Having a daughter will teach you a lot of things, and give you more perspectives. Music lyrics, YouTube videos, ads on the billboard/bus, cartoons and even comics. They'll notice. And you'll notice them noticing.
What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
191–200 of 359 posts
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Allow me to add Elfquest, Cerebus the Aardvark, TMNT, Love and Rockets, and R. Crumb! Not sure if all of those are American or not, but a few of the non-superhero books I (as an American) grew up with. Of course none of them was ever that widely known (apart from TMNT after it stopped being a comic), so the original point about the US and superheroes certainly remains. I imagine it's partly due to the legacy of the C…
I think Cerebus is not a very good answer to the concerns brought up in this piece.
I haven't read the article, its server is [edit:was] down. I was replying to the parent comments.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
How can the market fix this? If there is not enough demand, then publishers aren't going to create these titles.
As the parent mentioned, if you go to Japan, you'll see a thriving market for manga that appeals to girls of varying age groups. So, this would lead one to believe that the demand exists now, it's just completely untapped here. (Ignoring possible cultural differences.) Do you know how you create a large comic book market for older girls / women? Get them hooked when they're young on age-appropriate material, treat th…
> (Ignoring possible cultural differences.)
Well, that's a big part of it.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think Cerebus is not a very good answer to the concerns brought up in this piece.
I haven't read the article, its server is [edit:was] down. I was replying to the parent comments.
Probably not a good idea to have one's young daughter read Cerebus is I guess what I'm saying.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#195I've never understood Americans' obsession with superhero comics. When I was a kid I was reading Asterix[1], Gaston Lagaffe[2], Spirou et Fantasio[3], Lucky Luke[4], Prince Valiant[5], The Phantom[6] and similar stuff. Of course, I've read Superman, Batman and Spiderman also but at least I've had a choice. I can't understand why they don't exist in US, why are the only comic books Americans know superhero comics? [1]…
Many of the non-superhero comic books in the U.S. end up being adult themed for various reasons. Even many notable French artists are only known here for their work in magazines like Heavy Metal.
One I grew up with (that I probably shouldn't have had as a child) was the Conan the Barbarian comics. Definitely not a superhero title, and definitely skewed towards the adult demographic.
Asterix has tried to penetrate the U.S. market several times, but the style says "newspaper comic strip" to Americans and that's where it got stuck.
Prince Valiant is also an American comic, shown mostly in newspapers.
Spirou et Fantasio looks excellent, I don't think there's ever been a concerted effort to translate the title into English.
Same with Gaston.
I personally think there's a deep well of wonderful French comics that have yet to really make it into the American market: Valérian and Laureline, Blueberry, Arzach, etc. Where the artwork and writing are wonderful. But then again, I think Arzach and other Moebius works ended up here under the Heavy Metal books, which are widely known among late-teen early adult readers.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#196As a father of daughters, I'm waiting for the series of articles that will help me understand the proper way to have a conversation with them about the fact that their boyfriends, when they are old enough to have them, do not have the muscular build nor the attractive looks of common comic book characters such as Batman, Superman, and so on that they constantly see. Never mind when they see movies with all those overly attractive male stars.
But all I get are articles about how certain comic books, that they probably shouldn't be reading anyway, gives them unrealistic expectations of what their bodies should look like. Plus the fact that will somehow prevent them from getting a career they want to have.
Anyway, I often take my daughters to the local comic book store that I feel has an adequate range of comics for all ages and gender. I let them loose to get what they want. The older one goes for things like Monster High and My Little Pony. The younger goes for those as well as TMNT and Transformers. I just let them decide for themselves what kind of comic book reader they want to be. I feel they'll mostly work it out for themselves. Some people shouldn't worry so much over such details because in the end it only stifles your kid's growth as a person. Trying to shield them from the world they live in doesn't help them in the long run.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
As the parent mentioned, if you go to Japan, you'll see a thriving market for manga that appeals to girls of varying age groups. So, this would lead one to believe that the demand exists now, it's just completely untapped here. (Ignoring possible cultural differences.) Do you know how you create a large comic book market for older girls / women? Get them hooked when they're young on age-appropriate material, treat th…
> (Ignoring possible cultural differences.) Well, that's a big part of it.
>Well, that's a big part of it.
Fair enough. I didn't want to get into it because I wanted to keep my point succinct but I believe the main point still applies. You want to change the fact that in the US, comics are only for kids/nerds? Get kids involved early, don't alienate them, and what was once only for geeks and nerds will be for everyone.
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When the vast majority of their output is targeting a mostly male demographic, and being sold almost exclusively in an environment that attracts mostly men, that may be so. But it is a situation of their own making by making their product offering so niche. I think you've got the order of things mixed up. No company intentionally wants to cut their customer base in half. They've tried to attract female readers. The…
I think you're missing the point that in other parts of the world people (kids, adults, men, women) do read comic books. In those other parts of the world, where comic books are read by all sorts of people, they are not so overtly sexualized as those in the USA. Maybe you're right that non-young-male-Americans are genetically incapable of liking comic books as a medium, but it seems more likely that Americans are no…
> but it seems more likely that Americans are no different from Europeans
Huh? There's tons of ways in which Americans are culturally different from Europeans. Is it so crazy to think comic book tastes might be one of those differences?
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#199Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Japan there's entire genres of comics about tentacle rape. People are different in other countries. Comics for women have been tried here. Over and over. They haven't worked. American women just aren't drawn to them. Sometimes it just is what it is!
Agreed. Expecting cultures to change and adapt is for suckers!
Sometimes you've gotta pick your battles. We're talking about comic books here. Who really cares? Why do they "need" to change?
Re: What taking my daughter to a comic book store taught me
#200Ugh. This website has modified the behavior of two-fingered scrolling and broke two-fingered magnification on OS X. How do I send glitter to the idiot who decided to break Mac users' conventions?