Snow Wildsmith, writer and reviewer, read Steve Bennett's column about comics for kids (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Step 1: Make an Effort") and sent in this reply to him.

Thank you for your recent column about DC and Marvel and kids comics.  I've read with interest your other writing about kids and comic books and how to build a future fan base.  I really appreciate that you mention publishers such as VIZ Media, BOOM! Studios, IDW Publishing, and others who have found that kids comics are profitable and worth doing.

However, there is another aspect of kids comics that is often overlooked by the comic book industry: graphic novels released by the book publishing industry.  As a librarian, a graphic novel reviewer, and someone who specializes in kids comics, I am still surprised by how little the comic world knows about the graphic novels that kids are actually reading.  Titles published by Scholastic, Random House, Abrams, and others don't even register on the radar of the comic industry, even though Babymouse (Random House) has 18 volumes and a five volume spin-off and is written by a multiple Newbery Honor winning author; Amulet (Scholastic) never stays on the shelves at any library; and Sisters (Scholastic) had an initial print run of 200,000 copies when it was released this September.

The American Library Association's Annual and Midwinter Conferences have had an artist alley for a few years now and a dedicated comics section for even more.  Each year I see all the librarians visiting booth after booth featuring tons of comics for all ages.  But at comic cons those same publishers and creators are hard to find, if they are even there at all.

When my co-author and I were working on our book A Parent's Guide to the Best Kids' Comics, we had a very hard time finding appropriate superhero titles, which I know you understand.  And then when we were doing promotions for the book, we would often have parents ask us for superhero titles for their little ones.  They'd say, "But he loves to wear his Captain America shirt" or "She never stops pretending to be Wonder Woman."  And then I'd have to tell them that there just aren't comics for their kids featuring the DC and Marvel superheroes. (Don't get me started on Tiny Titans or the like.  IMO, those are comics for fans that are appropriate for kids, not actually comics for kids.  There's a difference.)

Many graphic novel librarians have tried to engage with Marvel and DC on this.  We try to tell them that we see kids reading comics every day, but that those comics are not their titles.  By and large superhero titles check out in libraries to adult fans and a some teens.  There's always a blip when a movie comes out, obviously, but other than Spider-man (who will always be popular), superhero comics aren't the go-to comics for most kids and teens.  But we've been told flat out that the library market is not important, never mind that libraries are everywhere and comic shops are not.

So I know there will be comic fans in the future, lots of them.  But I am skeptical that the majority of them will be superhero readers, not unless something major changes, meaning: comics for a wider range of ages, comics for a more diverse audience, and comics that don't require an extensive back story or nine billion tie-ins/crossovers/special events in order to understand the story.

Thanks for listening and thanks for your always well-written and interesting columns.

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.