Do kids still read comics?

[PyroChamber]

Being that comic books were once considered "kids stuff" and now they seem to be more geared towards adults, do kids these days even care about comics anymore?

[Ultra Lantern]

They probably do at some point.

[Max J Power]

As far as I can tell, kids tend to only read comics if they have parents who are into them. Every time I see a kid in a comic store, his or her parent is picking up their reserves. And a lot of people I know who have been into comics since they were kids first read them because of parents or older siblings.

I think kids read some mangas though. My county library system is really conscientious about keeping up with Naruto, Bleach, and other popular ones from the kids/teens demographic.

[Tron Bonne]

From my general experience, no, they do not. I do see a parent occasionally picking up an all ages comic or some bargain bin back issues for their kids, but I really don't see much proof that younger kids read American comics. The average reading age for that nowadays is, I believe, like early to mid thirties, and the younger demography really aren't interested anymore.

Manga, though, I think that's more common. Though, I'm pretty sure not a whole lot of younger people are into any reading all that much nowadays, at least from what I can tell.

[redhawk23]

i don't know about kids, like little kids, but theres a fairly strong Trade Paper Back market amongst high school freshman where I'm from. As far as reading new comics though, not so much. Its an expensive habit. with TPB's you get full story arcs and their far easier to lend out.

[Thebumwhowalks]

I was round at a friend's house , who has a little boy who is *heavily* into Batman and Spider-man, Batman mainly, I gave him the first 2 seasons of BTAS.
So i was round there and spotted a Spider-man comic he had been bought, and it was awful, it was a baby version of superhero comics, just pure junk. It was like a children's book, drawn like one, reading like one, a style which does not translate well into superhero comics.
When i was that kid's age(about 5 i guess) i was reading(or having read to me) comics by Chris Claremont in Marvel team Up for chrisakes. Making books like that will not encourage him to read sh cbs, he will not develop a passion for them, and instead stick to the cartoons and movies.
And that is another thing i suppose, in this day and age kids will just flip on the movies and cartoon shows, who needs to read comics every month to get their superhero fix. Very young children can watch the same thing over and over again no problem.
And as for these children's books superhero comics, just a bad idea, ok, as you say , the book snowadays have more sophisticated stories to keep adults interested, but they could either re-print the simpler stories for kids(like those MTUP's), or do stories in that style, not woolly Wolverine(who guest starred in the book with Spider-man) and spongey Spider-man.
Ah, seeing that comic really annoyed me.
Anyway, I gave a big bag of comics to the kid at the weekend, every doubler i could find in my collection, hopefully he will develop a real sense of cbs from those.

[hopefuldreamer]

I don't think kids these days have much patience for reading at all, unless the parents make a real effort. And the only parents who are going to make a massive effort to get their kids reading COMICS, are... well... us lot

I grew up without comics. My mum would give anything for me not to be a Superhero fan. If she could go back in time and stop me watching the 90s Spiderman Cartoons, the original X-men cartoons, or Lois and Clark (the shows that sparked my interest), she would!

Comics are something that I am only now getting heavily into. For one thing, we don't have any comic books stores in my town. The nearest one is 20 miles away, and so it's kind of hard to keep up with a series. But my local libraries are getting pretty good with their store of Graphic Novels, so i'm working my way through what i've been missing all these years.

[hammerhedd11]

Originally Posted by Thebumwhowalks

I was round at a friend's house , who has a little boy who is *heavily* into Batman and Spider-man, Batman mainly, I gave him the first 2 seasons of BTAS.
So i was round there and spotted a Spider-man comic he had been bought, and it was awful, it was a baby version of superhero comics, just pure junk. It was like a children's book, drawn like one, reading like one, a style which does not translate well into superhero comics.
When i was that kid's age(about 5 i guess) i was reading(or having read to me) comics by Chris Claremont in Marvel team Up for chrisakes. Making books like that will not encourage him to read sh cbs, he will not develop a passion for them, and instead stick to the cartoons and movies.
And that is another thing i suppose, in this day and age kids will just flip on the movies and cartoon shows, who needs to read comics every month to get their superhero fix. Very young children can watch the same thing over and over again no problem.
And as for these children's books superhero comics, just a bad idea, ok, as you say , the book snowadays have more sophisticated stories to keep adults interested, but they could either re-print the simpler stories for kids(like those MTUP's), or do stories in that style, not woolly Wolverine(who guest starred in the book with Spider-man) and spongey Spider-man.
Ah, seeing that comic really annoyed me.
Anyway, I gave a big bag of comics to the kid at the weekend, every doubler i could find in my collection, hopefully he will develop a real sense of cbs from those.

Dude, at least he's reading. Comics are what got me into reading and many others I know but I can guarantee you it wasn't Watchmen or Preacher I started out with. I mostly read kiddie comics or any thing I saw. Heck, I remember reading the comic book adaptation of Batman and Robin over and over. Was it a good comic? Hell no. But I was six. But I read enough until my taste matured. That's like being mad that he's watching Blues Clues instead of Goodfellas or something. He's five for god's sake.
One of the worst things you can do towards their development is force them to read what you think is good. I remember being at a library book sale and overheard a 8 year old kid pick up a Star Trek book and ask his mom to buy it. She was disgusted and called it trash(there was no individual pricing on the books; it was donation only so price wasn't an issue) and picked out a different book instead for him that she said was better. I can guarantee you that experience affected the kid's outlook on reading negatively.
One of my younger cousins had a hard time getting into reading when she was around 8 or 9 and my family gave her a bunch of old Archie comics we had laying around. Now those aren't great stories or well written but now she's around 13 and she loves reading and has progressed to better things. Give him time to have his reading level mature before you force "better" things at him.

[Mario_Galaxy]

Back when I read comics regularly, I was the only person under the age of 20 going into my comic book store. It was an awkward day when my mom had to buy that naughty Avengers issue with Wasp and Hank Pym going at it and The Flash issue where there's explicit cocaine usage, haha!

Those two comics are actually prime examples of how comics have been geared more towards adults. There's been similar evolutions with every medium.

[terry78]

They still make comics geared towards kids, but it's like nowadays there are only two sets of books..those only for kids and those only for adults. There isn't really any happy medium.

[Thebumwhowalks]

Originally Posted by hammerhedd11

Dude, at least he's reading. Comics are what got me into reading and many others I know but I can guarantee you it wasn't Watchmen or Preacher I started out with. I mostly read kiddie comics or any thing I saw. Heck, I remember reading the comic book adaptation of Batman and Robin over and over. Was it a good comic? Hell no. But I was six. But I read enough until my taste matured. That's like being mad that he's watching Blues Clues instead of Goodfellas or something. He's five for god's sake.
One of the worst things you can do towards their development is force them to read what you think is good. I remember being at a library book sale and overheard a 8 year old kid pick up a Star Trek book and ask his mom to buy it. She was disgusted and called it trash(there was no individual pricing on the books; it was donation only so price wasn't an issue) and picked out a different book instead for him that she said was better. I can guarantee you that experience affected the kid's outlook on reading negatively.
One of my younger cousins had a hard time getting into reading when she was around 8 or 9 and my family gave her a bunch of old Archie comics we had laying around. Now those aren't great stories or well written but now she's around 13 and she loves reading and has progressed to better things. Give him time to have his reading level mature before you force "better" things at him.

Yeah, I see your point, but , 'y'know, I was just thinking that as the book had such terrible artwork and a terrible story, he would think that comics were the substandard version of the cartoons/movies. whereas, even when I was that age, I always thought the comics were the best medium for the sh story. He could express no more interest in getting any comics.
the books I gave him? mostly they were all old comics from the late 70s/early 80s that I read at his age, and a little older, he will be fine with them.

[The Morningstar]

I think kids read less of anything these days.

Although I will say Marvel seems more welcoming to kids and newer readers. Whereas DC seems to be catering more to the older fans.