Give a kid a comic ! 1 1

[lostboys]

I work in an office and I keep a short stack of mostly TPBs in my desk.

A co worker brought her 12 year old son in for the day and as I watched him playing games on his mothers phone, I thought:

"Why not see if this kid will read a comic."

So I grabbed (Spider Man - The Birth Of Venom TPB) and asked her if its okay to let her son read the book.

"Sure.", she said, "But hell probably just look at the pictures."

Putting her surrendering to technology aside, I gave him the book and watched from a distance.

He didnt lift his head for 15-20 minutes before going back to the phone.

Did he just look at the pics?...I m not sure but it was a victory in my eyes either way.

A while later I asked him if he liked Spider man and he told me he had seen all the movies but never read a comic before. 

Of course he was talking about all the recent movies, he had never seen the Toby Maguire movies.

He asked if he could take the book home and I told him its his now, he can keep it and Id be giving his mom more in the future to take home to him.

Man, did he smile at that.

 

Im on a mission now. I dont own a lot of low grade books.

Im a very specific collector (ASM, X-Men, Spawn) and I only collect high grade copies.

I do frequent a local flea market where a guy has boxes of unbagged, low grade books he sells 3 for $1.

My plan is to buy a long box of readers this weekend and Ill give them away every chance I get.

 

 

So... if possible, give a kid a comic.

 

[BA773]

Im just started to read the Impulse series published in 1995, its really fun and there is some good plots. I recommand this run for young children if you can put the hands on some of those books

[D2]

Batman Universe is a good book for any age. I even have my 2 year old flipping through it, as it has dinosaurs, gorillas, action, and of course, Batman. 

Our 13 year old read it, and frequently rereads it. 

I’ve read it, and I love it. A true book for all ages. 

[BA773]

On 11/16/2023 at 3:45 PM, lostboys said:

I work in an office and I keep a short stack of mostly TPBs in my desk.

A co worker brought her 12 year old son in for the day and as I watched him playing games on his mothers phone, I thought:

"Why not see if this kid will read a comic."

So I grabbed (Spider Man - The Birth Of Venom TPB) and asked her if its okay to let her son read the book.

"Sure.", she said, "But hell probably just look at the pictures."

Putting her surrendering to technology aside, I gave him the book and watched from a distance.

He didnt lift his head for 15-20 minutes before going back to the phone.

Did he just look at the pics?...I m not sure but it was a victory in my eyes either way.

A while later I asked him if he liked Spider man and he told me he had seen all the movies but never read a comic before. 

Of course he was talking about all the recent movies, he had never seen the Toby Maguire movies.

He asked if he could take the book home and I told him its his now, he can keep it and Id be giving his mom more in the future to take home to him.

Man, did he smile at that.

 

Im on a mission now. I dont own a lot of low grade books.

Im a very specific collector (ASM, X-Men, Spawn) and I only collect high grade copies.

I do frequent a local flea market where a guy has boxes of unbagged, low grade books he sells 3 for $1.

My plan is to buy a long box of readers this weekend and Ill give them away every chance I get.

 

 

So... if possible, give a kid a comic.

 

Considering that a great quantity of the books from the 90s stay avalaible i hope this kind of initiative can create a better link between children and parents in our days which is so difficult to keep.

[MattTheDuck]

I posted about this subject in a couple of other threads, but I'm figuring out how to do what you describe.  First, I saw a neighbor kid out in his yard in a Spider-Man outfit (if it had been made by his mom, it could have been a scene lifted from my own childhood).  I put a low-grade ASM in my car and a few months later when he and his older brothers were running a lemonade stand, I bought some and gave him the book.  He didn't know what a comic book was, and one of his brothers said, "He doesn't even know how to read" to which I responded, "Well, you can read it to him."  There's another kid I'm acquainted with from Scouting that I'm going to drop one on some day. 

At Halloween, I set out some books and a sign and had a good reaction.  Even had a couple of kids just take books and not ask for candy!

There are 5 kids in the two houses across the street, mostly too young to even be in school yet.  I'm considering how I might invite their parents to bring them over to "borrow" some Disney character Big Little Books I have.

It's harder than I thought to do this kind of thing in a way that doesn't appear creepy.  To parents, it could seem like it could be a pedo recruiting tool.  Those bast..ds have ruined a lot of things.

[lostboys]

On 11/16/2023 at 11:26 AM, MattTheDuck said:

I posted about this subject in a couple of other threads, but I'm figuring out how to do what you describe.  First, I saw a neighbor kid out in his yard in a Spider-Man outfit (if it had been made by his mom, it could have been a scene lifted from my own childhood).  I put a low-grade ASM in my car and a few months later when he and his older brothers were running a lemonade stand, I bought some and gave him the book.  He didn't know what a comic book was, and one of his brothers said, "He doesn't even know how to read" to which I responded, "Well, you can read it to him."  There's another kid I'm acquainted with from Scouting that I'm going to drop one on some day. 

At Halloween, I set out some books and a sign and had a good reaction.  Even had a couple of kids just take books and not ask for candy!

There are 5 kids in the two houses across the street, mostly too young to even be in school yet.  I'm considering how I might invite their parents to bring them over to "borrow" some Disney character Big Little Books I have.

It's harder than I thought to do this kind of thing in a way that doesn't appear creepy.  To parents, it could seem like it could be a pedo recruiting tool.  Those bast..ds have ruined a lot of things.

I hear you.

Its risky approaching strange kids with gifts these days and I dont have many kids in my neighborhood, mostly retired folks.

Ill figure out a way to get comics in the hands of kids.

I usually go to the mall for lunch and there are always kids eating with their parents in the food court.

Im thinking Ill bring a few books with me each day and approach the parents, ask permission to give the kid a free comic.

That will probably be my strategy.

Approach parents with kids and ask permission.

 

 

[lostboys]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:51 AM, BA773 said:

Im just started to read the Impulse series published in 1995, its really fun and there is some good plots. I recommand this run for young children if you can put the hands on some of those books

Ill def keep my eye out, thanks.

 

Im a huge Spidey fan so im gonna try and grab all the Spidey titles I can find.

 

[lostboys]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:53 AM, D2 said:

Batman Universe is a good book for any age. I even have my 2 year old flipping through it, as it has dinosaurs, gorillas, action, and of course, Batman. 

Our 13 year old read it, and frequently rereads it. 

I’ve read it, and I love it. A true book for all ages. 

And maybe some Wonder Woman for the girls?

[D2]

On 11/16/2023 at 12:03 PM, lostboys said:

And maybe some Wonder Woman for the girls?

Good question. Very good question.  The only WW book that I like was Dead Earth, which is definitely 12+

What would I recommend for girls. 
Let me seriously think on that and reply back 

[lostboys]

On 11/16/2023 at 1:19 PM, D2 said:

Good question. Very good question.  The only WW book that I like was Dead Earth, which is definitely 12+

What would I recommend for girls. 
Let me seriously think on that and reply back 

I have a 15 year old daughter and for Christmas last year I bought her the complete Batgirl (Rebirth), Super Girl (1996) and Spider Girl (1998) series' and she loved them.

I dont know how common those series' are to find in low grade but they would work too.

 

I just figured Wonder Woman has been around for so long, they may be easier to find in low grade.

[BA773]

On 11/16/2023 at 7:19 PM, D2 said:

Good question. Very good question.  The only WW book that I like was Dead Earth, which is definitely 12+

What would I recommend for girls. 
Let me seriously think on that and reply back 

Squirrel Girl, she is so cool! Got his own series many years ago and we have now a lot of content about her

Edited November 16, 2023 by BA773

[fmaz]

In pre-pandemic days, we had a few yard sales… and when we did, I always put out box of comics labeled (free - for kids!) knowing that kids get dragged to those things with their folks and they were a big hit!

Also, and I know this advice is a bit too late for this year, but a few years ago when I had bought a small collection off of someone, I ended up giving away books at Halloween and they were a hit too (not in lieu of candy - I didn’t want TP on our house, but in addition to!)

 

[Jesse-Lee]

I set up at a show last weekend, and a handful of people brought kids with them. For every kid that came through, I told them to look in the $1 bins and find a couple of books they might like, and they could have them. As a parent (whose kids don't care at all about comics unfortunately) it was a lot of fun to see their faces light up as they dug through the bins.

[Jesse-Lee]

On 11/16/2023 at 12:19 PM, D2 said:

Good question. Very good question.  The only WW book that I like was Dead Earth, which is definitely 12+

What would I recommend for girls. 
Let me seriously think on that and reply back 

Although I just said in the post above that my kids don't care for comics, my daughter actually did read and liked the Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane books. She also really liked the Calvin and Hobbes and Fox Trot collections (obviously a little different than what we're talking about here, but still comics in their own right).

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/16/2023 at 3:51 PM, BA773 said:

Im just started to read the Impulse series published in 1995, its really fun and there is some good plots. I recommand this run for young children if you can put the hands on some of those books

I read it as an offshoot of Waid’s classic Flash run, but you’re right, a good pick.

[BA773]

On 11/17/2023 at 10:18 PM, Ken Aldred said:

I read it as an offshoot of Waid’s classic Flash run, but you’re right, a good pick.

Same. In fact I had to enter it during the "Dead Heat" crossover which is by the way a really good story who introduce the vilain called "Savitar" some parts of the story are told in impulse so i readed these ones and after that i asked myself: why not take more of him?

[mr_highgrade]

Although, I have four boys, none of them really gravitated to comic books. Three out of the four have read mostly trades and a couple of comics here and there. But, that doesn't stop me from giving them out to any of my friend's kids. 

 

 

[MatterEaterLad]

I've passed out comics on Halloween for the past 10 years. 

I wasn't sure what the reaction would be at first, but it's overwhelmingly positive.

Kids go door-to-door-to-door and get essentially the same thing. Then they get a comic, and there's definitely a WOW reaction.

I usually have 3 piles of comics, so I'm giving kids stuff that's age appropriate and not freaking out parents. 

The one thing I didn't think would make that much of a difference was having lots of comics for girls--Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Ms. Marvel, etc. 

But it makes a HUGE difference. They're STOKED to get Supergirl. Also it's cool to pass out WW to a little girl that's dressed up as WW.

I usually buy a small collection or two over the year and there's always extra stuff that's great reading, great art, but not worth my time to sell or keep, so I have a box set aside just for Halloween. Also, my LCS has a bunch of leftover comics from Free Comic Book Day each year, and he gives me the excess to pass out to kids.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by MatterEaterLad

[D2]

On 11/16/2023 at 12:03 PM, lostboys said:

And maybe some Wonder Woman for the girls?

I heard good things about Bone. It’s not exactly the pro woman centric book you might be looking for. I also heard good things about Lumberjanes and Gotham Academy was pretty addicting (volume 1)

[Ken Aldred]

On 11/18/2023 at 2:40 PM, MatterEaterLad said:

I've passed out comics on Halloween for the past 10 years. 

I wasn't sure what the reaction would be at first, but it's overwhelmingly positive.

Kids go door-to-door-to-door and get essentially the same thing. Then they get a comic, and there's definitely a WOW reaction.

I usually have 3 piles of comics, so I'm giving kids stuff that's age appropriate and not freaking out parents. 

The one thing I didn't think would make that much of a difference was having lots of comics for girls--Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Ms. Marvel, etc. 

But it makes a HUGE difference. They're STOKED to get Supergirl. Also it's cool to pass out WW to a little girl that's dressed up as WW.

I usually buy a small collection or two over the year and there's always extra stuff that's great reading, great art, but not worth my time to sell or keep, so I have a box set aside just for Halloween. Also, my LCS has a bunch of leftover comics from Free Comic Book Day each year, and he gives me the excess to pass out to kids.

 

 

One of the boardies here mentioned that his kids enjoyed reading Silver Age Legion of Super-Heroes.

I’m a bit out of touch, but to the best of my knowledge they aren’t quite as easily available as are many other SA DC titles, only complete as pricey Archive Editions and with only the earliest issues reprinted as a cheap trade collection.

I’d agree, as some of the first comics I read as a kid before I started buying regularly from the newsstand were several of the Jim Shooter issues from a British reprint album I was given, around 6 years old or so, including the all-time classic Death of Ferro Lad / Sun Eater story.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Ken Aldred