Episode 1418 Talkback - Comic Talk

Pants

Chris Eberle from Wild Pig Comics joins us in studio for this general comic talk episode as Pants solicits advice on ways to introduce his three year old nephew to comics and super heroes. We also discuss recent storylines in Skyward, Captain America, Indestructible Hulk, and Batwoman. (1:05:57)

Listen here.

patrokls

I turned on the Justice League cartoon for my 3 year old nephew and he couldn't get enough of it. My brother says he enjoys the Avengers cartoon as well. I also got him the fisher Price Little People Batcave for Christmas last year. I've also gotten him a bunch of Galactic Heroes Star Wars toys and Transformers Rescue Bots Optimus Prime. He will know what he needs to know.

i_am_scifi

I just sent in a voicemail, but just a backup, here are some manga that @JamieD should check out:

1) Bakuman: Written and drawn by the duo behind Death Note, it follows an aspiring manga artist and writer as they work towards creating a series successful enough to lead to an anime. Not only is it a terrific inside view into what making comics is like in Japan, but there are tons of different art styles on display due to the manga inside the manga, along with great humor and a bit of romance. The final volume was just released recently, topping out at 20 volumes.

2) Genshiken 2: This is the sequel to Genshiken, which follows an Anime and Manga Club in Japan. You get to know the members and their individual likes and dislikes, and get insight into what being a fan is like there. While I recommend reading Genshiken for the story, it's also not entirely necessary to read Genshiken 2, as we're now simply working with new members of the club with the graduated appearing from time to time. Genshiken 2 is currently being released.

3) Fullmetal Alchemist: If you want a complete manga epic, this is for you. One of my favorite mangas of all time, this follows two brothers, Alphonse and Edward Elrich, as they go on a quest to try and find the Philsopher's Stone, in order to use its power to try and reclaim their mother, as well as their complete bodies.

LibraryBoy

@Pants, if your nephew is about ready to graduate from the Fisher Price Little People at any point, jump onto the Fisher Price Imaginext bandwagon. The Batman/Justice League toys they may for that line are fantastic, and have only gotten better since my son decided he had outgrown them and lost interest. They've incorporated a ton of new characters in the last year or two (one of the last ones my son wanted was a Green Lantern Oa playset that came with Ch'p and Kilowog!), and the various vehicles and playsets are really cool. Plus, it's Fisher Price, so they're also pretty durable, even if the figures are prone to paint chipping, IIRC. And they're compatible with the rest of the line, so the JLA can have adventures involving cops and knights and ninjas and pirates and all sorts of stuff.

As for the comics themselves, I agree with the notion that you can't force this stuff. Introduce him through the toys, the cartoons, and storybooks, and have the comics around as an option if he decides on his own he wants to see more. And track down any comics you can find that relate to things he already enjoys. My son likes superheroes alright (and is currently reading and re-reading the first Superman Family Adventures trade), but he really dug the Lego Ninjago OGNs from Papercutz for a while, and he right now he likes the Garfield and Simpsons comics because he knows those characters from DS games he plays sometimes. And if they ever got around to putting out Angry Birds, Super Mario Bros., or Minecraft comics, he'd be all over those like a fat kid on cake.

i_am_scifi

Hey @Pants, if someone has yet to recommend Owly, I'd add that to the list of books a three year-old will probably gobble up with a spoon!

bralinator

This was a great subject to discuss @Pants and I think immersion is probably the most effective technique, but occasionally a little nudging can't be all bad... can it? For my 5 year old nephew, I just scooped up a Lot of eight reader-copies of Spidey Super Stories on Ebay for about $10.

alienal

Yeah, for awhile now, I've been giving my nephew and nieces comics about stuff that they already watch on TV: first it was Titans Go, then the Green Lantern animated, also Batman Beyond, Adventure Time, SpongeBob comics, Peanuts comics from Boom, and on and on. Since I also NEVER seen them, but only hear about what they watch, when I do visit them in the Spring I just dump a bundle of comics on them and let them pick and choose what they want to read. My nephew usually dives right in, reads a few, talks about the artwork and suggests to my niece which ones she should read. My oldest niece is sort out of the cartoony stage now, but she found a comic shop near her community college and picks up Batman comics there. Interestingly, she went from Harry Potter to comics...
Comics reading: I don't know about Skyward but I thought about dropping Batwoman when J.H. stopped drawing it and then they had the "creative differences" with Amy Reeder (whose art I like a lot) so I then certainly dropped the book. As for Cap, I dropped it after issue 5 maybe and never looked back. I've heard it's been good though. (arrrgh!) Waid's indestructible Hulk...ahh, dropped it after issue 4 or 5. That was a budget-thing...