Why I Often Buy Superhero Comics From Marvel & DC’s Kids Lines:

1. They never jettison the fundamentals of good storytelling in the name of style.
2. Even when it’s an ongoing story, each issue is designed to be a satisfying, self-contained unit of entertainment.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Action is usually big and exciting and colorful, which is something I believe that right in the wheelhouse of superhero comics as a genre.
6. 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.)
7. They’re fun. Comics don’t always have to be fun. But they shouldn’t never be fun, right?
8. There’s the possibility that the comic will include an awesome toy, like (as above) a wind-up gun that fires a little helicopter.