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That feels weird to me because I like comics (I am from Europe, so "european comics" is a weird name for what I'd roughly translate to `Drawn stories` or `graph

That feels weird to me because I like comics (I am from Europe, so "european comics" is a weird name for what I'd roughly translate to `Drawn stories` or `graphic novels`) and there are a lot of interesting indie or ya comics out there (edit: I mean, in the US too). I suppose comics bookstore are just dump ground for Marvel/DC/Images/DH production of the week ? For a 8-12 years-old, of the top of my mind: http://www.mouseguard.net/ http://www.mouseguard.net/ and lmgt. There are also the translated comics from Europe. But I understand these are not weekly `updated` and that might not appeal to an american audience (cultural heritage).

vidarh 12y ago
As a Norwegian (where translated French and Belgian titles as well as US translated imports and a wide range of our own production tends to be available in nearly every grocery store, gas station or corner store), who now lives in the UK (very similar comic culture to the US, and with very limited own production) and who have visited a few US comic stores too: The US market is dominated by superhero comics, with some book versions of newspaper strips, and a small segment of other stuff. From a non-UK European point of view, it's a very strange experience. Though I love the superhero comics, I also grew up with a wide range of alternatives. The first time I went into a comic store in the UK was a shocking experience. Not least because of how thin and filled with ads the US stuff was. Basically the US format is to bombard the market with a massive number of titles, fill it with ads, and pump out a tiny number of pages each issue. When there was a regular translated Spiderman title in Norway, it was edited together from the stories in something like 4-5 different US titles, in order to get a single magazine of sufficient number of pages to be viable in the Norwegian market. Trying to publish multiple titles for a single character would be seen as suicide. Instead the Scandinavian approach is generally to publish titles with a single "headline" character and then guest stints of a few pages of smaller characters. When guest series gets popular, they get to try out their own titles. Some main titles get odd in that they get a level of popularity whereby even if the main series may not be drawn any more the magazine is kept alive, and eventually the guest series kinda "takes over" more and more - Calvin and Hobbes survived that way as a monthly title in Norway for a decade after Watterson ended the series. I think the US publishers basically have shot themselves in the foot this way, by creating an image for comics as cheap and trashy childrens entertainment, and so massively limiting their audience, as reflected in the extremely low sales numbers even for the top series.
Fomite 12y ago
Mouse Guard was the first one that came up for me too. As a bonus, it's also got an RPG.

vidarh 12y ago

As a Norwegian (where translated French and Belgian titles as well as US translated imports and a wide range of our own production tends to be available in nearly every grocery store, gas station or corner store), who now lives in the UK (very similar comic culture to the US, and with very limited own production) and who have visited a few US comic stores too: The US market is dominated by superhero comics, with some book versions of newspaper strips, and a small segment of other stuff. From a non-UK European point of view, it's a very strange experience. Though I love the superhero comics, I also grew up with a wide range of alternatives. The first time I went into a comic store in the UK was a shocking experience. Not least because of how thin and filled with ads the US stuff was. Basically the US format is to bombard the market with a massive number of titles, fill it with ads, and pump out a tiny number of pages each issue. When there was a regular translated Spiderman title in Norway, it was edited together from the stories in something like 4-5 different US titles, in order to get a single magazine of sufficient number of pages to be viable in the Norwegian market. Trying to publish multiple titles for a single character would be seen as suicide. Instead the Scandinavian approach is generally to publish titles with a single "headline" character and then guest stints of a few pages of smaller characters. When guest series gets popular, they get to try out their own titles. Some main titles get odd in that they get a level of popularity whereby even if the main series may not be drawn any more the magazine is kept alive, and eventually the guest series kinda "takes over" more and more - Calvin and Hobbes survived that way as a monthly title in Norway for a decade after Watterson ended the series. I think the US publishers basically have shot themselves in the foot this way, by creating an image for comics as cheap and trashy childrens entertainment, and so massively limiting their audience, as reflected in the extremely low sales numbers even for the top series.

Fomite 12y ago

Mouse Guard was the first one that came up for me too. As a bonus, it's also got an RPG.