You Must Love Comics...

I love comics. I love big two superhero comics and obscure biographies in comic form in equal measures. I have been reading and loving comics my entire life. My new column here on Crucial Taunt, Everything That Entertains Me, is going to focus heavily on comics and the comic book industry. I will be sharing my opinions on the industry news as well as reviewing the comics I think we should all be reading. There aren’t any comic reviews this week but there are a few stories I hope you will find interesting.

Where are the Kids?

If you love comics as much as I do, then you need to be concerned about the path the industry is following. The audience that the comic book industry has depended on is dying off. Kids do not read comics. Adults read comics. The comics meant for kids --Spider-Man, Batman, the X-men, and so on, all feature complex mature storylines that are just not appropriate for younger readers. This blasphemy cannot continue. We need to get our kids interested in reading comics and supporting our direct market stores. Too many of the kids that do read comics are content to await the arrival of the collected volumes at Barnes and Noble, or to order them from Amazon.com instead of actually venturing out of the house to Midtown Comics, the Million Year Picnic or another quality outlet. As these stores die, the industry grows weaker.

The even worse problem is that we have all known this for years. We have known about it and we have done very little to address the problem. What can we do as fans? Lots, we can teach the kids in our lives how to love comics. Buy them comics as gifts. Give away comics on Halloween to young trick-or-treaters. Sure, give them their video games and gadgets on Christmas and birthdays but also take them with you on Free Comic Book Day. Instead of treating your kid to a meal at McDonalds - take them to your favorite comic shop and let them indulge their mind in comics rather than McNuggets. If they are interested in the comic-based movies show them the comics that inspired the stories.

If you are a collector of comics, and not just a reader, teach your kids the love of caring for comics. Show them how you bag and board them. Let them help update your database. Take them with you to conventions and share with them the list of comics you are hoping to find so they can share your anticipation. Help your favorite seven-year old begin his or her collection, with Marvel Adventure Comics or even an older series geared towards younger readers. If a child shows interest in your comics than encourage it. I frequently carry comics around with me for reading on the bus and subway. If a kid is interested and the comic (or one that I have with me) is appropriate, I give it to him. If we do not teach our kids to love comics with the same passion that we do, then we do not love comics as much as we should.

Robert Kirkman’s Plan

Of course, the fans alone can only do so much. The publishers and retailers need to meet us at least halfway by providing more comics that are appropriate for our younger readers. This is why I was so excited to see Robert Kirkman, the writer of Invincible and the new publisher of Image Comics speak out to the top creators and publishers in the industry about this very issue. I have small quibbles with some of the details that he presents but the broad strokes are exactly what more publishers and creators should be thinking about.

Champions Online

If I had to pick out the one thing that has replaced comics for kids these days, it is, no doubt, video games. If I had more time and money was no object, I would probably be much more of a video game guy myself. As it is, I have bought exactly two video games in the last ten years: Metal Gear II and City of Heroes (a superhero MMRPG). By next April, there will be a third. I say April, because that is when Champions-Online becomes available to the public.

Champions began as a simple RPG back in the eighties when RPGs were exploding in popularity. My brother, our friends, and I would play this game continuously for months. Even when we stopped playing, we would buy the released guidebooks and adventure modules just because they were fun to read. Champions allowed us to participate in the super heroics that took place in our favorite comics. We used the game’s character creation system to recreate heroes like the Hulk and Wolverine (I actually managed to kill the Hulk once by jumping into a fight as Bruce Banner). The game grew so popular that a line of comics popped up based on the core characters of the world within which the stories took place. At some point that is not very clear to me, I lost track of Champions. I assumed that they had eventually gone out of business when the RPG boom died off. I was wrong.

It was with great joy that I discovered that Champions had in fact never died and was re-invented as an online video game. It took a few days, but I read every word on the game’s new website: Champions-Online.com. I was just as sucked in as I had been as a kid. City of Heroes was great, it just was not quite right for me. Champions-Online should be different. The gameplay should be smoother and far less aggravating if the reviews I read are accurate. The game action should actually be easier to follow. The screen shots look amazing, with crystal-clear action that makes it very easy to see who is doing what and how they are doing it. The threats that players will face seem less robotic with characters created with unique powers and quirks. Your character can go anywhere; explore any environment from skyscrapers to the bottom of the sea to the surface of the moon --just like your favorite comic book superhero. Rip up the sidewalk or knock down a building, whatever you need to do. The best reason to buy Champions is you can create the hero you want with the powers he has immediately. You do not have to complete seventeen missions before your flying hero can actually fly!

Champions-Online has roots in the comic book industry. City of Heroes was a great game but it was missing the comic book love that Champions-Online will clearly have. Next April every kid with a love of computer games with an older comics fan in their lives will have a reason to come together. Play Champions-Online together and our kids might just find a reason to love comics.

The Watchmen Movie Problems

Comic-based movies are a great way to increase interest in comics. We all rushed out to see the Dark Knight. Warner Brothers did some smart marketing by placing the first trailers to the Watchmen movie in the previews. The hype for the movie has been off the charts ever since, after all, we have been anxiously awaiting this movie for years, decades actually. If we are lucky, the movie will come out next year, as planned.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, 20^th Century Fox has sued Warner Bros (the company that produced the Watchmen comics in the first place) over the rights to develop, produce, and distribute the film. The legal battle began in February as the film was in production, but apparently, the suit did nothing to prevent director Zack Snyder from completing the film.

It is my hope that none of this will prevent the movie from hitting screens next summer. As many have pointed out Fox has nothing to gain by preventing the release. This is essentially Fox attempting to grab a piece of the action. Here is what I am taking away from this development: This movie is going to be even bigger than we thought.