Some good news for young comic readers in 2023
She's back baby, let's hope lightning strikes twice
So last week, I was mulling over a few ideas, thinking about this newsletter, my own creative work, and the marketplace in general. I have been a little down on comics for a while, mainly because I feel like mainstream comics from the “Big Two” have left younger audiences behind. Which, in my mind, was always the most important demographic for comics.
Modern comics, for the most part, are written for an adult audience. I know, that probably sounds weird to those of you who haven’t been following the progression of comics over the years. I have to admit, I stopped reading them a couple of decades ago, but when I returned, looking for something for my child, I struggled to find anything that was both well crafted and appropriate for a young audience. If they didn’t feature graphic sexual content, then they had either gratuitous and gory violence or dubious moral choices being modelled by the “Heroes” in the story.
So imagine my pleasure to discover a completely new comic that seemed to be everything I was looking for when I first took my kid into a comic shop years before. That comic was Primer.
Released in 2020, Primer was created with an 8 to 12 year old audience in mind. The perfect age, in my opinion, to capture the attention of young people and set them up for a life long love of reading. Written by Jennifer Muro and Thomas Krajewski with art by Gretel Lusky, Primer was a colourful, sparkling jewel hidden in a mountain of inappropriate content. I had not heard of the writers or the artist prior to this, but discovered that they each had some impressive credentials. Jennifer and Thomas had honed their writing skills in the world of T.V. and film, while Gretel had comic books, T.V. and character design work as her foundation. Primer ticked all the boxes for me as a parent seeking material for a child.
I was very excited by this, I thought “finally the big comic publishers are reconnecting with young readers”, and I waited for the announcement of the next graphic novel in the series.
Annnnnnd, nothing. No announcement, no follow up, no ongoing series, no promotion. It appeared as though Primer was going to be a “one shot” never to be revisited. My heart sank. Did the management at DC not recognize what a remarkable book this was? Did they not see the possibilities of targeting this age group with a high quality book? I was dumbfounded.
This is the age group that is absolutely devouring Manga and Anime such as “My Hero Academia”, “Dragonball” and “Naruto”. These young people are enthusiastic about the medium of sequential art in a wide variety of genres, but especially in action/adventure, fantasy and yes, heroic stories. How can DC and Marvel possibly be missing this?
But then…
just as all hope was lost, an announcement came. Primer would live again (with the Teen Titans thrown in) in “Primer: Clashing Colors”. The book is due to be released in September of 2023, so there is still a bit of a wait, but that gives plenty of time for DC to reissue and promote the first book again, right? Let’s hope.
I have to be honest, I am very pleased to see the return of Primer, but I do question the decision to include the Teen Titans in Primer’s return. I’m not sure if the publisher thinks that the Primer comic needs Teen Titan fans to prop up sales, or if they are hoping that Primer fans will migrate back to the Teen Titans independent titles afterward.
Needless to say, I am not privy to “the numbers”. I don’t have a realistic idea of how many books the first Primer sold. I only know what I as a parent was looking for, and what I was avoiding. The Teen Titans have been through so many iterations, some of them “kid friendly” (above) and some definitely targeting adult audiences (below). It could be a bit challenging for a parent to police that.
The Titan character designs on the cover certainly look appropriate, and I feel like I can trust this creative team to stay faithful to the 8-12 age range for this book, but I would be wary of letting an 8-12 year old pick up “just any” other Teen Titans books. I hope that this is simply a marketing strategy to try to capture some Teen Titan fans and that Primer then becomes it’s own separate series. I would be happy to see it only released as graphic novels, not monthly 22 page floppies.
Let’s just say that I am, as always, cautiously optimistic.
If you have any young people in the 8 to 12 age range in your life, you should check out the first Primer in preparation for the new book. It is almost a year away but I think it will be worth the wait.
Thanks for joining me this week, and I’ll see you next time.
blackManic