
Spectacular Spider-Man (UK) #207.
Why I Often Buy Superhero Comics From Marvel & DC’s Kids Lines:
- They never jettison the fundamentals of good storytelling in the name of style.
- Even when it’s an ongoing story, each issue is designed to be a satisfying, self-contained unit of entertainment.
- Characters act in a fashion that’s rational and consistent with their unique histories and nature…and when they don’t, there’s a reason. As opposed to characters simply performing whatever function the writer requires of them.
- I’m usually left with the sense that the writer, artist, and editor were trying to tell a great story. It doesn’t seem like they were executing part of a synergetic business plan and maximizing value to parent-company shareholders.
- Action is usually big and exciting and colorful, which is something I believe that right in the wheelhouse of superhero comics as a genre.
- Story and character arcs are usually developed through small challenges, as opposed to a weekly Threat To All Life, Time, Space, And Reality. (A good actor can tell you about his or her character just by the way they eat soup; a bad actor requires them to contract a terminal illness or something.)
- They’re fun. Comics don’t always have to be fun. But they shouldn’t never be fun, right?
- There’s the possibility that the comic will include an awesome toy, like (as above) a wind-up gun that fires a little helicopter.
Admit it, Andy. You didn’t buy that issue for the toy, you purchased it because it features Tigra.
Great points.
I never considered most of them, but they make sense.
Time to start browsing the the Kids Section at my local shop, then! (I was already checking out a Donald Duck comic or two)