Why I never see kids in Comic Book stores?

[mrbrklyn]

Why would any kid buy anything from a comic book store when they can reserve or borrow every thing they want online with their library card?

oh no way. What does this even mean? Having comics you own and collect is not a trip to the library.

[mrbrklyn]

Pretty much this.

Comics were *cough* 12 cents *cough* when I started reading them. I could buy every comic I was interested in during a given week for a dollar, certainly for two. Just get Dad to give me two bucks for allowance. But today, how many little kids are going to have four bucks and want to spend them for one comic?

Also, though there was television then, you had to watch what was on when it was on. You wanted Saturday morning cartoons, you had to watch them on Saturday morning.

But now, any time of any day or night can be "Saturday morning". There are also DVDs and iphones and apps. There's drastically more competition for a child's attention and far more interesting to a child than a bunch of still pictures on a page for an exorbitant price.

You could by them with your own money and probably did at the Soda stand... that is the real difference.

[Lee Stone]

Any reasons given why kids aren't interested in comics is hogwash.

It's clearly a case of appropriation, with adults claiming the medium for themselves and not wanting to share, out of fear that having kids read comics will in some way make them look juvenile.
So the best thing to do is to adultify the characters to the point where kids can't relate to them while simultaneously feeding news stories that 'comics aren't for kids anymore'.
And then sit and hope kids go play with fidget spinners and leave their toys alone.

We've seen similar movements in both action figures and cartoons, but without the 'all or nothing' mentality that permeates the comics industry.

[Lee Stone]

You could buy them with your own money and probably did at the Soda stand... that is the real difference.

When I was working at Gamestop years ago, parents were giving their kids their own debit cards for their allowance.
One kid had a $50 allowance. Granted, it was probably monthly, but I didn't ask.

When I was growing up, I'd get about $5 a week. As I got older, it increased to $10 a week. Until it stopped once I was old enough to work.

Kids today can easily get anything that costs from $5 to $20, if they wanted it.
Adults just don't want them to want it.

[Duskman]

Any reasons given why kids aren't interested in comics is hogwash.

It's clearly a case of appropriation, with adults claiming the medium for themselves and not wanting to share, out of fear that having kids read comics will in some way make them look juvenile.
So the best thing to do is to adultify the characters to the point where kids can't relate to them while simultaneously feeding news stories that 'comics aren't for kids anymore'.
And then sit and hope kids go play with fidget spinners and leave their toys alone.

We've seen similar movements in both action figures and cartoons, but without the 'all or nothing' mentality that permeates the comics industry.

Yes, the morally darkest reason must surely be the only correct one.

Id say its more a case of all the above, with the selfish adults keeping the old system on lifesupport when it really needs to die and re-adapt for a more modern sales method.

[Mace Dolex]

The boys don’t care about Free Comic Book Day either. I took them twice but each time they went they see all these adult men pushing their way through to the tables of free comics. My boys see various little children (smaller than them) who come to the event have to stand and wait behind these grown men as they plant themselves at the tables. The first year they went to FCBD my son asked me why the adults are not letting the other kids at the table. It was hard trying to explain that to a child.

I"m picturing the adult thinking "get away kid, ya bother me".

[MyriVerse]

Honestly, I wouldn't know one way or the other. I'm in my LCS for about 30 minutes each week, Wednesday, about noon, when the kids are in school. However, it's got a headshop vibe, so I wouldn't call it very kid friendly.

It's one of the more urban stores in the area that's near two universities. There is one in the suburbs that, the last I checked, is more family-oriented. That's just kinda sorta why I don't go there any more.

[MyriVerse]

You could by them with your own money and probably did at the Soda stand... that is the real difference.

Circa 1980, I was spending about $20 per week on comics.

Even back then, I never remember a lot of kids being at the LCS. There were a few, but it was always mostly 20-somethings thru 40-somethings.

[chongjasmine]

Comics are too expensive for kids!
Besides, those kids who can afford comics prefer to buy digital copies of it.
Now, everything is about digital.

[Starter Set]

Comics are too expensive for kids

Here a little shocking fact, kids don't have a budget, they aren't paying for the **** they want.

Their parents do.

And parents, as many companies have known for a long while, tend to have two interesting things. 1) a steady income and 2) an urge to buy things for their kids.

Too expensive for kids? Mickey would so richly laugh at that if he wasn't a fictional character.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Going to be honest, they generally just aren't appealing places to go into. They feel like more of a collectors novelty antique store that isn't appealing to the eye and are kind of funky.

[Blunt Guy]

Depending on the day of the week I go to my lcs, there are kids, teenagers, and adults, black, white, latino, men and women, disabled, gay, straight. Unless you work full time at a comic store, how can you know who comes in the door during the minimum 40 hours they are open each week? Most people spend an hour or less per week in their lcs.

[FarmBoy]

Indeed. I have been concerned that today's youth has been cheated of what really growing up was. Cartoons were a treat. A couple of bucks...you were loaded. I have wondered if there were online sites where the experiences of a true Saturday morning could still be found. Or, even that special time after school on TV.

[Spike-X]

From what I understand, kids are reading plenty of comics. They just aren't necessarily trudging to the LCS every Wednesday to get the latest stack of superhero singles so they can go home and complain about them online, like Real Fans™ do. Raina Telgemeier is a best-selling author, and any one of her books sells rings around Batman.

People have been claiming "Comics will be dead in ten years" for the last thirty years, yet somehow they're still around.

[Spike-X]

Indeed. I have been concerned that today's youth has been cheated of what really growing up was. Cartoons were a treat. A couple of bucks...you were loaded. I have wondered if there were online sites where the experiences of a true Saturday morning could still be found. Or, even that special time after school on TV.

Why is the decade when you happened to be a kid the only 'true' experience of childhood?