Kids' Comics: Publishers Jump In

By Brigid Alverson, Stephanie Mangold and Calvin Reid -- Publishers Weekly, 4/22/2008 9:58:00 AM

“Over the past few decades, kids’ comics have become the most underground of underground comics,” said Diamond’s Janna Morishima at the Kids' Comics Publishers roundtable at last weekend's New York Comic-Con. “Only in the past few years has that started to change.” She cited First Second’s children’s line, Scholastic’s Graphix line, and the growing trend of trade houses releasing graphic novels for children and traditional comics publishers developing titles for children as evidence that the market is growing.

Kids and parents took over on Sunday.

The panelists agreed that the children’s book market is still in its early stages. “Kids’ book publishers need experience with comics; comics publishers need experience in publishing books for children,” said Liesa Abrams of Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin Books. One key difference: “Children’s retailers need prices to be kept low, much lower than you can get away with for the direct market,” she said. Randall Jarrell of Oni Press agreed, pointing out that readers could buy a 200-page Captain Underpants chapter book for $4. “That’s a really hard price point for most graphic novel publishers to meet,” he said. His solution was to publish Salt Water Taffy, a new graphic novel series by Matthew Loux, on a quarterly basis at $6 for a 96-page graphic novel.

Format is another consideration: Jarrell said he saw sales on his Courtney Crumrin trade paperbacks skyrocket when he reduced the trim size from standard comics format to manga size. “We cannot underestimate the importance of manga,” he said. “It is a format and trim size and experience that kids are growing up with.”

And then there’s content. “There are certain rules in children’s publishing that you have to learn unless you don’t care about being banned in six states,” said First Second editorial director Mark Siegel. He discovered that when the lead character in one of the Sardine in Outer Space books visited hell and met Hellboy. “We found out that if you show hell, you cannot get public funding to buy this book in six states,” he said. “California is one of them—they could not buy Harry Potter.” Age ratings are also a challenge, Jarrell pointed out, because standards vary from region to region.

New Yorker art director and Toon Books founder Françoise Mouly (l.) and librarian Michele Gorman at the Toon Books panel.

Jann Jones, senior coordinating editor for the DC Universe, who is spearheading the Tiny Titans line, said that DC’s previous children’s books skewed older, and many of the creators would rather have been working on the adult comics. “They would just write watered-down versions of our characters,” she said. “I wanted something just for kids by people who were passionate about it.”

The overall sense of the panel was that the publishers were enthusiastic about children’s comics despite the obstacles. “Until everyone is publishing in this market, there won’t be the real estate in stores,” Abrams said. “Once kids’ comics is a big section in the store, and it’s expected that that’s where you are going to see these comics, you will see the comics there like any other genre.”

Marvel for All Ages

During a panel at this weekend’s New York Comic-Con 2008, creators from Marvel’s all-ages comics line, which includes Marvel Adventures, Marvel Minis, Franklin Richards and others, gathered to discuss the line and its impact on young fans. Unlike Marvel’s previous attempts at all-ages books, the current line has no basis in their usual continuity, instead embracing fans that have no previous exposure to the Marvel Universe.

“We try to imagine every single issue as if it was someone’s first and we just try to make it accessible as humanly possible,” said editor Nate Crosby, noting that Marvel’s bestselling subscription is currently Marvel Adventures Spiderman, and Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four is consistently in the top 10.

In addition to single issues, the line is also available in digest, similar to the size of manga books. Selected issues can also be read online. Crosby said that several omnibuses are also scheduled for release. Marvel also supplies children’s libraries with hardcover versions of the issues.

Though the line is geared toward young fans, adults have found themselves drawn in as well. “Both Alex (my son) and I have been enjoying the Marvel Adventures line,” said attendee Dennis Updegrove. Panelists were also pleased to have a comic that they can comfortably share with their children or young siblings. They noted the line’s positive influence on young comic fans and ability to re-create a feeling that comics can be for everyone. “My kids bring it to school. The kids love it, the teachers love it,” said cartoonist Chris Eliopoulus. “I throw in as much stuff to make the parents laugh.”

Sunday Kids' Day

Raina Telgemier (l.) and Marion Vitus held a comics workshop.

Sunday was filled with programming for kids and from the looks of things it went over well. There were many kids and their parents on the main exhibition floor and on the mezzanine area, with kids sprawled in the hallways waiting to get into various workshops. Besides programming featuring Nickelodeon; the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art and cartoonist Mo Willems and cartoonist Kazu Kabuishi and artists from his kids' spin-off anthology Flight Explorer, there were also hands-on workshops that let kids and their parents learn more about the making of comics. Among others, artists Raina Telgemier, Marion Vitus and First Second's Mark Siegel, a noted comics artist himself, conducted workshops on comics storytelling and drawing for enthusiastic kids—and their parents. PWCW's manga reporter Brigid Alverson held a workshop called "Why Manga?" that explained to parents why their kids love reading Japanese comics. And also in the afternoon, Francois Mouly, New Yorker art director, RAW cofounder and the founder of the new Toon Books line of book format comics for beginning readers, discussed her books at panel that included librarian Michele Gorman and Toon Books illustrators Geoffrey Hayes, Jay Lynch and Frank Cammuso.