Jay Bardyla of Happy Harbor Comics in Edmonton, Canada read Buddy Saunders recent Talk Back regarding comic book content (see "Buddy Saunders of Lone Star Comics on Comic Book Content") and had this to say:

"so few comics are appropriate for children"

Frankly, I am tired of hearing this from retailers.  When I look back and see what comics were being offered through the 1990s and early 2000s against what's being offered today, I can't help but feel that every retailer that says the above phrase is out of touch with the industry.  There are dozens upon dozens of titles aimed at young children and dozens and dozens more that are appropriate for all ages.  Are the number of today's books in the whole of all titles published monthly comparable to the number of "all ages" books from the 70s and 80s?  No but then again, there weren't 300 to 500 new books published each month in the 70s and 80s.  And also, the world's view of entertainment is not the same either.

These comments, and similar ones frequently echoed by Steve Bennett which is why I mostly stopped reading his column, about how the good old days were so much better than now, are tiring and frustrating.  Our particular business has made huge strides locally in getting any kid friendly titles into the 30-plus schools and dozen-plus libraries we assist and there is no shortage of material coming that I can recommend to them.  And those kid friendly books encourage the reading of other, more grown up titles, supporting the industry even further.

In short, there is quite a bit of "all ages" material out there and today is not the same as yesterday.  With a bit of effort, any retailer can find the material it needs to encourage the community to try comics.

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