This week, we’re going to bring our aim to the younger crowd. Comic fans are getting older, spawning off their own offspring, and they want to bring their young into the scene. But what to show them? Batman gets a little dark. Superior Spider-Man might be a little hard to explain to a 4 year old. So what do you bring to the table? Luckily, there’s a good amount out there.
The Classics
Did you know they are reprinting some of the old comic strips into monthly comic books? Books like Classic Peanuts, Classic Popeye and Garfield are still printing stories that come out. Sometimes the humor is a little older, so you might want to re-read them yourself a bit. In example, there is an issue of Classic Popeye where Popeye and Olive Oil get married. For some reason, Popeye exclaims “Well blow me down!” and Olive Oil replies “Popeye! That is for after the wedding!” While I doubt the kids will get it, they do make the adult in us laugh. Archie is still going on, now with several other titles. They just did a crossover with Glee, making it really popular with pre-teens.
Television Shows
What Marvel and DC has done is tie their all-ages comics directly into their all-ages shows. Shows like Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers
: Earth Mightiest Heroes, Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series all have their own tie in comics. Whats cool though is that they are not the only ones doing that. Adventure Time has a tie in comic, with its own spin offs, such as Fiona and Cake; Marceline and the Scream Queens; and Candy Capers. My Little Pony also has a tie in comic, along with a microseries, which features a new pony each month. The Simpsons have a successful line in comics, including ones that feature Bart Simpson, Mr. Burns and Professor Frink. Star Wars: The Clone Wars also has tie in series! Everyone is invited to this party!
Everything Else
Things I didn’t know how to categorize but you should seriously consider:
Princeless: A beautiful comic about a young princess decides that being locked in a tower isn’t her thing, rescues herself, takes her dragon and goes off on adventures to rescue her sisters.
Super Dinosaur: The title alone should give it away, but there is a robotic dinosaur. Everyone can enjoy it!
Tiny Titans: If you put the Teen Titans in kindergarten, this is what you would produce. Super easy to read, really good for those just learning how to.
Bone: A classic about rooting for the little guy, even when everything looks bleak.
Mega-Man: All about your favorite video game hero. Bonus! There is also a Sonic the Hedgehog comic, and they just collided the two universes.
Hopefully I have given you some ideas to introduce to your little ones into the comic world. What is nice about most of these is that you don’t have to start with issue one, they are pretty much pick them up as you go, or in such mini series that you don’t have to collect hundreds of issues.
Do you have any special comics you get for your kids? What are some that you would recommend?
