Penny Kenny, an elementary librarian in Deckerville, Michigan, read Mark Dudley's recent response (see "Mark Dudley, Illustrator and Sequential Artist, on Steve Bennett's Latest Column") to Steve Bennett's latest column (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--The Most Unexpected Black Lanterns of All") and had this to say to him:

I believe you missed the point about Mr. Bennett's comparison of Justice League: Cry For Justice #2 and NCIS.  NCIS has a large audience composed of multiple generations and one assumes it's doing well since it's always playing on some channel.  Justice League: Cry for Justice and other comic books do not have anywhere near the same numbers of readers and it might be because of the way stories are handled.  I think he's saying that in trying to write for what they think that core 13-40 year old male comic book audience you're talking about wants, comic books lost their appeal to the majority of the populace.  NCIS has a larger audience because they write for a broader audience and remember that being "edgy" and "dark" and "skeevy" doesn't necessarily translate into ratings or money.

I certainly agree with you that characters need to be multi-dimensional; but I'm puzzled as to why you think a three-way, or a discussion of a  three-way, is a mature theme.  Talking about your sex life while on the job isn't mature.  It's very juvenile.  That little scene in Justice League: Cry for Justice just reinforces to many people that comic books are for developmentally stunted men who've never talked with a real woman.  No matter if the rest of the book was a stunning example of the heroic ideal being achieved, that one scene taints the rest.

"If comics is to remain viable in the face of manga, videogames and iPods, then the medium is going to have to grow out of the stigma of being only for" adolescent boys.  This will not happen if we do things your way.

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