics from Japan called Manga. There are many good ones. Try out Hikeru No Go with a young lad who likes playing games. You won't be disappointed. DC acknowledges it's missed out on both youths AND girls. It's got a MINX line out for tween-aged to young adult ladies. A lot of them are good. And there are lots of other titles.
Many retailers will throw their hands up when somebody comes in after going to a movie about a comic-book character. They'll be at a loss to direct that new-found interest into becoming a new customer. It's no secret that comic-book adaptions of Buffy, Angel and Serenity (Firefly) are getting people INTO the comic stores. But there's nothing else to sell to them. They aren't interested in the overly complex, self-referential, headache-inducing stuff from Marvel and DC. The young kids, they just don't have stuff for at all. They would if they could.
There IS decent material out there. Talk to your local comics retailer. He or she will probably bend over backward to find stuff for your young son or daughter. They know that if they can engage the youngsters with the wonders of the four-colour printing process, they have a customer for life. If you do end up over at the Warehouse, tell Andrew or Mark I sent you. And to treat you real special.
Because you are.
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