{"id":1958,"date":"2016-02-24T17:55:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T17:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stormfrontpublishing.wordpress.com\/?p=1958"},"modified":"2016-02-24T17:55:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T17:55:11","slug":"comics-are-not-kid-stuff-anymore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidalwavecomics.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/24\/comics-are-not-kid-stuff-anymore\/","title":{"rendered":"Comics are not kid stuff anymore"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nComics, as a mass medium, still have an image problem
\nI can\u2019t tell you how many times I have heard this: \u201cYeah, I read comics as a kid, but haven\u2019t picked one up in years.\u201d
\nOr this\u2026\u201dwhy would I waste time on kid stuff.\u201d
\nOr my favorite when I was criticized by some Princess Diana worship society for publishing a biography comic on their icon: \u201cComic means something to laugh at.\u201d
\nAfter 80 years on the publishing stage, comic books are still looked at as fodder for juvenile audiences\u2026or worse, the publishing equivalent to the ugly, red-headed step child. Too many people still consider comic books as men in tights beating bad guys or will Archie pick Betty or Veronica? Of course, there is plenty of that fare to go around, but the medium has expanded well beyond that. Now no one is going to confuse \u201cWatchmen\u201d (the 1986\/7 graphic novel series) with \u201cSense and Sensibility\u201d and no one is here to say that Niel Gaiman<\/a>\u2019s prose runs rings around that of F. Scott Fitzgerald (although Gaiman is an excellent writer), but, the overarching issue is that of perception. What makes a Dan Brown novel any more relevant and acceptable than that of Brian K. Vaughan<\/a>\u2019s \u201cEx Machina\u201d or Cy Dethan\u2019s \u201cCancertown?\u201d I personally find Brown\u2019s overly simplistic approach to be borderline juvenile, but yet he has an enormous following and mega-million dollar movie deals. Is it the artwork? Or is it the stigma that it can\u2019t be important or taken seriously because it is a comic book?
\nConsider the case of Art Speigelman\u2019s 1991 graphic novel Maus<\/a>. It is a moving tale about the harrowing experiences of the author\u2019s father as he tries to survive the Nazi Holocaust. It is told with gritty realism with the obvious exception that the Jewish characters are portrayed as mice and the Nazis as cats. Does the presentation make this a kids book? Maybe as much as another book about the oppression of Stalinism in which the characters are barnyard animals. I speak, of course, of George Orwell\u2019s Animal Farm. One is a mostly forgotten graphic novel, the other is considered one of the 100 greatest novels (ranked by Time Magazine in 2005) of the 20th Century. Now I am not comparing the intrinsic value or artistic merit of these two books, but simply offering a parallel of allegorical presentation on important themes.
\nNow before I get too far off the rails, the majority of graphic novels feature superheroes, aliens bent on world domination and magical enchanted lands because they align themselves with a visual interpretation. But it doesn\u2019t make them kid books either. Plenty of adults paid to see, \u201cIron Man,\u201d \u201c300,\u201d \u201cThe Road to Perdition,\u201d \u201cThe History of Violence,\u201d \u201cFrom Hell,\u201d \u201cThe Mask,\u201d \u201cThe Crow,\u201d \u201cScott Pilgrim vs. the World,\u201d \u201c30 Days of Night\u201d (the genre has generated over $16 billion in ticket sales), but somehow draw the line over accepting the source material.
\nIn the past 20 years comics have grown up. They have approached characters and topics with a more sophisticated eye. Sex and violence aside, they have broached racial, political, societal and other relevant and important themes. Just off the top of my head, Iron Man battled alcoholism, another Marvel<\/a> character, Northstar was portrayed as openly gay, Green Arrow is morally-ambiguous, and \u201cScalped,\u201d by Jason Aaron dealt head-on with the abortion issue. But more than these individual story elements, the overall tone of books evolved in psychological complexity. Characters are no longer stereotype paragons of justice and the American way. They are flawed and interesting\u2026just as you would find in a Jonathan Franzen or James Patterson novel.
\nThe comic book landscape is becoming more diverse and less about the mighty man from Krypton. However, comics have been niche marketed; painted into a corner and typecast, despite some truly remarkable literary efforts. Yet there is something for everyone. Sure if you prefer your Knight dark and your Lantern green, there will always be a staple of titles to enjoy. It is, and will probably remain, the bread in which the industry is buttered, but there is a growing community of innovative creators out there who are publishing graphically presented work that is worth reading and worthy of discussion with other contemporary popular fiction titles.
\nIf you\u2019re one who hasn\u2019t picked up a comic book or graphic novel in years, I issue this challenge. Pick one up and read it. If you can\u2019t decide which one to read, email me and I\u2019ll make a few suggestions. Afterwards, if you still think it\u2019s kid stuff or creative white noise, I will concede the point. But I\u2019d like to think that this opportunity will open a new avenue of appreciation for an alternative medium of storytelling and possibly expand your reading list.
\n\u202a#\u200e<\/span>readacomic\u202c<\/span><\/a> \u202a#\u200e<\/span>comicsnotkidstuff\u202c<\/span><\/a> \u202a#\u200e<\/span>literature\u202c<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comics, as a mass medium, still have an image problem I can\u2019t tell you how many times I have heard this: \u201cYeah, I read comics as a kid, but haven\u2019t picked one up in years.\u201d Or this\u2026\u201dwhy would I waste time on kid stuff.\u201d Or my favorite when I was criticized by some Princess Diana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nComics are not kid stuff anymore - TidalWave Productions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tidalwavecomics.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/24\/comics-are-not-kid-stuff-anymore\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comics are not kid stuff anymore - 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