Comments on: “Hey, You Kids–Get Outta My Comic Book Shop!”

By: JackieKessler

JackieKessler — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:35:37 +0000

Hey — thanks so much, everyone! I really appreciate all the suggestions.
All right. Today…I’m buying more comic books!
(Now if only I could get my kids to stop watching Bionicles and start watching Thundercats again…)
Jerodatgm, thanks for letting me know! Caitlin & I had a lot of fun writing Black and White.

By: jerodatgm

jerodatgm — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:46:14 +0000

Jackie, to get yourself back as a fan-girl, check out the series Astonishing X-men. Issues 1-24 were written by Joss Whedon and are some of the best X-men arcs I have ever read. Whedon’s run is collected in 4 TPBs also.
I revived my fan-boy status a few years ago after many years. I can appreciate your confusion when setting foot in a store. Unfortunately, I stopped regularly reading comics last year due to the cost.
BTW, I just started Black & White and I am enjoying it very much. Thanks!

By: Kat Kan

Kat Kan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:00:09 +0000

First off, the Akiko comics came way before Crilley ever wrote the novels, so the comics are NOT adaptations. But the comics are great. Also, it’s Yotsuba&! – the ampersand is very important in the title. It means Yotsuba and …
Marvel has its Marvel Adventures line of comics for younger readers – Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, the Avengers … try them out. Also the Franklin Richards, Son of a Genius trade paperbacks are a hoot.
You might also want to try some of the Toon Books – these are published by art spiegelman and his wife Francoise Mouly: they look more like easy readers; Stinky is great, also Otto’s Orange Day.
Viz’s kids manga such as Dinosaur Hour and Leave It to PET! might also be fun, as is Udon Entertainment’s Ninja Baseball Kyuma.
Scott Christian Sava has a number of good kids’ titles: Pet Robots, Ed’s Terrestrials, Cameron and His Dinosaurs, Hyperactive, My Grandparents are Secret Agents, Gary the Pirate, and Dreamland Chronicles (this last title might be for when your sons get a little older – my 14-year-old started reading it when he was 11).
And, speaking as a librarian who has been working to get graphic novels and comics into libraries since 1984, I’m hurt (hurt, I tells ya ^_^) that you didn’t think libraries would have comic books.
Have fun finding cool stuff for your kids!

By: dpomerico

dpomerico — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:46:13 +0000

I was checking out a Tiny Titan’s collection (don’t ask) and think it’s pretty good, if more comic-strippy than comic-booky (if that makes sense. But the art is pretty fun, and their super-powers do come into play.

By: JackieKessler

JackieKessler — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:16:07 +0000

Thanks for the terrific suggestions! As ridiculous as it sounds, it never would have occurred to me that the library would have comic books.

By: Kyle M.

Kyle M. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:33:23 +0000

Oh, and Amelia Rules! is a really good one, but it’s only tangentially tied into the super hero genre in that the central group of friends form a crime fighting society/club. It’s really about life and growing up though and it’s not been shy about tackling current events or other things that pop up in real life. It’s funny, sweet, and sometimes poignant, but makes for great reading whether you’re a kid or an adult. It’s a great title to keep an eye out for.

By: Kyle M.

Kyle M. — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:23:52 +0000

Hmmmm...I think the best place to start will be with Flight Explorer Vol. 1, especially if you're just getting them hooked, er, I mean, started. Getting them started. Mind you, it's a graphic novel, not a one-issue comic, so I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for here. But the benefit to Flight Explorer is that it contains a number of different stories with varied themes and art styles, so you (and they) might get a better idea of what they're interested in reading. Also, the stories are shorter, so they can pick it up and read a quick story before their attention wanders (if they're prone to that sort of thing). There's a pretty good review of Volume 1 here: http://www.readaboutcomics.com/2008/04/02/flight-explorer-vol-1/

By: Harry Connolly

Harry Connolly — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:52:29 +0000

Oh! And Owly for your littlest one.

By: Harry Connolly

Harry Connolly — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:50:53 +0000

Seven and five are pretty young, but there are options out there. I don’t know where you live, but you might want to wander into your local library–ours has an excellent children’s section. Your kids can read trade collections for free and decide what they like.
Anyway, not all of these will be superhero comics because my son prefers “weird” to “spandex”, but here’s a start (author’s names included if I remember them):
The Little Vampire, by Something Sfar
Yotsuba! (not superhero or fantasy, but very funny and charming–my son and I both loved it.
World of Quest
Twisted Journeys (There are seven of these so far–they’re choose your own adventure books in comic format.
SHAZAM! The Monster Society of Evil (OMG, so good. My son went nuts for this, superhero or not!)
Daniel Boom aka Loud Boy
Magic Pickle
A Bit Haywire (The previous three are superhero comics of a sort. Fun stuff)
The big two companies have made an effort in recent years to appeal to younger readers. Marvel has their Marvel Digests line, with kid-friendly version of Spider-man and The Avengers. DC has a line of “Superman Adventures”, “Tiny Titans” and a Batman book that is supposed to be excellent, but my son has zero interest.
If you want to be sneaky, Wild Ride, Ramp Rats and Soccer Sabotage are comics that teach kids about outdoor activities.
The Elsewhere Chronicles are “transported to fantasy world” adventures, as is
The Amulet
Lions and Tigers and Bears
and I’ll wrap this up with
Akiko (the comics, not the novels) by Crilley.
That last one is pretty good. Terrific characters, esp Poog.
You can also check out adaptations of popular kids books (which is what Akiko is). My library has adaptations of Coraline, Artemis Fowl, The Guardians (the cat books, not the owl ones) and so on. Not to mention cine-manga.
Good luck!