Of the 52 comics offered up in this year’s Free Comic Book Day on May 4th there were 29 that were kid friendly. Some were targeted squarely at kids, like Sesame Street/Strawberry Shortcake (Ape) & the Smurfs (Papercutz). Some were truly all ages, able to be enjoyed equally by kids and adults, like Atomic Robo & Friends (Red 5) & Mouse Guard/Rust (Archaia). A few others were all ages appropriate, but likely would not hold the interest younger kids, like Prince Valiant (Fantagraphics).
I’m going to take a quick look at all 29 of these kid-friendly books and give a short “What’s Cool About It” that jumped out at me for each one. I’m not going to give a specific numeric rating to them because I’m not necessarily the target market. It’s more important that we examine what’s available out there that you can use to get kids excited about reading & comics. Many of these have downloadable previews from the Free Comic Book Day website, I’ll link to them where they are available.
Your local comic shop may have extra copies of many of these books available, it’s worth asking & letting them know you’re interested in kid-friendly fare.
I’ll be breaking this up into 3 parts. Let’s get to the 1st 10 comics!
Robby Bevard (A/CA) Fred PerryWhat’s Cool About It
As the name would imply, there’s a LOT of action, and seems to be playing off the “Brony” phenomenon. A combination of Adventure Time & My Little Pony.
Astrid Lindgren (A/CA) Ingrid Vang for PippiWhat’s Cool About It
Brian Clevinger (A/CA) Scott WegenerAdapted from episodes of the popular Disney XD animated series, these are a perfect entry point for kids who are familiar with the characters from TV.
2 complete classic Sunday comic stories from 1936-1937. Kids reveled in these exciting adventures every week in the paper, but a lot of kids today will likely be too jaded to appreciate these stories. Adults may enjoy these stories more although they’re completely appropriate for everyone.
Lighthearted & silly superhero action for young readers, I’d say about 6 to 10 years of age. This should appeal to kids who like characters like Captain Underpants.
Ashwin Pande & Jeevan Kang (A) Jeevan KangFrom a story idea by Stan Lee, but executed by other storytellers, this has a really nice/clean art style, somewhat reminiscent of animation art. It’s nice to see a hero from & set in India that doesn’t immediately pander to every US stereotype about India. This is good clean super-hero action that should appeal to younger readers anywhere in the world.
2 all-new stories, Batman & Teen Titans Go! From the Cartoon Network’s Saturday morning DC Animation block. Perfect for getting kids who are fans of the cartoon into reading.
Really nice art, lush colors another comic that’s perfect for getting kids who are fans of Tinker Bell from Peter Pan and the series of Disney direct-to-DVD movies to read.
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