Monday, May 07, 2007

A daughter, a dad, and some comics

I took my daughter Elizabeth to Free Comic Book Day on Saturday. The local store had some people playing Imperial Stromtrooper Dress-Up out on the street promoting the event. To get her in the store I had to convince her that Darth Vader and crew were not a threat. But when Boba Fett gave her a friendly wave she calmed down a bit.

Inside the comic store was the busiest I had ever seen it, though I must note that I avoid the place like the plague on Wednesdays. I'm too cheap to have a pull list and besides, Marvel Two-In-One was canceled a while back. Still, since the joint shares digs with my local gamestore Elizabeth and I get in there often enough to browse the bargains bins. They make it a point of putting the "all ages" books on a single low shelf, which makes it easy for me to identify to Elizabeth which books she can pick from. She usually goes for Scooby-Doo and JLU. The Big Three of the DC Universe are among her favorite superhero characters, probably due to lots of viewings of the Superfriends DVDs with her old man.

When it came time to look over the free comic selections I did my best to stay out of her decision-making process. I really wanted to see what kinds of books she would pick out on her. Of course I monitored to make sure she didn't try to select anything with lots of gore or whatever, but she was mostly drawn to kid-friendly looking super hero books. Here's what she selected:
Superman is her favorite superhero.  Except for possibly the Lone Ranger.
The other day I had to explain the DC/Marvel divide to Elizabeth.  She really wants to see a comic where Spider-Man joins the Justice League.
I flipped through this and could not make any sense of the art at all.  Too much shadow on too many strange robot bodies.She also got the Iron Man/Hulk freebie, but I can't find an image of it just now. She also picked out this gem from the "all-ages" section:This single issue is more action-packed than some decompressed 6-issue trades.I thought it was pretty interesting that she passed up on cartoony stuff like the Mickey Mouse comic being offered and instead she went straight for genre stuff like superheroes and robots and magic cowgirls. Now, she's not all tom boy by any means. Had there been Strawberry Shortcake or Barbie comics available she would have gotten those as well.

By way of comparison, here's what I got:
I don't own many Bongo comics, but the issues I have are all extremely entertaining.I really wanted the free Lynda Barry and Charles Schulz comics being offered, but none were left by the time we showed up.

5 comments:

  1. You know, there was a Lone Ranger comic there...

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  2. Yeah. The Lone Ranger comics of recent years have been too bloody for my tastes.

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  3. Ah. OK. I don't know anything about it - or its appropriateness to tiny girls - I just saw it there and knew that Elizabeth was on a Lone Ranger kick.

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  4. It's awfully nice of you to bring it up, though. There's no easier path to my goodwill than being kind and considerate to my daughter.

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  5. Anonymous10:37 AM

    Ok, Legion of Superheroes! You're raising the kid up right!

    RPGPundit

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