[misterdai]

While I can understand how part of his post is about the way women are portrayed physically in those comics. I'm not so sure on his examples he picked in reference to his children and their unsuitability. I already commented on how I wasn't sure if Batman was suitable for his 5 year old, given the nature of some lines, but some examples he picked in reference to his 7 year old daughter were a stretch.

Power Girl: Haven't fully checked but appears to be part of a line rated T for Teen.

Harley Quinn (Batman Detective Comics): Rated T for Teen. http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFg5MDA=/z/axsAAOSwD0lUlJHV/$_...

Perhaps comic book stores should designate areas for different ratings of comics. Or comic companies should agree to make the rating larger. Or some parents need to become more aware that comics are just for kids, the same way that computer games aren't either.

[scott_s]

I think you're missing the point: his daughter knows those characters through pop culture. She wants to read those comics. But the art for those comics is clearly telling her: you are not our audience. And this is most of the store.

The male characters are male power fantasies, and appeal to his son. But the female characters are not female power fantasies, meant to appeal to women. They are male idealized-woman fantasies, and do not appeal to his daughter. That is what he realized.

[misterdai]

I can understand the point of view. In a world where they produce children's toys based on adult videogames, there is always going to be content that crosses the age boundaries and make it difficult for parents to cope with.

Disappointingly, she isn't their audience probably because her demographic don't buy enough comics or comics of the right theme. The same could be said for people with Wheat / Gluten allergies in most shops, which is why they have little or no products available in most general stores, because they aren't a big enough demographic to make money out of.

Those comics weren't aimed at her (due to the age rating), which meant that they shouldn't have been a factor. I'd also be curious about which Batman comics were actually suitable for his young son. What should have been a factor was the lack of content available for his daughter (which was mentioned), instead of the focus on the unsuitability of content which isn't even aimed at her. Too much focus on his daughters age and older themed comics.

I would have sided more with the author if they spent more time researching and promoting alternatives and encouraging parents to be more careful with the content they children are consuming (due to the closely related adult versions).

[Fomite]

Exactly. Men in comics are male power fantasies. Women in comics are also male fantasies. The message that these kinds of covers send to his daughter, or women in general is "This is not for you".

[surge]

Welp. That's cause it's not. She would not be their target audience anymore then Grand Theft Auto is.

They have other comics for her: http://www.kidscomics.com/Home/1/1/60/1046

Breaking Bad is also pop culture, the problem comes in when Lego makes Lego Breaking Bad figures, then your daughter wants to watch the show.

[robotkilla]

Most of the shops I frequent have a young readers section. Diamond (the only North American comic book distributor) even has a young readers section of their release list. The author of the article clearly thinks comics are intended for children, when only a small portion are.

[misterdai]

I do find it worrying the amount of parents who dismiss a form of entertainment as "for kids" in their mindset. I've seen it a lot with video games, where a parent will buy a game for their child who is not even a teen and the game itself is rated for adults only (Call of Duty a prime example, once I saw it with Saints Row).

It's a shame the article author didn't bother to take this into account.

[junto]

Exactly. More importantly the store owner stocks what he sells, or what he thinks sells. If more 7 year old girls came into the store everyday, he might stock something more appropriate for that audience. It is like asking a Harley Davidson dealer whether he stocks Toyota Prius's.

Young teen males buy these comics because there are half-naked, caricatured, over-sized breasted women in them. Later on they just buy porn mags, or more often these these days, just download porn from the internet.

[misterdai]

That's a reasonable point. As a store owner he's probably trying to target the demographic that's buying the most comics. If the majority of his custom comes from male teens then that's the type of comic he'll stock.

Of course there's nothing stopping him from trying to stock comics for other groups, as he had stock of younger comics and those aimed at girls, but it can't be expected that he provides equal footing if he's simply trying to make money from his main group of customers.

When I go shopping, it's nice when I see a shop that has a gluten / wheat free section. But I don't expected them to have a large aisle dedicated to it if they're not seeing enough custom to validate it.

[GFK_of_xmaspast]

A lot of small comic store owners are fans first and business people second.