Comments on: Kids Read Comics!

By: Kids Read Comics: A Popular Revival | comicbookGRRRL

Kids Read Comics: A Popular Revival | comicbookGRRRL — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:28:57 +0000

[...] reading: Kids Read Comics! Tagged as: comics, comics for all ages, kids read comics, new statesman, the beat Leave a [...]

By: The Dandy Returns!

The Dandy Returns! — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:19:58 +0000

[...] forward to seeing the app come out for my phone, and as I’ve talked about elsewhere, I think the growing audience of children reading comics in the UK will be really into this once it is up and running in full. It’s wonderful to see one of the [...]

By: Skye

Skye — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 00:44:41 +0000

He saw Zita on an end cap at the library and would not let us leave without it, he was maybe just 4 at the time. For months he cut out and colored “portal buttons” from cardboard and played Zita-inspired games.

We just this week picked up the new release of the Pippi Longstocking comics that were done back when she was writing the book. He’s cracking up constantly as we’re reading it. I teased him “Dude, there are no superheroes in this book, why do you like it?” He says “It’s FUNNY!” It’s the qualities of the story, not the gender of the main character.

Looking forward to your followup!

p.s. Wasn’t Dredd just a treat? We loved it. (Not the 5 year old, obviously, he was with Grandma.)

By: Dave Morris

Dave Morris — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 19:31:55 +0000

A very heartening story. I’m convinced that if more publishers would try genuine all-ages fare there could be a real comics renaissance – yep, even in the poor benighted UK!

By: comicbookGRRRL

comicbookGRRRL — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:12:08 +0000

I’m so glad it’s been helpful! I’m really happy to hear that your son loves books like Zita and Magic Trixie too, it’s definitely been my experience that boys will happily read comics with girl characters as well as boys.

The reaction to this piece was much bigger than I was expecting so I’m working on a follow up with lots of titles :)

By: Skye

Skye — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 02:06:26 +0000

Thanks so much for this! I’m a 30 year old female comics fan raising a 5 year old male comics fan in the U.S., and it’s TOUGH to find enough for him to read with us. He loves superheroes and video game comics but so much of the material is dreadful, we can barely stand to read it with him one time. We piecemeal together what we can that seems like it’s written by real creators who love the characters they’re working with, rather than produced as marketing material. It’s such a shame because we are big superhero fans too and all we’re asking for is a good, fun story that’s true to the characters and reasonably interesting. (And you know, some female characters would be nice! Boys aren’t going to put the book down because one of the 6 Batman team-up stories is with Black Canary instead of another dude, when the other 5 stories are dudes.)

Our son loves a lot of the books like Bone, Zita the Space Girl (which he’s had us read with him at least 20 times), Amulet (he likes creepy stuff), Magic Trixie, and other that aren’t superhero as well. We run into a wall at the library (and at our local comic shop) because they don’t know enough to advise us. Even though the graphic novel section in youth and teens at our library is battered from use and the best way to find something it to look on the shelf they just got back in to put away, it circulates so much.

So I’ll be working through everything you’ve listed here with our library catalog and my comic shop’s email address handy, thank you!

By: comicbookGRRRL

comicbookGRRRL — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:28:34 +0000

For young girls: Owly; the Magic Trixie series and Scary Godmother; the Zita the Spacegirl books, Hildafolk, and Hilda and the Midnight Giant (and Hilda and the Bird Parade – out soon!); Skottie Young’s Oz series; the DFC Library books including Super Animal Adventure Squad, Vern and Lettuce, Good Dog Bad Dog, The Spider Moon; Sara Varon’s Bake Sale, and Chicken and Cat books; Babymouse; The Comic Adventures Of Boots.

I’ve got quite a few young customers, both boys and girls, who love The Rainbow Orchid as well.

By: comicbookGRRRL

comicbookGRRRL — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 15:38:51 +0000

Cheers! When it comes to mid-teen fiction, the most popular books tend to be action/adventure (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson), fantasy/thriller (Hunger Games, Twilight), horror (Darren Shan, Skulduggery Pleasant, Charlie Higson), and spy books (Cherub, Gallagher Girls, Young Bond, Alex Rider). And a fair amount of humour too. I think rather than just adapting many of these into graphic novel editions, we need to see more original GNs in these genres directed at a younger audience – with more adult novelists turning to young adult editions, perhaps it won’t be that far off that adult GN creators do the same.

That said, there are good GNs out there for that age bracket: Anya’s Ghost, Smile, Friends with Boys, Drama, Koko be Good, and Amulet are all great examples of fantastic and clever comics that are accessible for that age of reader without talking down to them :)

By: Comics A.M. | Council OKs San Diego Convention Center expansion | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:56:06 +0000

[...] Publishing | A U.K. bookseller looks at the growing popularity of children’s comics; despite the recent demise of The Dandy, the second-fastest growing category in the first half of 2012 was children’s comics. [ComicbookGRRRL] [...]

By: Thom

Thom — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 01:49:29 +0000

Really interesting and well argued article!
Reading it, I’m curious as to what types of books you think publishers (in general as well as the big two) should do to attract “mid-teens” readers?