There’s been a bit of a back and forth on the old internets about all ages comics. Christopher Butcher weighs in and summarizes the kerfuffle here. His take is basically that it’s much ado about nothing, and that the complaining about a lack of all ages titles is really mostly about super-hero nostalgia:
So let’s really, really narrow this discussion about “all ages” comics to what it really is: Superhero Fans Want To Buy Superhero Comics For Their Kids That Are Simultaneously Exactly What They Read As Kids AND All New At The Same Time. They want all the comics on the stands to be ’safe’ for children, while still engaging them on an adult level like all of the other media targeted at adults. They want the stuff they read as kids and teenagers in the 70s and 80s (or hell, the 60s) to be the same as what’s published today for their kids. They will accept no substitutions, and most importantly they need it to be CANON. That’s right, even if the Superhero comics meet every other criteria, they can’t take place in their own “universe” or be the “for kids” version (even if it’s for ‘all ages’), it has to be part of the 616 or DCU continuity or else it isn’t ‘real’. Superhero fans want validation for their tastes and interests, just like the OCD football dad who couldn’t make it to the NFL and is going to live out his dreams in his son. Exactly the same sentiment, but without a million dollar paycheck at the end of ‘reading superhero comics’, so waaaay less pressure.
And that’s what Retailers, older retailers in particular, want to sell them. Because it’s what they read, and it’s what they know, and they have the same nostalgic feelings for and biases towards that material.
I’m always willing to sneer at superhero fans, as most folks know. But I think this maybe misses or downplays a fairly major point — kids really, really, really like superheroes. A lot. It’s not me who was foisting my old Spidey Super Stories and Super-friends comics on my kid because I desperately wanted him to read them for the sake of my overwhelming nostalgia. On the contrary, I pulled those out of the long boxes because my son was obsessed, and I figured it would be cheaper than buying new reading material. And let me tell you, by the time I’d read them fifty or sixty times out loud, any lingering nostalgia I felt for the material was killed well nigh dead.
Butcher goes on to talk about the Marvel Adventures all ages books, which he notes haven’t been doing so hot, especially in pamphlet form — especially, especially in the direct market. The Marvel Adventures books have come up more than a time or two on this blog (Most recently in a Vom Marlowe review here.) They’re in general quite good; certainly, my son has enjoyed a number of them, from Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four to the Avengers. And I can confirm as a parent that they tend to be more fun to read than old Superfriends comics.
The point, it seems to me, is that super-hero comics really should, in some sense, be for kids; that’s where the biggest potential audience would be, in any logical world. There are a small percentage of 35 year old men who are consumed with the desire to read super-hero comics, but there’s a much larger percentage of 5-10 year old boys who would (at least potentially) like to read those comics. The industry hasn’t totally abandoned the younger audience,it’s true — but it definitely sees them as a side-issue which it addresses fitfully, nervously, and not always very effectively.
So Butcher may be right that most of the hand-wringing about all-ages titles is from retailers working through misplaced nostalgia. But even if that’s so, I think it’s indisputable that Marvel and DC and the industry as a whole don’t really know how to sell super-hero comics to kids, which is embarrassing given the fact that selling super-hero comics to young boys should be about as difficult as distributing crack to addicts. I mean, it’s clear enough what the problem is in terms of distribution barriers, institutional focus, marketing, and so forth. But still, it’s pitiful.
Update: Heidi also weighs in on Chris’s post (link thanks to Brigid.
Chris was still arguing that mainstream audiences don't really like superheroes even after The Dark Knight came out, so I think it's a bit of a blind spot for him, even though I understand what he's getting at here.
Yeah. Chris must not have kids — or if he does have kids, their consumer preferences are very different from the ones I know. My son and pretty much all his friends are crazy about super-heroes.
My son digs the superheroes too and we eat up everything from Marvel Adventures to Tiny Titans to Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
But I wonder how much money the DM can expect to draw out of that audience. At $2.50 a pop for the cheapest issues, my seven-year-old's allowance wouldn't let him keep up with more than the current number of monthly superhero titles for kids. Even with the relatively small number of options available (compared to more complex comics), he still has to make choices and leave behind some books he'd like to read.
I'm not suggesting a decrease in prices, I'm just wondering if maybe the current number of kids' superhero books is exactly what the DM can support. As opposed to the huge number of "grown-up" books that are already straining adults' budgets.
This is kind of what I was talking about in terms of institutional barriers. The direct market is a lousy way to reach kids; pamphlets are also really not ideal. Kids are a lot easier to reach with collected paperbacks in bookstores. As it is, kids pamphlet comics are entirely dependent on the relatively small number of parents who read comics (since they're the only ones who even know where direct market stores are.)
I think changing that dynamic would ultimately be lucrative if you were imaginative and knew what you were doing. Unfortunately, of course, that doesn't exactly describe the big two….
Pamphlets are fine if there's a place to get them easily. There's no reason any places that carry magazines (airports, gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets) couldn't carry comics…and there's no reason kids might not get them there…if the pamphlets themselves were cheaper. It would require going back to an old model of business and abandoning Diamond…but this seems like a preferable alternative to me. They could be cheaper if they were printed on cheaper paper–and if they sold more (which they might if they were cheaper and more available). If you could price them at $1.00 to $1.50, kids could actually afford to buy their own (with allowances, etc.). And, yes, I think they would given that kids still love superheroes–and they still like the comics format too. I see lots of neighborhood kids gathering around the comics aisle of the library and the bookstore. Yes, magazine sales and book sales are down…but there's still a market for them. I actually think collected trades are a bit less likely to sell than pamphlets in some ways…since they will inevitably cost more per shot. They're cheaper for adults, of course, but if you're just buying one at a time, the pamphlet form still has life IF directed at kids, I say. What appeal it has for adults is a bit obscure to me. The collector's value is way down…and it ends up costing a lot more $. And this from a loser who still picks up the occasional pamphlet (for self and kids). My only excuse is impatience…If there's something I want to read, I tend to be too impatient to "wait for the trade". Lucky for me, there's not many pamphlet comics I actually want to read.
Pamphlets are fine if there's a place to get them easily. There's no reason any places that carry magazines (airports, gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets) couldn't carry comics…and there's no reason kids might not get them there…if the pamphlets themselves were cheaper. It would require going back to an old model of business and abandoning Diamond…but this seems like a preferable alternative to me. They could be cheaper if they were printed on cheaper paper–and if they sold more (which they might if they were cheaper and more available). If you could price them at $1.00 to $1.50, kids could actually afford to buy their own (with allowances, etc.). And, yes, I think they would given that kids still love superheroes–and they still like the comics format too. I see lots of neighborhood kids gathering around the comics aisle of the library and the bookstore. Yes, magazine sales and book sales are down…but there's still a market for them. I actually think collected trades are a bit less likely to sell than pamphlets in some ways…since they will inevitably cost more per shot. They're cheaper for adults, of course, but if you're just buying one at a time, the pamphlet form still has life IF directed at kids, I say. What appeal it has for adults is a bit obscure to me. The collector's value is way down…and it ends up costing a lot more $. And this from a loser who still picks up the occasional pamphlet (for self and kids). My only excuse is impatience…If there's something I want to read, I tend to be too impatient to "wait for the trade". Lucky for me, there's not many pamphlet comics I actually want to read.
Actually, newsstands don't carry many comics these days because they aren't expensive enough. Your typical magazine costs $5-6 (or more), while comics are half that. Since newsstand rack space is limited, vendors prefer to rack items which have a bigger margin.
(Notice that when a newsstand does have comics, they are on the bottom shelf in the back corner? That's the least rack real estate possible…)