Greetings, I have not posted anything in forever and for that I am very, very sorry. I just haven't had much to talk about.. but since this came up and it's bothering me, here we go.
Comic books (particularly superhero comics) and age ranges/limits -
Recently a fellow librarian asked for help on suggestions for tween comics. I named a few more recent ones that are for a kid/tween/teen demographic and then explained that most older comics would also be appropriate for this age group. At this age, I was reading New Teen Titans and Uncanny X-men for instance without any issues. I specifically stated that comics, particularly superhero comics, have largely been "all ages" for most of their history.
This angered the librarian who I made the recommendations too. This librarian told me they specifically wanted TWEEN books because it was helpful for parents, tweens, and librarians and they needed to be TWEEN. Also that older books were too dated and the color and art wasn't attractive to their tweens.
OK. Fine. The problem? There is no such thing as tween comics. There are no comics (or books for that matter) that are solely for tweens and fit nicely into the tween demographic. I mean, yes there are books and comics that may cater to tweens and be appropriate for tweens, but they're not ONLY for tweens. This thinking is extremely wrong and alarming to me as a librarian. Sure the label may calm parents and be much easier to just slam down for a parent than actually educating them, but age ranges (especially such limiting ones as tween and what is still a relatively new demographic in the history of the world) are ultimately as harmful as Lexile numbers or any other arbitrary rating system we slam onto reading materials to gatekeep and limit all in the quick desire to not actually pay attention. I mean, how many kids are we going to scare away from READING by gatekeeping and telling them "No, you can't have that because it's not appropriate for you even though you actually want to read it." That's not the way to encourage reading at all. Librarians should KNOW this. Don't do that. At all. It's bad. it's harmful and you create reluctant and non-readers by forcing them to read only in "this" group. Let them read what they're interested in reading. You discourage readers at that age, below that age, and above that age.
Now onto the nitty gritty. Comics come in 2 basic age ranges. All ages and mature. That's it. More recently they've started a "teen" line, but that again leads more mature readers. Now Marvel and DC are trying imprints and various comic creators have targeted all sorts of age groups for various reasons, but ultimately it's all ages or mature readers. That's probably all there should be. All ages means anything from kid comics (like Veggie tales or Teletubbies of comics) to comics that can literally be enjoyed for adults and kids (like Disney movies), mature readers is more R and above rated comics. If a reader is capable of reading and handling a mature comic, then why should a librarian stop them? For me in 8th or 9th grade, I had picked up Purgatori by Chaos! Comics. It was about a lesbian vampire and had nudity and sex. I could and did handle it fine at that age. I was more interested in the story than anything else, but if I had had gatekeepers like above librarian, I wouldn't have read it and I definitely would have been turned off from reading again.
So that leads into the other thing, which I think I've talked about before. We all know that boys are the biggest reluctant reader demographic. There are numerous things and attempts to get boys into reading especially at a young age. Historically superhero comics have helped act as a gateway for reluctant readers especially boys. Adding pictures with the words helps. It also helps with readers that have problems with paying attention or reading in general. Almost every male comic fan I've spoken to who has stated that they were a reluctant reader as a kid became an avid reader BECAUSE of comics. Some still mostly just read comics, some read EVERYTHING now. That's huge. I'm sure similar has happened with female comic fans, but I haven't spoken to many who have stated they were reluctant readers (most I've known were already avid readers before adding comics). So yeah that's completely anecdotal and not remotely scientific, but still.. why roadblock readers? Why set age limits? Because it's easier to explain to parents?
Sorry, but that's being lazy. Don't expect comics, books, or anyone else to have prepackaged label slapped onto the book for you that says "FOR TWEENS" or "FOR KIDS". Some might do that and that's great, but comics have typically shied away from this because it ultimately excludes readers ("For kids" at Marvel and DC have typically fizzed.. just google Johnny DC or Star Comics for examples, heck Marvel has had such a problem they've handed off their all ages books to IDW so Spider-Man and Star Wars for all ages will be printed by IDW!).
Anyhow.. any questions about this? Please let me know. :)
Comic books (particularly superhero comics) and age ranges/limits -
Recently a fellow librarian asked for help on suggestions for tween comics. I named a few more recent ones that are for a kid/tween/teen demographic and then explained that most older comics would also be appropriate for this age group. At this age, I was reading New Teen Titans and Uncanny X-men for instance without any issues. I specifically stated that comics, particularly superhero comics, have largely been "all ages" for most of their history.
This angered the librarian who I made the recommendations too. This librarian told me they specifically wanted TWEEN books because it was helpful for parents, tweens, and librarians and they needed to be TWEEN. Also that older books were too dated and the color and art wasn't attractive to their tweens.
OK. Fine. The problem? There is no such thing as tween comics. There are no comics (or books for that matter) that are solely for tweens and fit nicely into the tween demographic. I mean, yes there are books and comics that may cater to tweens and be appropriate for tweens, but they're not ONLY for tweens. This thinking is extremely wrong and alarming to me as a librarian. Sure the label may calm parents and be much easier to just slam down for a parent than actually educating them, but age ranges (especially such limiting ones as tween and what is still a relatively new demographic in the history of the world) are ultimately as harmful as Lexile numbers or any other arbitrary rating system we slam onto reading materials to gatekeep and limit all in the quick desire to not actually pay attention. I mean, how many kids are we going to scare away from READING by gatekeeping and telling them "No, you can't have that because it's not appropriate for you even though you actually want to read it." That's not the way to encourage reading at all. Librarians should KNOW this. Don't do that. At all. It's bad. it's harmful and you create reluctant and non-readers by forcing them to read only in "this" group. Let them read what they're interested in reading. You discourage readers at that age, below that age, and above that age.
Now onto the nitty gritty. Comics come in 2 basic age ranges. All ages and mature. That's it. More recently they've started a "teen" line, but that again leads more mature readers. Now Marvel and DC are trying imprints and various comic creators have targeted all sorts of age groups for various reasons, but ultimately it's all ages or mature readers. That's probably all there should be. All ages means anything from kid comics (like Veggie tales or Teletubbies of comics) to comics that can literally be enjoyed for adults and kids (like Disney movies), mature readers is more R and above rated comics. If a reader is capable of reading and handling a mature comic, then why should a librarian stop them? For me in 8th or 9th grade, I had picked up Purgatori by Chaos! Comics. It was about a lesbian vampire and had nudity and sex. I could and did handle it fine at that age. I was more interested in the story than anything else, but if I had had gatekeepers like above librarian, I wouldn't have read it and I definitely would have been turned off from reading again.
So that leads into the other thing, which I think I've talked about before. We all know that boys are the biggest reluctant reader demographic. There are numerous things and attempts to get boys into reading especially at a young age. Historically superhero comics have helped act as a gateway for reluctant readers especially boys. Adding pictures with the words helps. It also helps with readers that have problems with paying attention or reading in general. Almost every male comic fan I've spoken to who has stated that they were a reluctant reader as a kid became an avid reader BECAUSE of comics. Some still mostly just read comics, some read EVERYTHING now. That's huge. I'm sure similar has happened with female comic fans, but I haven't spoken to many who have stated they were reluctant readers (most I've known were already avid readers before adding comics). So yeah that's completely anecdotal and not remotely scientific, but still.. why roadblock readers? Why set age limits? Because it's easier to explain to parents?
Sorry, but that's being lazy. Don't expect comics, books, or anyone else to have prepackaged label slapped onto the book for you that says "FOR TWEENS" or "FOR KIDS". Some might do that and that's great, but comics have typically shied away from this because it ultimately excludes readers ("For kids" at Marvel and DC have typically fizzed.. just google Johnny DC or Star Comics for examples, heck Marvel has had such a problem they've handed off their all ages books to IDW so Spider-Man and Star Wars for all ages will be printed by IDW!).
Anyhow.. any questions about this? Please let me know. :)
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