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What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

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Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#71

Post by mangahonthrowwy »

xienze wrote: post #64
mangahonthrowwy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All sexual material sold legally in Japan is censored by law. Many people in this thread are talking about how 'the market should adapt' or 'the market doesn't need to adapt', but I think a more interesting corraly is that 'the market' is the primary force acting on the culture of this niche. Japan is lucky to have a diverse comic market, but I think there's an interesting case to be made for non-market forces to enc…

> All sexual material sold legally in Japan is censored by law. So there's a little black bar where the tentacle is penetrating the woman?

I'm not versed enough in the law to answer the spirit of that question, but the law has chilling effects greater than the letter of it. Adult material is kept in a separate section, usually with the books sealed in opaque packaging, and 7-eleven in Japan has removed it's adult section entirely.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#72

Post by vidarh »

thret wrote: post #57
elberto34 wrote: post #31

Garfield, Dilbert, Foxtrot and Calvin and Hobbes is about the extent of my comic repertoire Taking a 7 year old to a comic store is like tasking her to a pg 13 movie.. . Not too surprised it didn't work out. Comics tend to deal with adult themes and are aimed at older people.

Archie, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Asterix, Tintin... Old comics, from the 1980's or earlier are pretty safe. These days the audience is 15+ guys. Soft porn and hardcore violence. Why would he take his 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son to look at that? For kids that young seeing is believing. My nephew at 6 watched Star Wars over Christmas. You explain that it isn't real, they are actors in a play, playing chara…

> Why would he take his 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son to look at that?

Presumably because he himself remembered how it used to be, and did not realise that the age bracket had shifted so dramatically.

Even US comics used to be kid friendly.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#73

Post by daktanis »

I worked at a comic shop for 4 years, we pride ourselves on having a good "Kids/all ages" section of stuff that was more in line with what kids saw on TV; Justice League, The Avengers, Young Justice, Batman Brave and the Bold, avatar the last Airbender, adventure time, etc. That shop sounds like they need to stock better.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#74

Post by Vivtek »

xienze wrote: post #54
cauterized wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a kid, comics were for all ages. When my parents were kids, comics were for kids. That seems to have changed.

Because kids don't read comics. When your demographic changes you have to adapt or die.

Back then, comics were ten cents. Now they're twenty bucks. Kids don't read stuff that costs twenty bucks.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#75

Post by daktanis »

rthomas6 wrote: post #69

For a young girl, it looks like the new Batgirl might fit the bill well [1]. Not trying to minimize the issue, I just thought the author might like this for their daughter. [1]: http://36.media.tumblr.com/98dffc116ba398dd71703e02abd7518b/... http://40.media.tumblr.com/f0256cc6e4845526b9b9444935a6b287/...

There are a lot of good options out there, comic shop guy didn't help as much as my local shop would have.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#76

Post by spuz »

vidarh wrote: post #55
spuz wrote: post #35

Maybe it's me but I cannot figure out what point the post is making. What exactly does the author 'get' now? How does the sexualisation of comic book characters relate to how women experience the tech industry? I'm not saying there isn't a link, but the author doesn't explain it from his point of view. I have to admit I am a little discouraged by the way the author handles his interactions with his daughter. To expla…

It sounds like what he "gets" is how hard it is to notice a lot of the sexualization when you don't get to see it from their side. It's easy to e.g. dismiss the way female superheroes (and villains) are being dismissed with references to how the men are also in tight outfits (as you can find examples of in this thread). It's harder to dismiss the difference between your son having no problems finding something he lik…

Ok, that makes sense. I guess I can see how that kind of dissonance would then apply when thinking about women and technology.

Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me

#80

Post by [deleted] »

everyone wrote: post #22

I dont see this as an issue. Putting it very bluntly. Comics are (in general) of low quality (in terms of writing, ideas* ), aimed (in general) at a specific creepy contingent of society composed of teenage boys or men who still act like teenage boys. So, who cares about them!? Contemporary media, games, tv shows, films, music, are filled with and largely composed of terrible dross. If you're discerning that involves…

[deleted]
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