The other day I found myself sitting in my car, catching up on the big DC summer event “The Blackest Night”. My car was parked outside this great drive-thru ice cream place. Resting nicely in my cup holder was a nice tall glass of orange soda with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. It was a moment of pure innocence as the setting sun fell upon the pages of my comic, then I turned the page to see Hawkman’s heart being ripped out of his chest. And I was concerned. When had this pure practice of reading comics lost it’s innocence? How did I not notice my tastes sway towards the grim and gruesome, and away from the fantastic and inspiring? Had my long cherished hobby lost it’s soul? Could it ever be regained again?

      It goes without saying that comics have moved away from “kid friendly” over the years. People have been saying that for years. Sure, the dark side has always existed in the world of sequential art. With the recent release of the book of Joe Shuster’s fetish art, it’s apparent that this sort of adult themed entertainment has existed even as far back as those fabled days of the Golden Era. But those things weren’t so readily available. I admit I wasn’t alive during those years but I imagine people wanting that sort of book having to be ushered to a backroom and then shamefully walking home with the book hidden beneath their jacket. Nowadays though, just looking at the rack of new releases well in plain sight, I can see things from a Superman clone wearing a swastika to an unnamed superhero snorting lines of coke. 

      Many people are quick to say that this shift in trends is because of an audience getting older. But I don’t think that’s completely the case. In my personal opinion I believe the problem is, is that writing for kids is harder. I think people forget how simple teenage and adults really are. Some bloodshed here, some swearing here, some twisted depiction of a timeless heroes and for the most part, adults are satisfied. Just look at what most people consider the best graphic novels around, Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Maus, Superman: Red Son, these are some pretty twisted and disturbing stories. But to write for a kid you need to reach down further. You need to tap into the whimsical side of the imagination, you need to think like a kid. It’s not easy. That being said I feel like comic book companies have decided to take a business approach to their medium by pumping out stories that are easy to write and have a quicker response.

      Unfortunately that business approach will eventually lead to the end of comics I feel. Eventually their audience will die away, and they won’t have a fresh crop of readers to pick up the slack. I can’t speak for comic book shops everywhere, but as for my local shop, the books that are being written for kids, are off in a corner, out of immediate view. So even if there are books being written for kids, they’re not being advertised. But I don’t think that’s the fault of the shop owners, they have to display what sells and they have to display the majority not the minority.

      My orange soda float has pretty much melted away, leaving just a thin layer of orange colored creamy foam. It reminds me of the Flintstones push up ice cream snacks I used to eat. The kind that would melt all over my hands as I ruined the pages of the latest issue of Superboy (man I wanted that leather jacket). I suppose I don’t have much reason to complain, I did, in fact, help create this environment. It’s just my hope that through this next generation comics return to stories of imagination and not of grit.