Have The Big Two Blown It With The Kids?

[DrNewGod]

First thing: I do not claim that no one under their 20s reads comics anymore. Nor do I claim that no one who can't legally buy booze likes the Marvel and DC films. Neither do I claim that The Big Two don't offer anything to kids.

I do wonder if The Big Two have screwed up planting seeds for their future.

It really seems to have started in the early-1970s for Marvel, and the late-1970s for DC. Both companies began swerving toward older audiences with more complex tales, and messier, somewhat more "relatable" character interpretations (chasing Spider-Man's success as hard as they could).

For many of us older fans, that was all to the good. As we grew up, the comics grew up with us, and remained something we could stay with, rather than outgrow. The Big Two got this, and deliberately courted it.

And it worked. Particularly as comics got more expensive, and shifted to the LCS market, that older, longer-tenure, more fanatical customer made the businesses more profitable. However, it also made the business smaller.

Donner's Superman, Burton's Batman, Singer's X-Men, and Favreau/Feige's Iron Man all hit big, but a big part of them hitting big was the nostalgia factor. Comics were never a huge profit maker, and even their merch wasn't a patch on what Star Wars generated in its first couple of years. However, those loss leaders build brand recognition and fond memories that helped fuel all the film franchises that would follow.

What's being done to build that connection with tomorrow's grown ups?

Are there more hooks out there than I'm realizing? I mean I know the up-and-comings don't consume the same kind of entertainments as those of us Metamucil-Customers did back at their age. Are The Big Two farming the future so these wonderful characters don't go the way of Pecos Bill and The Shadow?

Or are we living the last, glorious Heyday of The American Costumed Superhero?

[TriggerWarning]

They long ago priced out any possible connection with kids.

Growing up in the 80's working my minimum wage job I could buy 3-4 comics on one hours salary and there were far fewer entertainment options competing for my dollars. Now kids can buy 1-2 comics on one hours salary and there are vastly more things competing for those dollars.

They've even outpriced me at my comfortable adult income. Even though I can easily afford them I just could no longer justify spending $5 or so a comic for 5 minutes of entertainment when I can just subscribe digitally to various companies unlimited plans and read them later for much cheaper.

[Venomous Mask]

Digital subscriptions can make things a little more affordable and more accessible for those raised in this smart phone/tablet world. Also, newer characters like Kamala Khan I do think have a significant following among youth.

And I would seriously disagree that the MCU succeeded mainly on nostalgia (certainly not the GOTG), even the earlier movies. These movies were not slavish renditions to old stories, but instead, made the characters fresh, cool, and relatable to audiences of all ages. The DCEU and X-Men movies are in a more precarious position, potentially hurting their characters (minus Batman and Wonder Woman), but when the X-Men join the MCU, there's a real chance that things could get turned around and that they are revitalized.

Regardless of what happens, I do not think that the Big Two superheroes are going to go the way of characters like The Shadow, a character who, even at his peak popularity, was largely limited to radio (which, to be fair, was an extremely popular medium of entertainment back in the day), and who never really expanded that much into other media over the years, minus that movie in the 90s and a few comics published by Dark Horse. The Big Two's characters are everywhere and many of them are quite popular. I don't see them fading away any time soon.

[Jim Kelly]

When I was volunteering with kids at an elementary school in my area, I found that the boys especially liked the Ninjago chapter books. These books have text with pictures, but they also have pages that are set up like comic book pages. I bought a bunch of these books and I ended up donating them to the school library, so the kids would have easy access to them, since they were in such demand--and it's not like the kids in my area have a lot of money to buy their own books.

I don't know if Ninjago is still the most popular thing, as that was a few years ago now, but that kind of book in general was very popular with kids. A mix of text, glossaries and comic book sections. Also smaller page dimensions than a comic, so they fit easily in a kids hands.

The way that comic books first began was as free giveaways in stores--collecting the strips from the newspapers. So orignally, kids didn't need money to read about their favourite comic strip characters. That's how they gained in popularity.

I think that DC and Marvel should have been making promotional comics available to kids all along--comics that kids didn't have to pay for. Maybe as supplements in newspapers--especially in a national newspaper like USA TODAY--when people still read newspapers. Possibly in locations like fast food restaurants or movie theatres--but maybe also give books to school libraries and other learning centres. And not the kind of books that are supposed to be good for kids, where they have to learn a lesson. But just fun books to read. Not floppies because you can't keep those in a library and have them last more than a day.

And put comics online--not behind a paywall but on kid friendly sites, where the comics would just be an added feature. When I was a kid, I grew up poor, but comics were cheap and easy to find (you could also get them for under five cents in second hand book shops) and there was enough that you could trade with your friends. If comics are too expensive for kids to buy with their pocket change on a whim or in locations where kids don't go--then they won't get them.

But I do see kids reading collected editions in the bookstores and the libraries. So all it really takes is to make the comics available and accessible.

[Gaastra]

Kids read trades like big nate, jeff smith's bone, smile (my nieces LOVES this book)and the babysitters club plus manga books like pokemon. Teens like to read manga. I was at a books a million and there was a whole family all getting manga books with the teen getting fruit baskets and the little kid getting Naruto! (on a note my nephews have found Naruto on netfix and love it!)

Marvel has some trades like moon girl, ms marvel, wasp, and squirrel girl that do well with kids. They have the OZ books also. DC i'm not sure how well they do but they have the scooby team up, powerpuff girls, superhero girls and dc animated books. Gotham academy looks like it could be a hit with teens but not sure how good the trades sell. Anyone know if any dc trades are a hit with kids?

Kids read comic trades buts it tends to be non hero stuff like Disney, manga and other books.

Here is scholastics comics store. Some hero stuff but lots of non marvel and dc books. (was not expecting the marvel captain marvel comic to be there!)

https://shop.scholastic.com/parent-e...ic-novels.html

[Theleviathan]

Comics have always had a stigma in schools, wrongly so but I can tell you that is changing. Another issue is that people have always had this weird notion of 8 year olds picking up comics and while many did, the level of reading ability required to grasp comics has always been well above that. Kids in the sweet range (12-16) probably have more digital content right now.

That's the way of the future for comics. But Marvel and DC have their characters highly recognizable to FAR more kids than there used to be, so they have that going for them.

[skyvolt2000]

Comics have always had a stigma in schools, wrongly so but I can tell you that is changing. Another issue is that people have always had this weird notion of 8 year olds picking up comics and while many did, the level of reading ability required to grasp comics has always been well above that. Kids in the sweet range (12-16) probably have more digital content right now.

That's the way of the future for comics. But Marvel and DC have their characters highly recognizable to FAR more kids than there used to be, so they have that going for them.

It doesn't matter if you cherry pick who gets to be used or in books for kids.

Kids LOVE variety. They have no issue if you gave them books with original characters, it's the Adults who seem to take issue with who gets used.

You can flood the market with Batman for so long before you turn kids OFF. They like Batman but don't want to always read about him. It's why you see books like Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel, Miles and others that tend to NOT be welcomed by the adults (mainly the comic book store gang).

Or are we living the last, glorious Heyday of The American Costumed Superhero?

It's not dead but we are in an era where the costumed hero field is WAY more open than restricted now.

[Theleviathan]

It doesn't matter if you cherry pick who gets to be used or in books for kids.

Kids LOVE variety. They have no issue if you gave them books with original characters, it's the Adults who seem to take issue with who gets used.

You can flood the market with Batman for so long before you turn kids OFF. They like Batman but don't want to always read about him. It's why you see books like Squirrel Girl, Ms Marvel, Miles and others that tend to NOT be welcomed by the adults (mainly the comic book store gang).

All of that's true, I'm simply saying if the big two want to market reading to those kids, there will be some buy-in potential just by recognition.

I've seen it with 3-5th graders, they like the paperback forms of the novels and small comic-style graphic novels. Whether that would translate into regular readership, I share your doubts.

[Javasaurus]

I have a 12-year-old son; and it's been interesting to see his preferences for comics evolve over the years. It didn't take him long at all to gravitate from single issues to the collected format once he discovered that it existed as an option. Now -- every time we go into our LCS -- he goes to the shelves where they keep the collected editions for kids while I browse the singles.

As for genre, he has shown an occasional interest in choosing super hero titles; but I tend to agree with skyvolt2000 about kids loving variety. My son's preferences seem to be spread around. He absolutely loves the Amulet series. Others that he's enjoyed are Big Nate, Captain Underpants, Plants vs. Zombies, Princeless, Camp Midnight, Calla Cthulu, to name a few. Only time will tell if his interests shift more towards the superhero end spectrum.