Without getting overly political, I want to say that I believe this news clip to be journalism at its worst, where it’s more about the sensationalism and less about truth. The person doing this piece has little knowledge of the comic book industry, and they’re making it seem like kids still read comics. For those of you who journey to your local comic book shops on a weekly basis, how many of you ever see kids below the ages of 20 on a regular basis? Lauren and I shop at some of the biggest stores in Los Angeles and the only time we see little kids, is when they are with their parents in the “kids section.” For the most part, children aren’t reading the more adult titles like “Scalped” and “The Walking Dead.” What do you see at your local book stores and comic shops? Do you see kids eagerly awaiting the next mature-rated issue on a monthly basis?
What makes this argument so flawed is that violence and sex in comic books is nothing new. Alan Moore’s “Watchmen,” and Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” were written in the 80′s. ”Watchmen” contains violence and nudity, before a rating system existed. About 20 years ago, many comic book publishers realized that kids were no longer buying comic books and started gearing their new titles towards a more mature audience. Remember the success of Todd McFarlane’s “Spawn” in the mid-nineties? I guess I’m more curious than angry as I watch this video. Why did FOX News decide to do this segment now, and not 25 years ago when Moore and Miller changed the industry forever? The sex and violence in the DC relaunch is nothing new, and in an industry where the amount of young readers is small, why all the fuss? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
-David Griffin (Follow @griffinde on Twitter)
Wow, I thought the Superman one bad. But this one is even worse and out does that one in just less than four minutes. That's pretty impressive.
I'll freely admit, I'm not the most informed guy out there when it comes to comics and their trends, But I'm fairly certain Marvel has done worse than this before and Alan Moore has written stuff more explicit than this before and Frank Miller has been Frank Miller for a while now.
Drunk Bruce Wayne, what about a drunk Iron Man in Iron Man 2 which reached out to a larger and wider audience. Catwoman in Batman Returns wasn't exactly clean or child friendly.
The only kid I have ever seen in a comic store is my daughter, and she is 15. Mountain out of a molehill as usual. And what was with the weird strip club music at the end of the clip?
Love it.