How do we get children interested in comic books again?
Why do you want them to read comics? I don't like kids comics I think they should stay uninterested
>>81290659
There needs to sites for Comics like there are Sites for Manga.
Children can really get into Manga because they can look it up easily on a number of websites. Also there needs to be more stories a 13 year old can get into. Things that would fit into the "Shounen" Genere
>>81290675
>I want the medium to die
>>81290659
Make them cheaper. Sell them in grocery stores and make them the first thing kids see when their mom wheels them in. Parents will buy their kid a 2 dollar comic to keep them quiet and occupied while they shop.
>>81290675
I'm not saying tone down the stories, I got into comics with Frank Miller's stuff when I was 10, comics just need to be more accesible tonnew readers
Make comicbooks that are solely aimed at them and competenly made, seems to do the trick usually.
Disclaimer: do not make all comics aimed at children.
I used to buy Archie comics in grocery stores, but I can't find them in Florida anymore.
Isn't the company going up?
Comics need to be places kids will go, which isn't the direct market
When I bought comics as a kid it was when my mom would take me grocery shopping and I could get one issue
>>81290659
For what purpose, Master Chief?
>>81290741
Archie is doing some weird rebranding right now. They're putting out horror mash-up comics like Afterlife with Archie and Archie vs Predator. And they've started regular comic ongoings with modern updated characters
>>81290818
I liked Afterlife, never touched Archie v. Predator, but I heard a lot of characters died. If they do keep doing horror mashups, I want to see Archie vs. The Blob
You don't.
Comics have been relegated to hobby shops. They're a niche interest that even with the huge success of hollywood movies based off of them will remain a niche interest due to the success of the many barriers it has that keep the general public away.
The comic universes are so sprawling and convoluted that potential customers are daunted and discouraged from even attempting to acquaint themselves with it. Unlike manga there aren't a bunch of websites where you can go read everything for free online to acclimate yourself into the universe. Comics aren't sold in grocery store stands anymore, customers have to actively seek them out. There's a bunch more reasons. Comic companies have maneuvered themselves into a corner. They have a modest, but established audience that resists & decries attempts by the companies to appeal to a wider demographic, so they're stuck in this weird position where they have to walk a tightrope between trying to attract new customers without alienating the people who actually BUY their stuff. Which seems to be a trial that requires more grace than the big companies possess.
cheap anthologies.
the fantastic four essentials in the library are what got me into comics. i think those can do the job.
>>81290857
> The comic universes
> Comics are just Marvel and DC
>>81290848
>Archie vs The Blob
>Archie vs The Thing
>Archie vs Freddy
MAKE IT HAPPEN
>>81290741
I worked at a grocery store in Texas a few years ago that sold them in the checkout isles. I never saw anyone buy them
>>81290741
I'm in Texas and there are archie digests at every other register at my local walmart
>>81290659
In order for comics to become relevant again, society has to rewind the clock.
Social media has to go. Video games have to go. Television has to go.
Only then will kids consider picking up a funnybook.
Take away all their other entertainment options.
>>81290857
That was also the case 20 years ago, but it didn't stop me from reading comics. The difference is a few grocery and convenience stores still had spinner racks and comics were affordable, now if a kid wants to read comics he has to potentially get his parents to drive a long distance and buy a $4-$5 single issue thats part of a longer story
>>81290937
I had internet (dial up... but still) tv and video games, I still read comics as a kid
>>81290887
It might as well be.
No other comic company has any visibility whatsoever. They barely scrape by as it is.
>>81290937
Kids steal read books.
I remember in the mid 90s my dad's friend's wife worked at some kind of company that dealt with unsold books, I got a shitload of goosebumps with the covers torn off
And a bunch of nickelodeon magazines and batman and spider-man clone saga comics with the covers still on.
>>81290857
>>81290887
>US problems
>>81290659
Molest them so that they need a means to escape the harsh reality that every Thursday when mom drops you off at your uncles that he is most likely gonna make you strip down naked and be forced to let him play doctor on you. It probably won't be till you're 10 that you find out that telling your parents what he did won't get you in big trouble but from then till there comics will provide a nice escape to a world where bad people get what's comings to them
>>81290696
>only children's media is successful
>>81291501
Not what I'm saying, what I'm saying is we all came into comics as children and like I said in an earlier post it was Frank Miller's work that got me into comics so we don't have to dumb it down,kids are smarter than you think, and we are all going to die someday, to keep the medium alive we need new readers, children like the movies why can't we make it easier for them to read the comics
>>81291457
You're fucked in the head
>>81290675
>hasn't read Jeff Smith's Bone
>>81290659
Just print Disney comics.
>>81290659
Add more rape
Yours truly,
Alan Moore
>>81290659
fucking put them somewhere where they can find them.
the smart money is cheap out on coloring and call it a book these days
>>81290659
You educate them so they have access to it.
Follow Europe's example and have comics in an easily digestible BD/album format that can be read standalone and have looser continuity with each other.
Specifically appealing to the kids' demographic is also key, as is increasing the presence of comics in a wider market than just Barnes and Noble.
There's a reason why Euro comics and manga both consistently sell more books than American comics in their home countries.
Capeshit is an artificially bloated genre on life support and it needs to for the most part die along with the draconian distribution that goes with it if comics as a medium are to stay relevant.
![408475-19039-131257-1-marvel-adventures-hu[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/mOO4Whj.jpg "408475-19039-131257-1-marvel-adventures-hu[1].jpg")
Step 1: Make comics for kids. No you don't have to worry about continuity or storylines or who is doing what where, forget all that. Just make simple episodic comics with lots of fighting and explosions to get kids interested. Shit like Marvel Adventures or Supergirl in the 8th Grade. Look to anime and Power Rangers since that's what kids watch. No shoehorned politics, no energy spent on diversity or social justice to please 25-30something millenials. Just simple good guy fights bad guy with cool powers everywhere. Make sure to keep it all "G-rated' so parents aren't afraid to grab a few comics for their kids when they go shopping, without having to worry about someone getting ripped in half inside.
Step 2: Make comics kids are going to want to read when they become teens, because now they have allowances and you don't have to rely solely on parents buying it for their kids. Look to the 90's. Again, keep the fighting and explosions, keep the simplistic story structure, but crank up the violence a little. Maybe show some blood now, some knives. Don't go full rated-M because they won't be able to buy them, but give them more "teeth" so edgy teens will feel cool for buying them. Also, and this is important, make them sexy. Girls with revealing costumes, big boobs, ass shots. Teens are horny motherfuckers. If they know they're gonna see some sideboob in a book they're going to buy it.
So basically, create two new lines for these demographics, and keep them going. Do it long enough so that you can print "digests" like Archie does because those make bank, and you don't have to pay new artists because it's all reprints aside from maybe one new story.
>>81292421
>I don't think about the girls' demographic
>I only want capeshit to be successful
>I don't think comics should change their price points
There are already enough fight scenes and titties in capeshit.
Some things are on point but these are the things American comics need to do.
>Making comics that appeal to both genders
>Making comics with a wider variety of genres than capeshit
>Making comics extremely cheap so kids can afford them
Basically we need more comics likethe MLP series.
>>81290711
This. Like seriously, so much this.
>>81292050
>Blaming the victim
>>81292607
It's important to appeal to boys because they're the demographic that buys into this shit the most. Appealing to both genders is fine but it's not like the comic companies have infinite money. If so then yeah, make books for girls too, but sometimes when you make books for girls AND boys you end up pleasing neither.
Same thing with capes really. Little kids love action and explosions. They don't all have to be capeshit, but they do need to be action oriented or else they won't care.
You're right about the price thing, but I don't see a way to cut costs without forcing our artists to work for pennies like Japan.
>>81292359
Done.
>>81292747
>It's important to appeal to boys because they're the demographic that buys into this shit the most.
Wrong
>They don't all have to be capeshit, but they do need to be action oriented or else they won't care.
Then why do slice-of-life stories do so well in Japan?
>>81292831
you need to put a legend with that pic friend
>>81292831
cause slice of life isn't capeshit, which make the actual argument about transforming capeshit to girlshit irelevant. Also shoujo shit is juse as closed to male audience as cape is to female audience. japan knows taste don't need to overlap.
![10-What-Percentage-of-Comic-Customer-Base-is-Women[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/3Keg01l.png "10-What-Percentage-of-Comic-Customer-Base-is-Women[1].png")
>>81292831
I'm talking about little boys versus little girls, not the entire gender spectrum across ages. But if we're throwing out pie charts, here's one that's probably more accurate. It's a survey done by brick and mortar comic book shops in 2015.
>Then why do slice-of-life stories do so well in Japan?
Because a shit ton of adults read manga in Japan. We're talking kids here.
>>81292904
>It's a survey done by brick and mortar comic book shops in 2015.
>not realizing that ebooks make up a big portion of comic sales
Also, who says that little kids visit comic shops, anyways?
![8-What-Percentage-of-Customers-Are-Young-People[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/TLXSJ5r.png "8-What-Percentage-of-Customers-Are-Young-People[1].png")
>>81292937
...They don't. Which is why we're having this thread, anon.
>All these people shitting on slice-of-life comics not being for kids
>When kids' comics like Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes are slice-of-life
>>81292973
The problem isn't getting kids to comic shops, anon.
The specialized distribution method that enables their existence is pulling down comics as a whole in the US.
We need more gas stations and drugstores to have comics.
The same thing applies to capeshit as a whole. Trying to keep the current model of capeshit all the time is futile if a wider audience is trying to be reached.
We need the market diversity that we had before the CCA.
>>81292384
im serious, what will it take for capeshit to die? does the market need to crash? what's going to rise from the ashes, then?
>>81290659
you make a videogame so bad that theyll actually try to "read" a comic book
>>81293097
>im serious, what will it take for capeshit to die?
I don't think it can ever really die completely, but I'm of the opinon that it'll either change to be more casuals-friendly or grow steadily more irrelevant.
For instance, I'm of the opinion that capeshit will be more geared towards trades than floppies. Which will hopefully drive up their quality level and make them more accessible for someone looking for a complete story.
Whatever end it is, it will most likely be a slow end. Just like the current era of capeshit movies is IMO starting to draw to a close.
>does the market need to crash?
No, not necessarily. We've seen before that comic book companies are willing to sell themselves off before they do so. But in something like Marvel's case, we might have something where we have a bunch of one-off floppies of licensed properties and the occasional cape TPB.
>what's going to rise from the ashes, then?
Hopefully? We'll see more diversity as independent/creator-owned/online comics grow more respected as a medium and cut into the industry more. There are already many webcomics that have proven to be successful in print.
In an attempt to appeal more towards casuals there will be a wider range of genres that are easily accessible. Archie for instance has given a shot in the arm to horror and slice-of-life.
What will most likely help is that there will be series that appeal more to casuals, so there will likely be more licensed comics as well.
And this isn't even starting to talk about international comics or manga.
>>81293324
yeah i think things are getting better. it might help if DC or Marvel started encouraging more non capeshit stuff. Marvel was behind epic illustrated which featured some of the great comic artists there were, but that was a different time.
>>81290711
Not really, it's literally much easier to hand a kid a smartphone or a tablet and have them play one of those google-store games. Face it, comicbooks can't stay in the babysitting game, the opponents are much better than em and much more affordable.
>>81293097
>implying capeshit is inherently bad
Step 1: Find GOOD translators
Step 2: Just bring over European Donald Pocket, using said good translators
Step 3: Make sure to actually sell it in stores people go to, and marked it before summer and easter
>>81292874
>Also shoujo shit is juse as closed to male audience as cape is to female audience.
Wat. They're sold in the same stores, right next to each other, on the same rack.
>japan knows taste don't need to overlap.
Do you even know how jap magazines decide what gets picked for publication?
>>81290659
Motion comics.
For your iDroid.
That are actually mini games filled with micro transactions.
Children read more comics than anybody dude
http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/tilting-at-windmills-bookscan-2015-analysis
They don't read big two cape comics because most of them are not for children
>>81293664
>actual market
>children's comics
>Zombie comics
>/co/ market
>shit nobody IRL reads
It's poetry.
My neice reads everything with raina telgemeier's name on it and a lot of other kids do too, children read comics, just not the ones you want them too
>>81292607
Whether you like it or not capeshit sells best and it sells to young males. So you can take your ponies and fuck off
>>81295666
Young males don't read comics. Girls read more comics and books period. Superhero trades get trashed by shit like el deafo and smile and even th n it's mostly older readers who read superhero trades.
>>81295666
Actually, Satan, capeshit doesn't sell the best and young males are too busy watching Let's Play's on Youtube.
>>81293664
And most 'comics' kids read are slice-of-life.
>>81293097
If capeshit dies, indieshit dies too, supply and demand motherfucker
>>81295713
Most true indie comics aren't even published through diamond, shit like SPX and TCAF would still be a thing because they aren't even affected by the big 2. Even DH and Image would just go all digital and trades. Comics won't die as a medium without superheroes unless you literally only care about superheroes
>>81295713
>If capeshit dies, indieshit dies too, supply and demand motherfucker
>trying to put two different business models on the same level
Capeshit is a house of cards.
Independent publishers can live with modest success without going down the shitter
Not to mention that indie comics have a more stable base with diverse genres
>>81293437
i'm talking about the genre at large and it's oligopoly on everything.
>>81295705
What does sell the best then indiefag? I know what I like and I also know that the comic book industry is crumbling. Its cool as long as we get flavor of the month capeshit. But when that dies out and nobody is buying comic books anymore because the industry failed to bring in new readers, then your indieshit publishers are going to close their doors too
>>81295777
Where are the indie books going tobbe sold?
>>81295759
>shit like SPX and TCAF would still be a thing because they aren't even affected by the big 2
capeshit dies, LCS's die and all physical comics lose their distribution channels. comics die as a medium and webcomics finally win.
>>81290659
Easy. Fart jokes and toilet humor.
I mean, it works for all other kids media.
They need a Comixology style app that's better geared towards kids, because you'll have much better luck introducing them onto digital shit which is completely native for them
itt: butthurt capefags
>>81295841
>>81295863
>>81295864
See the link in
>>81293664
and read >>81295759's post
Also:
>what is Amazon
>what is Barnes and Noble and related stores
>what are ebooks
>>81295892
Just teach them to pirate older comics
>>81295864
You do know Amazon exists right? They even stock comics most LCS' don't even stock because they don't get distributed via diamond.
>>81295841
so capeshit is dragging the industry down, is what you're saying?
>>81295898
If the market falls out for superhero comics do you really believe anybody will still publish slice of life black and white indie bullshit knowing that they will never see a profit from it?
>>81295968
i get that you're baiting but they publish those anyway with or without the need of capeshit.
>>81295968
All of the publishers who don't publish caped heroes and publish exactly that right now? You understand indie publishers aren't part of DC/Marvel already right?
>>81295968
Slice of life black and white comics are the best selling genre among kids, don't know what you're talking about.
And indie comics would still have their audience, so why wouldn't there be a demand?
>>81295933
and if you're working directly with Amazon you're making mere pennies in profit
>>81295936
Diamond has created a business model that offers every company selling through them a fixed, risk-free income. The cash for that is coming out of the owner's of their franchise store's pockets, so the scam will last as long as there are enough rubes to fleece.
>>81295999
>>81295999
>>81296010
You'tr all right without the big two and superheroes a new golden age will fall upon artsy fartsy comics and the sales will be astronomical
>>81296117
More like we'll see a revival of genre comics.
Still a good thing regardless.
>>81296139
Where will you buy these genre comics?
I'm at my sisters right now watching my nephew, this is the top of one of my 9 year old nieces stack of books she has and I know for a fact she only knows about things like Smile and The Babysitter's Club because of her friends. She goes to a private school so maybe it's different since she has to read a lot of books and write about them so they're more likely to branch out of normal books(which she has a ton more of)
>kids in the US want comics that resonate with their own experience as people
>adults want Zombies
>manchildren want soap operas about vaguely humanoid alien people in surreal alien worlds battling over strongly self-refferential matters and politics that barely even make sense within whatever little internal logic the stories have
Are you... hipsters?
>>81296179
Raina Telgemeier pretty much is the queen of kid's comics right now, she sells well. I'm gonna elbow all the munchkins outta the way to get her to sign my copy of Smile at TCAF
>>81296174
you do realize LCS aren't the only places selling comics anymore?
>>81290659
Make them available to them, duh.
>>81296174
Hopefully? Drugstores, supermarkets, wherever.
Right now? At bookstores or online.
>>81296229
I remember when it was Marissa Moss.
Her books were the tightest shit
Interested in capeshit? You can't. Not without people going full-on "NOT MUH" when their favorites act in ways that appeal to younger audiences but aren't exactly in line with their usual characterizations. And hell, for reading material, I'd recommend young people stick with manga; comic books are just not ideal.
Interested in other genres? It's possible. Floppies will always be a hard-sell, though. In the first sense, kids are hardly going to know about floppy comics unless their family/friends directly show them floppy comics. Secondly, even if they know, they still have to find some way to get to the LCS. And after that, they need lods-of-emone.
Add in the fact that comics/graphic novels are considered lesser to real books (in terms of childishness/maturity, in terms of improving a kid's intelligence, in terms of potentially including big themes/ideas/concepts, etc.).
I think you're also going to run into problems with those same kids thinking that those "'picture books" from their youth were a bit childish. So yeah, you might get some growth in the kids sector, but it's not going to translate to more comic book readers later on.
>>81296292
If those places won't sell the superhero flavor of the month that doesn't sell with name recognition and movies why would they sell indie comics that literally nobody but you buys?
>>81296464
Amazon sells fucking anything and everything no matter what it is and book stores(assuming it isn't a tiny ass one) do the same.
>>81296447
>Add in the fact that comics/graphic novels are considered lesser to real books
yet 'a picture says a thousand words'
>>81296464
Indie =/= genre comics.
In an ideal world, we'd have the genre diversity that we had before the CCA, which included:
>Slice of Life
>Supernatural/Horror
>Sports
>Pulp Adventures
>Mystery
>Romance
And so on and so forth.
>>81296502
I'll break it to you: Americans think that comics = capeshit, which has hurt the reputation of comics in the US.
>>81290659
Why would you want get kids into politics?
>>81296464
you keep parroting yourself and you know you're not going anywhere.
>>81290659
we could stop making comics about rape, gory murder, and devil worship.
use capeshit as an entry-drug and make it more accessible for kids:
- make comics self-contained, so you get more bang for your buck... no more decompressed storytelling or overarching nonsense
- make em cheaper: $1.99 (digital for $0.99)
- bring them back to news stands, grocery stores, walmart etc...
>>81292421
>Make comics for kids.
Fuck that, kids dont want to read "kids comics", they want the real deal.
I got into comics because of Morrisons JLA when I was 10.
>>81296585
Then why would the kids want to read yhem?
>>81297074
Kids definitely do want to read kids comics, if they didn't those wouldn't constantly be best sellers.
>>81290659
Make inexpensive one-shots, and sell them at grocery stores, gas stations, bodegas etc.
Include a digital code to get them into that world as well.
Make them more easily avalible online. Have a Netflix-like website where you pay a sum each month and get access to a shit ton of comics, and have them all translated in lots of languages.
>>81297790
Isn't Marvel Unlimited something like this?
>>81290659
-Kids dont have $10 USD for pay comics, their parents are poor.
-Kids dont like 120-pages comic.
-Kids dont read
>>81296531
this t b h f a m.
>>81297074
Capeshit is utterly inappropriate for children
It's not acceptable for all ages because they're loaded with sex and violence and social issues
>>81290659
Make them cost less then weekly allowance.
Adults can't even afford comic books anymore.
I got into them because I regularly went to the library and I wanted to rebel against my mom reading books all the time. So just send send kids to the library I guess
>>81297074
>I got into comics because of Morrisons JLA when I was 10.
Morrison wrote JLA for children anon. Like that was his specific goal for writing it. It's in Supergods.
>>81299979
This
>>81297584
That's true globally. Actual children's comics generally lead the sales charts.
