The Evolution Of The New Marvel Comics Fan
Me and my husband happened to sit next to a father and son at a restaurant the other day. The dad was reading comics on his iPad, and the 9-year-old boy was quite a fan of the X-Men. Here, in a nutshell, is the chain of events that led to both currently reading comics.
The father, a school-teacher, used to read comic books when he was a kid. You would think that it was he who introduced comics to his son. But no:
1. The boy watches X-Men: Evolution on Netflix.
2. Inspired by his son’s enthusiastic response to the cartoon, the dad decides to check out a free issue of Astonishing X-Men available through the Marvel App that was pre-installed in his iPad.
3. Son asks to borrow dad’s iPad to read comics.
4. Son requests paid additional issues of Marvel titles on app to continue following the stories.
How many children are getting their first exposure to Marvel characters through their extensive library on Netflix Instant? How has not offering a similar library of cartoons available for streaming on Netflix (or related service) hurt the ability of DC Comics (though to be fair, that’s more of a Warner Bros. concern than DC proper) to reach this demographic? This child says he doesn’t like DC — but has never read an actual DC comic! Does this child really differentiate in his mind between the comics and cartoons — or does he see it all as one solid continuum? If he received a set of Justice League Unlimited to watch, would he change his mind about DC?
Further, where is the comic book store in this equation? Neither father nor son mentions visiting, or planning to visit, a comic store. Does the child even know that such stores exist? When faced with the option to continue to read comics on the iPad or paper issues, what would he prefer? How are these potential Direct Market customers (the father and the son) reached?
Lastly, we explained to the boy Marvel’s latest event, Avengers Vs. X-Men — to which his eyes widened into two giant saucers of wonder and he said: “wowwwwww…” Since he started his conversation with me and my husband comparing the merits of two different characters (Iron Man vs. Captain America), a series with such a simple premise as AvX would be very appealing. While some within the comics community complain that AvX is too high concept or “done already,” to the newly-minted comics fan — our 9-year-old friend — it sounds like an excellent idea. Even the father found the concept intriguing, since he has been away from comics for so long & wonders what is happening with those characters now.
You have to wonder just how often the scenario I’ve just described to you — child first encounters comic book characters on Netflix, then reads issues on parent’s iPad — happens. And if this child indeed convinces his father to buy X-Men and Hulk on the iPad to read — how will comic publisher PR and the comics media reach out to such an individual? What type of information will he be looking for and how does he want it presented? Ditto for his dad, in the event that his childhood love of comics gets reawakened.
I find these questions, and the possibilities therein, intriguing.
