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Comic Retailers and "Mature Readers"

Started by CompleteRunComics,

21 posts in this topic

lighthouse

lighthouse

Posted
Posted

Do you LCS or web retailers have any guidlines/rules/restrictions as to what ages you sell "Mature Readers" books to?

 

CRC

 

Where I am now, the Baptists don't run anything, so selling adult material isn't complicated at all. Heck, the "Things From Another World" chain in Portland (which is owned by Dark Horse) has boxes of porn comics out on the main floor with lids on them that say "Do not open unless you are over 18"

 

I have watched them sell Vertigo books to 10-year-olds without even a second glance. confused-smiley-013.gif

 

My own personal opinion is that if a kid is reading, that's a good thing. I read plenty of things as a kid that were not "age-appropriate". Heck, I read Xaviera Hollander's book when I was 13. I don't sell porn comics to kids, but I don't have any problem with selling Preacher or 100 Bullets to a 14-year-old... if it's the "right" 14-year-old. And this may sound crass, but I am probably a better judge of whether a 14-year-old is ready for Preacher than his parents are... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Back in Texas... it was a whole 'nother story... There, the Baptists have everybody so wound up that no one will have sex standing up because people might think they were dancing. Most of the stores there card teenagers before selling them Vertigo books, with either 16 or 17 as a cut-off age. Who wants to be Jesus Castillo? confused-smiley-013.gifforeheadslap.gif

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chrisco37

chrisco37

Posted
Posted

I have seen the employees at my LCS refuse to sell certain books (Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Thor: Vikings, Punisher Max, Wanted, etc....) to the "Under 16" group. They usually tell them they can have their parent(s) buy the book for them.

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blutobc

blutobc

Posted
Posted

You're painting with a mighty broad brush there Lighthouse. If every Baptist that you've met is the same in your book, I hope you can meet some new ones in the future.

 

I've noted that many ebay selling pages will state that you must be of a certain age(usually 18) to bid on their mature comics. Of course don't you have to be 18 to meet ebay's bid requirements to begin with. It would seem that there are some significant risks to selling mature books online to an unknown bidder. Jr. may be using Dad's internet account and Dad may want to create a stir if/when he sees the book arrive in the mail. Sure Dad should be accountable for monitoring his own account, but, it certainly seems that people sue and win with less logic/evidence every day. That being said, I have sold Vertigo books online and just put the "must be 18" disclaimer on the auction.

 

We should be hearing from the forum lawyers within the next 24 hours for a more accurate legal opinion.

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lighthouse

lighthouse

Posted
Posted
You're painting with a mighty broad brush there Lighthouse. If every Baptist that you've met is the same in your book, I hope you can meet some new ones in the future.

 

Darth and I both went to Catholic School, and we are not exactly the poster boys for the Catholic Church... foreheadslap.gif

 

I've probably met more Baptists than most Baptists have... and that's also true of Church of Christ, Church of God, and Church of the Nazarene. In my previous life as a convention and trade show guy, we did the national conventions for a dozen different religious groups, with attendance numbers greater than the San Diego con for most of them...

 

It's only been about 15-20 years since businesses in most parts of Texas were even allowed to be open on Sundays. There were whole areas of the state where you couldn't even find an open gas station or pharmacy on Sundays because of the "Baptist Laws". There are still counties there today where you won't even find an open grocery store on Sundays...

 

Individual members of any faith are usually good and decent people. But at the higher levels almost every church is a political machine. Whether that is good or bad is for someone else to decide, and I won't argue the case here because I'd probably get a strike for bringing "politics" to the board.

 

Who knows, the lax rules on selling adult material in Oregon may be a simple matter of us being the least-churched state in the entire union. (With Eugene being in the least-churched county in the least-churched state) foreheadslap.gif

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blutobc

blutobc

Posted
Posted

I appreciate your viewpoint lighthouse.

 

grin.gif ha, ha.. I just realize that my avatar could probably be mistaken for your descripton of a Texas Baptist. He does look kinda constipated. He's actually Universal Studios Monsters "Dracula" by Bela Lugosi.

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chrisco37

chrisco37

Posted
Posted

Who knows, the lax rules on selling adult material in Oregon may be a simple matter of us being the least-churched state in the entire union. (With Eugene being in the least-churched county in the least-churched state)

 

It's all those crazy hippies all hopped up on their dope makin' the rules up there!!! tongue.gif

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lighthouse

lighthouse

Posted
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A couple years back I lived across the street from a Satan-worshipper... (true story)...

 

He wasn't sacrificing any animals, or breaking any laws that I could tell, he just had a very different opinion on the way the world worked from the folks I normally hang out with.

 

When it came down to it, I marked his name down on my mental list of "good neighbors" because he mowed his lawn on a regular basis, never played any loud music, reported a group of kids playing mailbox baseball, and had the coolest house on the street at Halloween...

 

I could care less if a quartet of polyamory lesbians moves in next door, as long as they mow their lawn... confused-smiley-013.gif

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JMcD

JMcD

Posted
Posted

I agree with lighthouse.

I think that comic stores shouldn't be so strict about the more mature titles. I have only been stopped from buying one comic, which was Wanted. I agree that the rules are there for a good reason, to stop mabye little kids from buying these titles, but I think most teenagers these days can handle these books. After all they see much worser things on movies, T.V., internet and even the news.

I think mabye comic store workers should be a bit more lenient towards kids in the 14-16 age group.

 

Jamie.

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Darthdiesel

Darthdiesel

Posted
Posted
Darth and I both went to Catholic School, and we are not exactly the poster boys for the Catholic Church... foreheadslap.gif

 

I don't know if it was because I was too busy looking up the nuns' skirts shocked.gif or trying to hide my prepubescent pecker from the priests confused-smiley-013.giftongue.gif27_laughing.gif

 

(Before I get censored, I'm j/k about the priests tongue.gif ... the only vices the priests in my parish engaged in when I was growing up was alcohol and cigars/cigarettes...it may have been in overabundance but still legal ...as for the nun's skirts... devil.gif oh and they were in their late 60's and 70's devil.gif )

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Deathlok

Deathlok

Posted
Posted
A couple years back I lived across the street from a Satan-worshipper... (true story)...

 

He wasn't sacrificing any animals, or breaking any laws that I could tell, he just had a very different opinion on the way the world worked from the folks I normally hang out with.

 

When it came down to it, I marked his name down on my mental list of "good neighbors" because he mowed his lawn on a regular basis, never played any loud music, reported a group of kids playing mailbox baseball, and had the coolest house on the street at Halloween...

 

I could care less if a quartet of polyamory lesbians moves in next door, as long as they mow their lawn... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

'House, was your neighbor a Satan-Worshiper or a Satanist? The are two different type of people. The Satan-worshiper is the more extreme of the two. The Satanist is more of a follower of the Satanic Church begun by Anton LeVay, and are more of a hedonistic group.

 

I would rather live next door to exhibitionist nymphomaniac lesbians myself, but whatever. cloud9.gif

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lighthouse

lighthouse

Posted
Posted
Darth and I both went to Catholic School, and we are not exactly the poster boys for the Catholic Church... foreheadslap.gif

 

I don't know if it was because I was too busy looking up the nuns' skirts shocked.gif or trying to hide my prepubescent pecker from the priests confused-smiley-013.giftongue.gif27_laughing.gif

 

(Before I get censored, I'm j/k about the priests tongue.gif ... the only vices the priests in my parish engaged in when I was growing up was alcohol and cigars/cigarettes...it may have been in overabundance but still legal ...as for the nun's skirts... devil.gif oh and they were in their late 60's and 70's devil.gif )

 

There were two nuns at St Jeanne De Lestonnac that were smoking hot... thumbsup2.gif

 

Most every priest I knew growing up was either an Irish alcoholic or a South American soccer nut... and the rectory smelled so strongly of cigars you'd think it was the Cuban embassy... smile.gif

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lighthouse

lighthouse

Posted
Posted
'House, was your neighbor a Satan-Worshiper or a Satanist? The are two different type of people. The Satan-worshiper is the more extreme of the two. The Satanist is more of a follower of the Satanic Church begun by Anton LeVay, and are more of a hedonistic group.

 

I would rather live next door to exhibitionist nymphomaniac lesbians myself, but whatever. cloud9.gif

 

I'm actually not certain... He took an IT job with Boeing and moved away after a few months, so I never had a real chance to chat with him about it. confused-smiley-013.gif

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OldGuy

OldGuy

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I could care less if a quartet of polyamory lesbians moves in next door, as long as they mow their lawn... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

I was the best man at my lesbian friends wedding. Let me assure you, they keep their lawns mowed "religiously".

thumbsup2.gif

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AlexH

AlexH

Posted
Posted

I could care less if a quartet of polyamory lesbians moves in next door, as long as they mow their lawn... confused-smiley-013.gif

 

I was the best man at my lesbian friends wedding. Let me assure you, they keep their lawns mowed "religiously".

thumbsup2.gif

 

893whatthe.gif27_laughing.gif

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texasknight

texasknight

Posted
Posted

It's only been about 15-20 years since businesses in most parts of Texas were even allowed to be open on Sundays. There were whole areas of the state where you couldn't even find an open gas station or pharmacy on Sundays because of the "Baptist Laws". There are still counties there today where you won't even find an open grocery store on Sundays...

 

That was actually called the Blue Law, not the Baptist Law, and it started to erode away back in the early 80's

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