BLOG Comics for kids
Blogger Stacey Whittle wonders where the next generation of comics readers is coming from:
Comics for kids? Don’t make me laugh!
Now this is a rant that could go one of two ways from the title, isn’t it? We could discuss all the many reasons why comics are most definitely not for kids. I could recall the dark and tortured souls of many a leading comic hero (or anti-hero, for that matter). I could recall the extremely bad language used in some comics which definitely makes them a no no for kids. I could talk about Mark Millar, and I would be lax not to mention Preacher by Garth Ennis…
I could talk about sexuality in comics and would probably mention Strangers In Paradise by Terry Moore, which is a book about love and sexuality and overcoming predefined stereotypical relationship standards. Maus by Art Spiegelman would definitely be brought up – and the fact that I often see this shelved under humour in bookshops. I had to borrow it from our children’s library – it was next to the Asterix books.
But with that in mind, what I actually want to know is: where are all the comic books for kids? Seriously, where are they? If you go into your local newsagent you will undoubtedly see a big shelf of children’s “comics”, tons of them, all brightly coloured and all with some form of cheap plastic stuck to the front of them by Sellotape which is impossible to remove. Apart from The Beano and The Dandy these are not comics. They are magazines with some comic strips in them. It isn’t the same.
My eight-year-old daughter loves comics; she has a Beano subscription and she likes coming to the shops with me to choose comics – but they just don’t really exist for her. We can pick up the occasional graphic novel, Jill Thompson’s wonderful book Magic Trixie for instance, (there is also a Magic Trixie blog) or the Owly series by Andy Runton, which is also loved by my boyfriend, and her favourite, Derek The Sheep by Gary Northfield. But there is very little choice; monthly she has The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz adaptation with amazing artwork by Skottie Young but that is about it.
Whatever happened to Twinkle and Bunty and Misty? All of those wonderful, girl-centric comics from my youth. I’m going to start a petition to DC Thompson to bring them back! Let’s get kids reading comics! Also if anyone has any reading suggestions for a girly eight-year-old – please let me know…
This post is by Stacey Whittle, one of our new bloggers – read more about her and our other contributors in the next issue of SFX, on sale Wednesday 11 March.
If you’re a comics reader and have thoughts on this subject, feel free to leave your comments below. Remember that SFX magazine reviews comics every month and features a regular column by writer Warren Ellis.
