Comics vs Modern Times

Heya all,

Is it just me or have comics slipped drammatically in popyularity with kids these days? Everyone either watches the gogglebox or settles down with their playstation - they are really missing out... Im 16 now, and ive been into comics since god knows when. I reckon its really helped my imagination develop - Im now an 'aspiring artist' (i hope!) and my style is greatly influenced by great comic artists over the years... and those great stories...some real cool epics...man they dont know what theyre missing... too bad...

access to comics nowdays is different than it was baci in the ol' 10-25 cent days.you could get comics at any corner drug store or supermarket, but today its pretty much limited to comic specialty shops; if you wnat any kind of a selection anyway.

Yeah I can see your point - where i live (in Swindon, UK, for those of you who know where that is) there is only one shop which sells proper comics - by proper i dont mean those crappy UK versions which just re-print old stories. Thats part of the trouble Ive had collecting.

Yea, I remember those days. Fond memories too. Part of the thrill of collecting was wondering if you could find the next issue of your fav hero. Now days you just know they are going to have it. The comic shops that is.

I live in a town of about 200,000 and we have 3-4 comic shops. Any big city dweller has an even greater # of shops to choose from.

You're absolutely right. Playstation is just too darn competitive. I have two kids (7 & 9) and they show only a mildly passing interest in comics. And that's only because their crazy old man still reads them.

heh heh........your post struck a nerve Anthony. When my boy was 10 or 11, I went through this elaborate scheme of mailing directly to him every month a new adventure from the mysterious 'Kamandi headquarters'. oooohhhhhh ! complete with a letter to him. Now this was only 5 years ago. I started with issue #1 of the great Kirby classic and every month I would take a brown envelope and send him the next issue. ( I think he liked getting the mail more than anything) Well, he too has only a mildly passing interest in comics, but boy the N64 sure gets alot of attention. He has the first 33 issues now and reads them only sometimes. But I still get some satisfaction when one of his 16 year old friends come over and I hear him say...........Wow !! You got the first issue of Kamandi ?!! Thats worth some money. heh heh........its funny to me what kids this age think alot of money is.

Mac the comic daddy

Yes, but this is a chicken and egg scenario. What happened first? Did popularity start to wane awhile back so stores quit carrying comics or did stores quit carrying comics so less exposure caused interest to drop?

I always used to get my comics at the local store by where I used to live (I'm 29) until I was 15. then by the drivers ed school I discovered the wonderful world of comic stores, finding one right around the corner ever since. I've never gone back to a local store since for comics (unless they have an issue that sold out at the specialty stores). The store by my house had pretty much stopped selling them by then anyway so it didn't matter.

Anyway, I wish more people were interested in comics. I can only imagine by the time my kids are old enough to read what they'll be like.

Jonathan Harper

I too used to get comics only at my local convenience store as that's the only type of place I knew that had them. A nearby town had a newsstand where you could also get them. I was about 5 or 6 years later I discovered comic shops. Then I got out of it for a while and just recently got back into it.

The situation with my son (he's 6) is sort of ironic in light of the Playstation and N64 comments here. It was the Playstation game 'Spider-Man' that caused my boy to take and interest in the comics! He loves that damn game and then went nuts for Spidey so I pulled out my old comics. After that, he wanted more and then so did I. So I starting buying current issues and now we are having withdrawals to get the latest. (Of Ultimate SM and Team-Up...we both read that one, I've been reading ASM myself as the current storyline is just too advanced for a 6 year old I think.)

-Troy