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Ask Slashdot: Which Comic Books To Start My 3-Year-Old With?
JeepFanatic writes "I've never been one to read comic books, but I've always enjoyed superheroes. My 3-year-old son is really into superheroes (especially Spider-man) and I thought it would be a fun thing to do together to start reading comics to him. Any suggestions on comics that would be more appropriate to start him out with?"
My 3 yr old son is really into superheros (especially Spider-man)
Well then how about Spider Man?
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Watchman, of course: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDHHrt6l4w
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I've been reading collections of the first years of Spidey, the Fantastic Four, Green Lantern and such. They're probably fine for young'uns.
But I'd also look into the Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comic adventures. The Duckberg folks go on a lot of neat adventures. They have great stories, great artwork, and it will help show that there's more to comics than superheroes.
Fantagraphics is producing a reprint series, and previous collections are readily available.
Just kidding!
There used to be a Shazam! comic, (DC's Captain Marvel) that was oriented more towards young kids. I don't know if it still exists.
Personally, I started my daughter, who was not much older than that, on Mage. If she didn't understand something, we stopped and talked about it. It's actually pretty amazing what kids can process.
When she entered her teens, Matt Wagner had finally come out with Volume 2. Daughter was really excited and wanted me to read it to her. I was a little surprised that she had remembered the first story.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I've heard Owly is a great starter comic. It's about woodland critters, so appropriate. But there's no dialog, so he could flip through it by himself.
Classic Fritz the Cat, and maybe some of the S. Clay Wilson stuff with motorcycles.
OK. Wait until he's 7.
Seriously? Read real books with him. The comics will come on his own, without encouragement.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I don't know about comic books per se
But you can't go wrong with the ALA Caldecott winners and honorees. The ALA takes childrens books seriously so you can count on their recommendations to always be top notch. Many public libraries will even have a seperate display of caldecott winners to make it easier for parents to find them.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
At 3 years old he should be able to read himself - why do you need to read to him?
Oh, saaaay, that gives me an idea: Have him read Slashdot! He'll grow up with the benefit of thinking he knows everything without wasting his life doing things like asking questions and learning or asking questions about a topic he doesn't understand. You won't even have to worry about teen pregnancy!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Kids that age don't need superheros running around biff bam zonking bad guys.
Why not try Dora the Explorer or something.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Modern superhero comics are pretty much uniformly targeted at teen-to-adult age groups. In the quest to become more "edgy", the storylines are more violent and disturbing than ever before. This is not intended as a criticism... I likes me some edgy comics, and when I was college-aged supplemented my income doing lettering work on comic books... but don't be under any sort of illusion about the content the big labels are releasing. It's just not good material for someone as young as your son.
Most kid's TV is also either completely inane/stupid/mind-rotting, or inappropriate for 3-year-olds. There are a few shows out there which are just fine for young kids and which have a goodly bit of intelligence, worthwhile stories, and a meaningful positive "message", but I will leave it as an exercise to the reader to discover them. (Hint: one of them is a huge Internet sensation right about now.)
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
I learned to read with comic books as a 3 year old, so these are perfect. Why not take him down to a comics store and let him choose a few for himself? He's 3. He'll spot what he likes immediately. You can then mix in a few of your old time favorites. Naturally these comics will form the basis of his over-idealized belief system, so be careful to balance it out with regular age appropriate reading material. Otherwise, you may see him jump off the roof one day, or try to pick up a car. If he starts swinging from the rafters, hold on - you've really got something there... My favorites were Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batman, Black Canary, Hawkman, Superman, Archie (with Betty, Veronica, Jughead, etc.), and all the Justice League stuff. No wonder the world is so confusing to me now.
Start here:
http://mycomicpost.com/?p=3707
The sooner you start the Space Marine training the better.
We wouldn't want to raise a xeno-loving, heretic girly-boy now, would we?
For the Emperor
for a kid how about the english translation of astrix
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
I was going to suggest this one as well. Great book.
Online, you can show him "Zip and Lil' Bit" (zipandbit.com), among others.
Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
At 3 years old he should be able to read himself - why do you need to read to him?
Reading to your kids is a great experience for both you and the kid. I started reading to my daughter before she turned one year old. It helped her fall to sleep. To start with, since she wasn't actually listening, I read her whatever I happened to be reading. I wonder sometimes if that was a mistake, and she spent nights awake in her bed, listening for the hellish howling of a gigantic hound on the moors...
Later we went through every one of the Terry Pratchett stories and a lot of the Heinlein juveniles. This went on until sometime last year, when she became a senior in high school, and was too busy for me to read to her anymore. I regret that.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Oh, saaaay, that gives me an idea: Have him read Slashdot! He'll grow up with the benefit of thinking he knows everything without wasting his life doing things like asking questions and learning or asking questions about a topic he doesn't understand. You won't even have to worry about teen pregnancy!
Well.. that's embarrassing. Feel free to point and laugh, folks, I made a real ass of myself. :)
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
In 2012, I don't think there are any. 55 years ago there were, but even then, it was more starting at age 6.
Stick with "Hello, Moon", Dr. Seuss, etc.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
At 3 years old he should be able to read himself - why do you need to read to him?
Oh, saaaay, that gives me an idea: Have him read Slashdot! He'll grow up with the benefit of thinking he knows everything without wasting his life doing things like asking questions and learning or asking questions about a topic he doesn't understand. You won't even have to worry about teen pregnancy!
Hmm... "son"... "teen pregnancy"... "son"... "teen pregnancy"...
I see what you mean about slashdot readers who fail to learn about topics they don't understand.
So how about something that's not superhero oriented, like the very good Adventure Time? http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=11362
Try Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner -- read him A.A. Milne, with individual voices for Piglet, Pooh and all the others. You'll both have a ball. Keep him as far away from Walt Disney's insipid versions as you can.
He's 3. Don't try to turn him into you. Superhero comics aren't for 3-year-olds. Give him age-appropriate stuff.
I'll ditto the Shazam recommendation. Captain Marvel appealed to a younger set, and his alter-ego was a young teen. (As were those of Captain Marvel Junior and Mary Marvel, or whatever her name was.)
I bought a huge paperback compendium of "Shazam" comics a few years ago. B&W, but still good stories.
Incidentally, have you been watching Young Justice? The setup is that a junior justice league is formed from all the sidekicks -- robin, aquaboy and so forth. (The story predates the coming of Starfire to earth and the forming of Teen Titans.)
Captain Marvel is a recurring character. As portrayed in this series, he is a full member of JLA and considered an adult by the other JLA members, (sometimes asked to "babysit" the junior members) but his dirty little secret, apparently hidden from the other adults, is that although he has an adult body as CM, he still retains the intellect and emotions of Billy. He therefore commiserates more with the junior JLA members, because he has similar desires and has shown similar lack of judgement.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day. There are plenty of kid comic books out there and the Marvels and DC's even have young versions of the top titles/hero's. Here in Las Vegas, we have some great owners who are very helpful and any good store should be able to find out what the kid likes and suggest a few to start. Maximum Comics woo hoo. (selfless plug).
I see your Fritz the Cat, and raise you Fat Freddy's Cat.
Are any of the Disney Comics around? Scrooge McDuck with Hewy, Dewy, and Louie were an early face of mine. Also, what anout Richie Rich? There's also Impson comics but maybe notat 3 years old.
With my daughter, I introduced her to collections of old Super Girl and Wonder Woman at 4 years old. She's now into Young Justice, Teen Titans, Girl Genius and Dr. Horrible/Firefly.
I drank what? -- Socrates
I've seen Teen Titans based on the cartoon instead of the original more mature version, I've seen other kid targeted comics but three is young. Go to the bookstore and get the age range targeted books, trust me there's no shortage of hero hosted educational and kid specific books. You may want to move on to Captain Underpants next until he's ready for the more mature titles. Remember, the Comics Code Authority is dead now and the comics are written accordingly.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Yes. I had just gotten The Complete Sherlock Holmes and had decided to re-read the stories. If I understand your comment, you don't have to be a teen to enjoy Doyle. I recently bought another, digital copy of the stories for my Android phone to read on the plane.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Perhaps not perfect for a 3 year old, but worth looking at are Atomic Robo and Axe Cop.
Atomic Robo is very much a 'child appropriate' comic.
http://www.atomic-robo.com/
Axe Cop is created by a 30 something year old cartoonist and written by his 6 year old brother.
http://axecop.com/
END COMMUNICATION
It isn't really superheros, but it may be something he could enjoy. I don't recall if there was anything that would be inappropriate for for someone of his age aside from a little bit of violence.
I was a late bloomer, as far as reading went. I didn't feel the need as my intuitive rationale at the wee age of five was that it simply wasn't necessary; I can do what I want, function just fine without reading, so why waste time learning... ... then my mom brought home some comic books from the convenience store down the street, a Spider-Man and a Fantastic Four, and while I enjoyed the pictures, I really wanted to know what they were saying. The Fantastic Four had less exciting imagery yet an abundance of speech bubbles so I figured, these guys must be saying something important. This strongly motivated me to learn and I was reading rather large books by the age of 10 (my fifth grade teacher felt that that uncut version of Stephen King's The Stand was inappropriate at my age and was shocked, both positively and negatively, that I understood the context and ambiguities of certain scenes).
That all being said, it's my suggestion that you grab a stack of comics that range in terms of popularity, style and maturity and he'll be motivated by what he likes.
Perhaps check on eBay for used collections of comic books as they go cheap there. The classic comic books may have less violence and more of a moral high ground than current day comic books.
at 3-4, OWLY is fantastic. published by Top Shelf
Marvel put out a line of comics called MARVEL ADVENTURES with much more "kid appropriate" comics with the big icons of the Marvel U. They can be found in the digest sized format.
Chris Eliopolous also put out a marvel comic based on Franklin Richards of Fantastic Four fame, it reads like Calvin and Hobbes with Franklin as Calvin and H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot from the 70's FF cartoon as his Hobbes. Delightful. digest format as well.
Your local comic shop should also have either Essential Collections or Marvel Masterwork tradepaperback collections of the early Marvel Comics of the 60's. Amazing Spider-man 1-20 for $20 in black and white. or 1-10 in color. might be a little early for a lot of that stuff.
Fantagraphics is publishing the complete Carl Barks library right now. vol. 2 is due out shortly.
Fantagraphics is also publishing the Complete Peanuts. 2 years per volume. They are in the early '80's right now.
Lastly, use your local library if you can. You'd be amazed at how much is being purchased by librarians right now to keep kids reading. 741.5 is your dewey decimal. Also, your kids/teen room will usually just have a whole shelf of graphic novels now a days. free looking.
Lastly part two. Let your kid be a kid as long as possible. Don't force violence at them before they're ready. Most of the above recommendations are way over the head of a 3 year old. Let alone an 8 year old.
Enjoy. my now 16 and 13 year olds have 2 bookshelves of classic Marvel and DC books. They're also huge fans of Bone and Mouseguard and other great age appropriate stuff...
There are tons of beautiful illustrated books with excellent stories. Anything from Oliver Jeffers like Lost & Found, or Olivia the Pig by Ian Falconer or any book illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. I love comic books but my children prefer illustrated books.
If you are looking for comic books try looking for Belgian/French authors translated to English. They tend to write stories very different from what you find in America, sometimes with very deep stories and characters.
DC has a line of comics aimed specifically to kids called DC Nation. http://dcnationcomics.kidswb.com/. Young Justice, Superman Family, etc.. You can even read some of the comics free online, to see if your kid will like them before you start buying issues/TPBs. My son is 2, and I hope that he will have a similar love of comics that his old man does.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
"There's plenty more where they came from, Sir..."
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Unless he's changed from 50 years ago, Superman has fine values: "Truth, justice, and the American way." If you're looking for television cartoon heroes, you're better off not looking for muscles in tights: try Danger Mouse, Jimmy Neutron, Inspector Gadget. Scooby-Doo has occasional good episodes. Disney's Darkwing Duck has some appeal.
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An artist named Andy Runton has a series of simple comics called "Owly". They use the visual language of comics, but don't require literacy. When the characters rarely speak, they do so in pictograms. The stories and jokes are simple enough for young kids to follow without seeming condescending to adults (i.e. it's not Dick & Jane type stuff). My daughter started on them around that age before she could read and liked them. She's almost 7 and is a great reader, but she still enjoys them. I'm sure there are other good comics out there for pre-literate kids if you ask around. I know the comic stores I frequent usually have a lot of kids books available on Free Comics Day. Stop by and take everything you think might be interesting to your boy and see what sticks.
Once your son begins reading, there are a lot more options: Jeff Smith's "Bone" series, Kazu Kibuishi's "Amulet" Series, Disney Comics (esp. the Carl Barks Duck Adventures). Superhero comics are a bit tougher to get into. Kids are drawn to the costumes and the setup, but the plots and language can be a lot more opaque than you'd expect, especially as they've become oriented towards more sophisticated adult readers over the past 30 years.
Good luck, he's gonna have fun!
Every morning in every newspaper. Every month in every issue of New Yorker and Playboy. Every time someone posts an XKCD link.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
I would toss in English Tintin as well too!
Practice Static Safety - Hack Naked
I suggest you dig up reprint volumes of classic Silver Age comics. The original Spiderman stories, the original Iron Man stories, etc.
In those days, the comics were striving to not violate the "comics code" and they contained very little death, no actual swear words, and generally had a lighter tone than modern comics.
These days, comics are marketed toward teen males; horrible things happen as the comics strive for edginess, and language can be coarse.
So, I would read classic comics to a 3-year-old, but with modern comics I would carefully vet each issue before reading it. This could be a problem if he gets interested in a storyline and then the next comic comes out and it's horrific! The classic Stan Lee scripts from the 60's are all pretty suitable for a 3-year-old.
As someone noted, even in classic Spiderman, Peter Parker's uncle is killed... but that's really it for the death. Spiderman fights the Sandman, Doctor Octopus, the Vulture, the Green Goblin, etc. etc. without anyone being seriously hurt.
Try him on classic Doctor Strange! The original Stan Lee comics of course.
Hmm, I just checked Amazon and it seems that the search phrase to use is "Marvel Masterworks". Here's a link to the first volume of classic Spiderman:
http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Spider-Man-Vol-Marvel-Masterworks/dp/0785136932
P.S. Bless you for this project. I know this isn't a superhero comic like you asked, but may I suggest that you read this book to your son? This was the first science fiction book I ever read, and it still has an important place in my heart. It's out of print, but trust me, it's worth finding a used copy and buying it. It's probably worth it to buy a hardcover; the mass-market paperback was printed on very cheap paper that is turning brown these days. The story: a family has been living on Ganymede, but will now move to Earth. But shipping is expensive, so they plan to sell their robot and leave the robot behind. Hating to leave the robot, the boy runs away; the boy and the robot have adventures as they try to get to Earth together. It's a tale of adventure and loyalty and love, absolutely a good story for a 3-year-old. The title: The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Rey.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Runaway-Robot-Lester-Del/dp/B000DZDQD0
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
As some people have said (amidst all the trolls deliberately recommending age-inappropriate comics), modern comics are aimed at either teens, or adults who used to read comics when they were a kid. There's just about no comic book that's actually intended for children.
Since he likes Spider-Man anyway, Marvel has been reprinting Spider-Man starting at the beginning, and those were suitable for 1960's kids.
Essential Spider-Man #1 ($20 for over 500 pages, but in black and white)
Paperback Spider-Man Masterworks #1 (272 pages, in color): should be $20, for some reason it is overpriced on Amazon--try a book store)
I've gone through this with my kids (two girls, nearly 3 and 5). You're going to see lots of suggestions for golden age comics, but they don't work. Golden Age stuff had some seriously tedious dialog boxes and genuine weirdness that kids can't comprehend. Not to mention a tendency for some odd 50s-60s-era sexism. They just don't hold up well.
Tiny Titans has been the Superhero stuff that my kids have latched onto. It's the DC comics heroes as elementary school kids. There's no fighting. Lots of genuinely funny, goofy stuff. Tons of in-jokes for a comics-aware parent. Multi-Eisner award winning. They're genuinely great.
Another thought is to just avoid stories. My older girl at 3 happened into my office when my back was turned, and just happened to pick up and start looking through an Alex Ross art book. Probably the one "safe" book in the place. Art books tend to lack any graphic violence or intensity. We spent hours just talking about who the superheroes were and what they're powers are. At three, kids' brains don't really retain story chronology, so looking at and discussing pictures is just as rewarding and interesting to them. A DC or Marvel Encyclopedia would probably be a lot of fun.
Why not just get them for free from Project Gutenberg? (Genuine question)
Good question. It's not like Doyle needs the money, being dead.
I guess it was a matter of convenience. Back in the Palm Pilot days, Project Gutenberg was my friend. I read all of Burroughs and Dumas on the Pilot.
But... see I have Kindle on the Android phone, and it's just too convenient to pay the minor download price (and there are free titles also) in order to keep all my books in a single place. And yes, I know you can side-load the Kindle app -- I had to do it for the Officer's Pocket Guide to Oregon Law (every citizen should have a working understanding of state law -- else, how could we be expected to act lawfully?) but it was a complex and annoying process which I would not want to do often.
Apropos of another recent thread, (regarding video downloads) if the price is reasonable, I have no problem paying it, even if my only motive is convenience.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I bet you would.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Because spiderman.
Stick with what the kid likes. If you try to push what you like or what is recommended instead onto him, reading will become a chore. So just start with Spiderman, and then go for whatever comic books are tying into Spiderman at the moment. Yes, comic books aren't really focused at 3 year olds, there are going to be several words you will have to explain the meaning of, it's going to be above his reading level, etc. - but that's a GOOD thing, because not only will he have fun, he will be learning, and growing a lifelong love of reading and learning.
Because it's a great way to spend quality time together, and it usually presents opportunities to learn the meaning of new words (for both of you, maybe, depending on what you're reading) and to discuss what is going on and how they are in line or not in line with your moral values.
There's plenty of evidence that reading to kids and kids seeing their parents read leads to kids that read, though. Formal reading instruction is a load of bs, and kills the love of reading. If all you want is a kid that can pass the standardized reading test, then fine, school will teach them to do that (though with quite a bit more work than the kids that are already reading). If you want a kid that loves reading and learning and has many more doors open to them because of that, you should take a look at why your own attitude is what it is.
Where on earth do you get "being helpless" from? Not enjoying reading makes them much more helpless, especially in today's world where nearly everything requires reading.
You mean Asterix and his sidekick Obelix, I think.
Lucky Luke, Cubitus, Spike & Suzy, and Tintin could also be worth a look, as well as the classic Donald Duck / Scrooge McDuck comic book stories written by Carl Barks and Don Rosa
...how can I avoid having grandkids?
Superman = invincible person who has magic powers for no other reason than accident of birth beats up people with advanced PhDs.
That's always been the big mystery of America superhero fiction to me. The heroes are usually powerful by complete accident (just born that way, bitten by a radioactive lab animal, etc.), while the villains have a strong work ethic, work hard, are very intelligent and highly qualified, etc. And the heroes always win. The moral of the story seems to be it doesn't matter if you work hard, you can't overcome dumb luck. And that intelligence and qualifications are something to be wary of.
The Phantom. Only comic you need.
sudo mount --milk --sugar
Classic Fritz the Cat, and maybe some of the S. Clay Wilson stuff with motorcycles.
OK. Wait until he's 7.
Seriously? Read real books with him. The comics will come on his own, without encouragement.
I don't remember not being able to read. My parents tell me I learned when I was 2, as they read comic books to me.
I had an uncle who was into them, and seeing him read them made me very interested. My parents then bought comics that we're more appropriate for children so they could read them to me. The end result is that I got so hooked, it made me extremely motivated to learn to read so that I'd be able to read the stories when my parents didn't have the time (they read to me every day, but I asked them to read constantly.
Moral of the story: read anything to your kids that gets them hooked, even comic books if that's what's doing the trick. Help them to learn to read when they get interested and other stuff will will come later, when they're able to read for themselves.
As for recommendation, in my case they were "Uncle Scrooge" Disney comics. I have no idea if they're still published.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
Superman = invincible person who has magic powers for no other reason than accident of birth beats up people with advanced PhDs.
That's always been the big mystery of America superhero fiction to me. The heroes are usually powerful by complete accident (just born that way, bitten by a radioactive lab animal, etc.), while the villains have a strong work ethic, work hard, are very intelligent and highly qualified, etc. And the heroes always win. The moral of the story seems to be it doesn't matter if you work hard, you can't overcome dumb luck. And that intelligence and qualifications are something to be wary of.
Superman hasn't changed that much, but the comic book stories about him now are more writers looking to deconstruct him rather than actually presenting him as the classic icon of good he was generations ago. It's like Batman, he's gone from being the Dark Avenger to the ultra-paranoid who almost let Max Lord screw up the world with O.M.A.C.
Superheroes.. moral, positive message.. sounds like we need to go back in time a bit...
to Sweden in the seventies...
Pippi Longstocking!
If Pippi and Spider-man were in combat, she'd drive him to tears with a few well-placed jokes, I'm sure of it! (and afterwards invite him over for tea).
To be, or not to be: isn't that quite logical, Slashdot Beta?