• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

DC52 reduced reading level reminds me of the show can you beat a Fifth Grader

Started by WEBHEAD,

62 posts in this topic

Prince Namor

Prince Namor

Posted
Posted
I just thought it was gross...

 

detective.jpg

 

But I suppose that is what sells these days.

 

I agree with you, the first two or three pages of Detective Comics 1 , have the Joker slashing someone with a knife , nice !!!

and that`s why I am not a fan of no Comic Code Authority for mainstream comics.

Here with the freedom versus order theory. The creative freedom far outbalances the order.

Example I will read the latest Detective Comics, but I don`t think this is something I want my 10 year old son reading.

2c

 

That's because statistically speakin your 10 year old son wouldn't be reading it anyway... the violence appeals to an older group of people.

As for me I'm still in love with the ingenuity of the 50's heroes :D

But if 10 year olds aren't reading comics today, who will be reading/buying them in 10 or 20 years? One of the few good things about a relaunch like this would be a good jumping on point for young readers who might buy for the #1 on the cover and stay for the stories. But without any restraint on things like violence these books aren't going to be good for younger kids and thus they won't turn into older collectors.

 

We shouldn't be worried about the violence in comics as much as the LAME stories they publish. THAT will lead to less people reading it than any amount of gratuitous violence will.

Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns had plenty of violence in it, it's still a great read.

 

It's interesting that the EC Comics of the 1950's had such huge success appealing to low brow interests of it's readership and are now considered classics, and really quite harmless, but back in the day, OH BOY! They were seen as the end of civilization as we know it.

 

As the industry itself crushed that dominant sales juggernaut under the guise of legislation and completely sanitized the industry, a year later Rock n Roll was born, giving young people a new outlet to be entertained by.

Comics have been losing out to other lowbrow forms of entertainment ever since.

Of course, Rock n Roll was evil also, but as you all know: You Can't Kill Rock n Roll. :grin:

 

In this day and age, I see the type of violence, sexuality, and language in the average video game, or the average movie, or the average TV Show... and I just think... comics can't compete.

 

I'm not defending what was written in Detective... I still think it's lame.

Violence for the sake of violence doesn't make something better, but I just don't think the alternative is to sanitize and make the industry overly 'kid friendly' and run off any real talent left to create in this business.

Every LCS around here has a nice sized kid section. Plenty for them.

 

Two of the bigger success stories of the last couple of years have been The Walking Dead and Chew. Not exactly kids stuff.

IMHO, If comics want to expand and grow and be considered a real choice for people to READ, then they need to expand beyond the barriers of 'kid stuff'.

 

Just because most of us here reached puberty while reading Superman or whatever, doesn't mean it was GOOD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mahsess-migration

mahsess-migration

Posted
Posted

A big surprise for me with the new DCnU New 52 was Animal Man #1. I wasn't sure if I was going to buy it at first, but I am happy I did. It is probably one of my favorite issues of the new 52. Great characters, beautiful art (especially during the dream sequence), top notch writing, and a great ending. Cant wait for next month to pick up issue 2.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Underground44

Underground44

Posted
Posted

Action Comics #1 was the most annoying as it seemed to be more the adventures of Smallville/Superboy instead of Superman.

 

 

Exactly what I thought. The epic feel of a Superman story was totally absent.

 

It's funny because Action #1 got a 5 star review at Comic Book Resources.

I was waiting for a few boardies to read it for a better opinion

:headbang:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mysterio

mysterio

Posted
Posted
I just thought it was gross...

 

detective.jpg

 

But I suppose that is what sells these days.

 

I agree with you, the first two or three pages of Detective Comics 1 , have the Joker slashing someone with a knife , nice !!!

and that`s why I am not a fan of no Comic Code Authority for mainstream comics.

Here with the freedom versus order theory. The creative freedom far outbalances the order.

Example I will read the latest Detective Comics, but I don`t think this is something I want my 10 year old son reading.

2c

 

That's because statistically speakin your 10 year old son wouldn't be reading it anyway... the violence appeals to an older group of people.

As for me I'm still in love with the ingenuity of the 50's heroes :D

But if 10 year olds aren't reading comics today, who will be reading/buying them in 10 or 20 years? One of the few good things about a relaunch like this would be a good jumping on point for young readers who might buy for the #1 on the cover and stay for the stories. But without any restraint on things like violence these books aren't going to be good for younger kids and thus they won't turn into older collectors.

 

We shouldn't be worried about the violence in comics as much as the LAME stories they publish. THAT will lead to less people reading it than any amount of gratuitous violence will.

Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns had plenty of violence in it, it's still a great read.

 

It's interesting that the EC Comics of the 1950's had such huge success appealing to low brow interests of it's readership and are now considered classics, and really quite harmless, but back in the day, OH BOY! They were seen as the end of civilization as we know it.

 

As the industry itself crushed that dominant sales juggernaut under the guise of legislation and completely sanitized the industry, a year later Rock n Roll was born, giving young people a new outlet to be entertained by.

Comics have been losing out to other lowbrow forms of entertainment ever since.

Of course, Rock n Roll was evil also, but as you all know: You Can't Kill Rock n Roll. :grin:

 

In this day and age, I see the type of violence, sexuality, and language in the average video game, or the average movie, or the average TV Show... and I just think... comics can't compete.

 

I'm not defending what was written in Detective... I still think it's lame.

Violence for the sake of violence doesn't make something better, but I just don't think the alternative is to sanitize and make the industry overly 'kid friendly' and run off any real talent left to create in this business.

Every LCS around here has a nice sized kid section. Plenty for them.

 

Two of the bigger success stories of the last couple of years have been The Walking Dead and Chew. Not exactly kids stuff.

IMHO, If comics want to expand and grow and be considered a real choice for people to READ, then they need to expand beyond the barriers of 'kid stuff'.

 

Just because most of us here reached puberty while reading Superman or whatever, doesn't mean it was GOOD.

 

I don't disagree with anything you said here. I only read about 3 modern books, with Chew and Walking Dead being on my pull lists and usually are the only books on my pull lists. Violence for the sake of violence is definitely a weak way to tell a story. As you can see in plenty of old movies, books, or comics, oftentimes when something (sex, violence, etc) is implied and left up to the imagination of the reader you will get a much more effective passage and story.

 

I'm sure I am showing my age here, but in rereading ASMs from the 1970s-80s there are plenty of good stories and plenty of pretty lousy ones. On the one hand I wouldn't think twice about any smaller kid reading them, but there are plenty of issues that I wouldn't inflict on them because they just flat suck. And this is a title that is a main focus of my collecting because of the love of the character and the nostalgia.

 

Most of us reached puberty reading comics that through an older, and different (not going to say better or more mature, just a different point in our lives) viewpoint aren't very good on a re-read. But they formed the foundation of our love of comics. For whatever reason they struck a chord with our younger selves and got us interested in comics. All I was trying to say was that we had that experience that gave us that spark to keep reading, and I fear that nobody will follow us as collectors. Violence for the sake of violence in a Batman comic is not only bad storytelling, but it gives parents one more reason not to buy their kids Batman comics. You run the risk of a dad who grew up on Batman comics looking at that #1 and deciding that their kid doesn't need to read that quite yet, maybe when they are older, and then they get into video games or internet porn or whatever else and never get back to comics.

 

And we all know that there are plenty of other reasons kids don't read comics these days (competition from other media, the cost, etc), but inappropriate stories that are bad anyway don't help. 2c

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

Posted
Posted

Man, I tried to get my 9 year old stepson into comics (old AND new kid-centric titles) and he just ain't interested unless it's a video game or trading card. He also doesn't do Hot Wheels or action figures. I managed to introduce him to Star Wars when I met him when he was seven. The sad part is that I don't think he is in the minority, because none of his friends are interested in those things, either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mystrymachine

mystrymachine

Posted
Posted

"Two of the bigger success stories of the last couple of years have been The Walking Dead and Chew. Not exactly kids stuff."

 

 

But is that because the market is decided by 30+ year olds? Or is it because those are the books the kids are buying?

The Market needs hero books that kids will like. That isn't an unreachable goal these days, the problem is twofold, one is the creators idea that kids won't like a book if it doesn't show blood or if the hero smiles.

Secondly, and this is the most important reason, is that comics are not marketed where kids can buy them at a cost they can afford.

Unless the child lives right next to a comic shop they will most likely never see one. When we grew up comics could be found at every mom and pop store and every corner market. Kids would go into stores without any thought of buying a comic but come out with two or three books. Of course cost is another issue. I still believe that books can be published cheaper if they were made in Mexico on the older paper stock. But I understand that this is a whole other debate all together. so I will just leave it at that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Prince Namor

Prince Namor

Posted
Posted
"Two of the bigger success stories of the last couple of years have been The Walking Dead and Chew. Not exactly kids stuff."

 

 

But is that because the market is decided by 30+ year olds? Or is it because those are the books the kids are buying?

The Market needs hero books that kids will like. That isn't an unreachable goal these days, the problem is twofold, one is the creators idea that kids won't like a book if it doesn't show blood or if the hero smiles.

Secondly, and this is the most important reason, is that comics are not marketed where kids can buy them at a cost they can afford.

Unless the child lives right next to a comic shop they will most likely never see one. When we grew up comics could be found at every mom and pop store and every corner market. Kids would go into stores without any thought of buying a comic but come out with two or three books. Of course cost is another issue. I still believe that books can be published cheaper if they were made in Mexico on the older paper stock. But I understand that this is a whole other debate all together. so I will just leave it at that.

 

Yeah, I don't want to thread either but I think you make a couple of good points.

Regular comics are more mature than when we were kids, but there are still decent comics for kids out there. DC in particular with the comics based on the Cartoons did what was probably the best marketing move for expanding their line to new readers.

But at a certain age, those comics won't hold up vs video game and movie content. Kids are going to want more.

I know that even at 12-13 years of age I was buying Tales of the Zombie and Savage Sword of Conan and things like that because I wanted what I saw as more mature type stories. (And even at that age, no one ever stopped me from buying Heavy Metal or National Lampoon).

 

30+ year olds DO make up the market because WE know how to navigate a comic store. Younger readers don't. The Big Two still over saturate the market with JUNK, and someone new walking into a LCS has to be overly intimidated tying to find something good to read.

 

And pricing....I agree. Big problem...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

Posted
Posted

The reports seem to indicate that the reboot titles are very hit and miss, so I feel I've made the right decision to wait for the trade paperbacks and cherry pick the best individual stories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

Posted
Posted
I know that even at 12-13 years of age I was buying Tales of the Zombie and Savage Sword of Conan and things like that because I wanted what I saw as more mature type stories. (And even at that age, no one ever stopped me from buying Heavy Metal or National Lampoon).

You've reminded me about my first visit to Manchester when I was 13 years old. Looking for imported American comics, and before an LCS had opened there, the only books I could find were Heavy Metal 10, 11, 12, and 27, 28, 29. Still have them. (thumbs u
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Senormac

Senormac

Posted
Posted

I don't like the whole idea. It just gives them the "freedom" to re-write the mythical history.... just like they are doing with our "real" history :mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing