Well – I think Daredevil know has themes that a six year old kid just wouldn’t understand. Stuck in prison, the feds want him dead, Foggy in witness protection – hell, the first five issues of Brubaker’s run had DD out of costume. The seventh one didn’t have DD at all. When Frank Miller was doing Daredevil it was violent, sure, but it was still guys in costumes running around and fighting ninjas.

I think there is a big difference between the current DD title and #160 that you cited.

I think that a Marvel Adventures DD would be great and not watered down at all, since I have read two of the three M.Adv. titles out now and neither were watered down – just fun and full of action – much like the comics I read as a kid. A M.Adv DD could be a bit darker than the others without going too far.

I think this goes back to the COmic Book medium being thought as a “Kids” thing. There are lots of books out there that are kids friendly, but just as many that aren’t. The problem lies with the fact that you have characters that are in cartoons, movies and made into toys that have comics that are very adult oriented. DD s a great example of this. He’s appeared in the Spiderman cartoons, has had action figures made of him, but the character that is in the comics is a much more intense version of what kids may find in the current comic. That being said, if a retailer doesn’t feel comfortable selling a certain book to someone than that’s their choice. I would rather have a parent come in and ask why I wouldn’t sell to their child than to have them come in and yell about how could I have sold that to a child. But it’s al relative. I remember reading the Miller DD at 7 or so, Dark Knight and Long Bow Hunters at about 10. I liked the stories, but I began to understand a little bit more of the subtext as I grew older and reread them.

Essential Daredevil, anybody? There are at least three giant volumes of Daredevil comics (albeit in black and white) readily available for 6-year-old kids, at $16 a pop.

He didn’t have any back issues of the Kesel run?

That’s my favorite run on DD ever since it’s by far the most fun. I love Bru’s run and all but after the gloom and doom that Bendis wrought I’d love for a return for full on adventure.

Kesel’s run was absolutely kid friendly, but it was still amazing. You don’t have to go to extremes or extremely dark to be well written.

As much as I applaud the current crop of the Marvel Adventures line I am a little surprised that there aren’t a few more titles available for All-Ages audiences. Joe Quesada has mentioned several times that their Marvel Adventures Spider-Man is one of their most-successful books, so why not have titles that feature their main flagship characters? So far, we have MA Spider-Man, FF, and Avengers. The upcoming X-Men: First Class was originally meant to be an MA title, but was changed to a regular Marvel limited-series, but it might still be kid-friendly.
So far, MA has Spidey, FF, and Avengers which also covers Captain America and Hulk, so they don’t necessarily need their own MA books, and Wolvie and Storm which covers the X-Men spectrum…but I think a Daredevil title in the vein of his early stories would fit right at home! Also, a new MA title rotating other Marvel Characters would be great to see as well. My 5-Year old nephew loves these books and I hope they continue to do well.

Any character? So the Punisher could totally work as a Kid’s Friendly Line? I just think parents need to be more responsible now a days and stop trying to blame everyone else for their parenting mistakes when it comes to subject matter. Could DD work as a kid’s book? Sure. But why would we want a kid’s DD? It just further shows our medium is nothing than “a kid’s thing” and that’s not fair.

But comics are not a “Kids medium” anymore. We know that, but most people do not. I love the stuff out now: Ultimates, 100 Bullets, etc. But we have left the Kids stuff too far behind. Kids 10 and under should be able to read comics featuring the icons of the big two without having to change the great stories that we get in the regular titles. More Johnny Dc and M.Adv. Done as good or better than they are now would be great.

There are limited choices within the mainstream, and while still limited there is a growing number of good choices for younger kids from independat publishers. But not much capes stuff.

It’s a silly, probably irreversible, state of affairs created because creators have taken mainstream characters first created as entertainment for children and made them “adult.” It used to be any superhero comic on the spinner rack was fair game for any kids around the age of 10. In my opinion, that’s the way things should’ve stayed. If creators wanted to project mature themes (mature themes for the main part being throwing in some cuss words, more vivid violence and more overt sexuality) they should’ve done so by creating their own, new superheroes rather than taking heroes for children into areas they don’t belong. I mean, if you expect to get adult entertainment out of stories about superheroes, there’s something a little wrong with you. There are plenty of comics out there really meant and created for adults. Try those out.

Well, when I was 7 or 8, I bought the Justice League of America #110 with a dead Santa on the cover… and my aunt sprung for it!

The retailer should have directed the kid toward some issue of Spider-Girl with DarkDevil in it.

If Marvel were to make it kid-friendly sales would drop to a small handful. It’s not 12 cents & 1966 anymore

Not to mention all the cheap reprints out there today, a la Essentials and Showcase editions, as Cole Odell mentioned earlier.

And for the smartypants who asked “Do six year olds have $16 readily available?,” um, no, they don’t but I don’t think they have the $3 a comic costs available either. Generally 6-year-olds get their money from their parents, and $16 for 500 pages of comics is a good deal.

I read Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run when I was 7. I thought it was great. I was a precocious kids and it was great to read stuff that made no attempt to talk down to me. Sure, I may have a missed an allusion or two, but that’s STILL true when reading Alan Moore. Like it took me years to learn what the title “Strange Fruit” was referring to.

By the time I was a pre-teen/early teen I was reading books like Love and Rockets, American Splendor, Shade the Changing Man (Milligan), Animal Man, Sandman, Doom Patrol (Morrison), Cerebus, Star*Reach, Taboo, Heavy Metal–and loving it.

I wasn’t scarred by the experience. I was able to understand and appreciate the stuff I was reading.

Perhaps it’s nu surprise that in this dumbed down culture, we are phobic about turning kids on to entertainment that will actually make them THINK.

Nothing pissed me off more as a kid than going into a comic store and being told I wasn’t old enough to read a comic. Not just because I couldn’t get the comic I wanted, but becaue this attitude was presumptuous, condescending, and bigoted. Because of the year I was born, I was treated as a half-person. But because kids have no power in our society, we don’t think of ageism as a form of discriminatory prejudice and convince ourselves its “for their own good,” ignoring the fact that such paternalistic attitudes have also been used to justify the disempowerment of women, people of color, third world countries, non-Christians, etc.

Well, I feel that Daredevil is a PG-13 comic book. I think that it would not be consistent with the character if it were made kid friendly. I think that it is more of an industry question… should the big two try to pander to kids more? Personally, I feel that the “grown up” stories are what get the kids into reading them in the first place.

A few quick points:

1) The store in question is VERY small, so he doesn’t have the space for a lot of back issues beyond the recent run and a few trades.

2) I believe the youngster in question was all hot on daredevil because he had appeared in a Spider-Man comic he had read.

3) I don’t think the owner was concerned about warping the kids’ mind so much as trying to head off any irate parents. Yes, some kids can handle more violent or “adult” material, but how is the store owner supposed to know that or, more importantly, what is allowed in said child’s home? If the parent had been there, he could have talked to him or her about the suitability of the book and headed off any concerns at the pass so to speak. Without that, he’s in a bit of a bind. While you can quibble about how he handled the situation, I think his concern is perfectly understandable, especially considering I live in a rather conservative area.

4) As I said in my post, the kid had saved up his money so he would have enough for an issue of Daredevil.

I ‘member getting the first issue of my Daredevil subscription in the Summer a ’91. My mom threw a fit about it. I was 11, the issue was #294 and there were people naked and hanging upside down who were tortured by The Hand. This didn’t phase or disturb me, but my mom went kind of nutty. Also, around the same time, a friend of mine’s dad made him return a Ghost Rider because of the character design.

The retailer did the smart thing. The kid would have either a) not understood things or b) loved it for being ‘grown-up’ or a combination of the two. Parents freak out about this stuff. I couldn’t buy Hellstorm #1 when I was 13 at Lone Star comics because I was under 16, even though it had a Comics Code stamp on it, which I brought up to the clerk, but I would imagine they’re just watching their backs.

It’s an unfortunate situation, but it doesn’t make much sense for comic companies to cater to the under 10 crowd, as they have even less discretionary income, and while they might love what they read, they will probably not keep up with on any regular basis. I think it’s great to have Adventure Series and Teen Titans Go, but from a business stand point I think trying to court the under-10 crowd would have diminishing returns.

Grumpy Ol’ Kev

I love how comics people rail against Frederic Wertham but then tacitly accept his message. Unlike today, pre-code comics were read by KIDS. Plenty more hideous stuff in some old EC comics than in anything that’s ever run in Daredevil.

So, was Wertham right?

I’ve always found it funny that what’s readily accepted as “kid-friendly” in any other medium gets an “adults-only” label in comics. E.T. had Elliot using the epithet “penis-breath.” The Adventures of Baron Munchausen had (very brief) bare breasts. Star Wars has LOTS of killing and dismemberment, albeit bloodless. I’ve never seen an art museum ban kids from a section with nude paintings, but line drawings of naked people rate an “adults only” label.

Wertham was wrong.

But society has regressed back to the 1950s paranoia mindset. It’s stronger in some parts of the country than others.

Retailers are just covering their asses and I don’t blame them.

If it had come out at the time, I guess the logical thing to do would have been to give the kid Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2, which features Daredevil very prominently, but if I was the kid I probably would have been dissapointed to get a Spider-Man comic with Daredevil, as opposed to a straight-up Daredevil comic.

It’s a tough situation, and it’s illuminating not just for cases that involve kids. Let’s say a twenty-something year-old woman walks into a comic shop, is entirely new to Daredevil, and wants a single issue featuring the character. Christ, where would you start? Everything coming out with DD now is so based on years and years of storylines, and while she’d no doubt figure everything out if she actually sat down and read it carefully (Marvel’s recap page would probably help a lot), she might get discouraged before she even gets that far. I think that sort of thing happens to a lot of people with a potential interest in comics. The barriers to entry are pretty high, relative to other media.

>whew

I think this problem would really be solved if the parents who would freak out over a comic book were to take a more active part in their children’s interests. My parents never freaked out when I would watch PG-13 or R rated films, because they trusted me to make good decisions not they didn’t want to have to hover over my shoulder at all times. If parents DON’T trust their kids to make good decisions then they should take the thing that drives them to censorship/boycotts/complaining into their own hands and screen material THEMSELVES rather than relying on some minimum-wage counter jockey or small business owner to make their parenting decisions for them.

Bottom line, if some parent is willing to let their 6 year wander around in a store alone and they are willfully ignorant of what their kids want/what the store offers then they shouldn’t be upset when the kid gets what he or she wants when they are left to their own devices.

The kid would have been pretty disapointed even if had bought a current issue of DD and his parents had no problem with it. DD has hardly been in the comic and its not even really him. I have been LOVING the current storyline. It is the first I read when it comes out, but most kids would be pretty disapointed if they think they are getting a superhero story, which that kid was probably looking for.

An action based DD series aimed at 12-14 would not be watered down and would still be acceptable for younger brothers and sisters, much like the dd comics of the 70s and 80s that have been mentioned here (maybe a little less of peole getting chokedwith hair dryers on the covers though

Chris Galdieri said:
“I wonder if the kid (or the shop owner) could do the Kesel run in under 12 parsecs.”

You a funny man, Chris. I did chuckle.

Here’s a question: How many of the individuals posting on this topic actually have kids?

It’s harder to rationalize say, a 6-year-old reading DD when you’re the one who has to answer his or her questions. (Daddy, what’s heroin??)

I’ve tried to get my 8-year-old into comics, and to be frank the only titles that have interested him have been Archies and some golden oldies like Batman and Plastic Man archives.

Now granted, Golden Age Batman has his share of violence but it’s presented in a black & white manner that is easier for a parent to break down when discussing content. (And I do discuss the content with my son…)

The funny thing is many of us grew up reading comics that were meant for kids, yet violently overreact when the idea of kid-friendly comics is mentioned.

(Daredevil, for instance, wasn’t really a gritty character until about 20 years after his creation…)

Comics should be just as varied as literature, television or movies in terms of age appeal.

And as much as I love super-heroes and many modern super-hero stories, the notion of “adult” or “realistic” super-heroes is a bit of an oxymoron.

There’s a reason why people don’t don spandex tights and fight crime in the “real” world.