The Virgin Read: Let Power Pack Heal The Heart That Rodney King Keeps Breaking

Wolverine Power Pack # 1
Written by Marc Sumerak
Art by GuriHiru
Published by Marvel Comics

Hey!  This is actually a comic book for kids!  The intended audience is children.  I think that’s great!

Look, I'm going to jump right in and get on my soap box about kid-appropriate stuff.  I mean, I could write you a synopsis of the story….but that’s not really what you want from me, is it?  (And really.  It's Wolverine Power Pack.  Look at the cover, read the title.  You can guess the plot and probably be right.)

Besides, if I go that plot synopsis route, we might get into some arguments, you and I.  Because while explaining the plot, you might argue that it’s simplistic, silly, implausible and/or “unrealistic” (even for a Wolverine comic book).  And then I would tell you that you can’t judge this comic the same way you judge other comics that are meant for adults (or for kids who’ve become adults).  And you’ll ask me why.  You’ll want to know why I'm not holding this writer and this artist to the same standards as I might the writers and artists of other comics.  And I’ll tell you...OK, let's do that.  Guess what?  I hold them in higher regard.  So, let me skip that whole fight and get on to telling you what I'm thinking here, and then you can get mad.

The art of writing is a solitary one.  The act of it is often an expressive outlet for the writer and sometimes it's a cathartic one.  It probably starts--somewhere young, somewhere that's quiet and alone--as a self serving act.  One has something they really want to say, express, tell or draw.  If they keep at it, then they go on to learn various better and different ways to express themselves.  And it’s all great.  But eventually, there's a point when that personal exercise, that writing, crosses over from self-serving hobby to an act of serving art to others, and hopefully there's an exchange of money somewhere in the process.  When one crosses to that realm, one has to learn about their audience.  Hell, they have to find their audience, and try to appeal to that audience.  And if they want this to be a lifetime gig, they have to continue to know and appeal to an audience.  That doesn't mean they have to "make them happy."  They just have to appeal enough so that the writing goes from something they put on a shelf to something that makes it off the shelf, so something can come back and keep the writer working.

I believe that the idea behind the Virgin Read (which, by the way, was not my idea, and actually has never been explained, nor was it explained whether it even has an "idea behind" at all) is to pose these kind of questions to the various comic books, comic book companies, writers and artists that this project runs into.  Who are you really writing for?  Did you get them?  Appeal to them?  Would it benefit you to appeal to a wider audience?  Does your audience include women?  Do you want it to?  Does your audience include people in their 30s?  Do you want it to?  I can go on and on and on.  Because I'm making these up, because I don't know if that's the purpose, and because....this is mine, this column, this space, it's what I want it to be, and this is what I think it's asking.

So often the answers to these questions is just...sort of odd.  Often it seems that these comics think they are going to appeal to an age range that starts at 10 and ends north of 40, but it doesn’t.  Or they come across like...like nobody cares who it appeals to, if anybody at all, it's just some project that a writer and/or artist just wanted to put out there.  Or--and these are the ones that bug me--it's meant for kids, it's meant for some new readership, yet all it has on offer is something really gross and violent.

That's exactly why--that last thing there--I think Wolverine Power Pack is a wild success.  A pull out your hair and start yelling "eureka" success.  Here it is, and it knows exactly what audience it is designed to please.  It knows exactly how to appeal to that audience.  You've got these characters, these four kids varying in age from, say, eight to fourteen maybe?  There's two boys and two girls.  These kids are operating completely within the culture that any of “today’s kids” know about – school, reports, museums, dinosaurs.  The drawings aren't scary.  The lines are smooth.  The villain/monster/dinosaur is mildly drawn compared to your average comic book monster.  Any kid could pick a Power Pack kid to identify with.  That's awesome.

I’d like to go on record saying that, this?  This appealing to small children?  This is hard to do.  It's an art in itself.  Knowing your audience and appealing to them is a craft, and sometimes it's like writing, and sometimes it's totally separate.  I work with children – toddlers between the ages of 12 months and 3 years.  There’s a slew of books out there for little kids, but no one seems to really know how to write for specifically that age range.  Probably because it doesn’t serve the writer who wants to come up with goofy stories about a chicken who loves to wear yellow boots.  No.  There’s a specific art to writing well for that developmental age (which I can certainly talk more about if you’d like, but, uh, then hit me up on email).  And like that set, there's a specific art to writing for the 8 to 14 year old set.  (Which is where I see this Power Pack going, on the younger side of that group.)  And in some ways, it's that very art, that craft, that is missing from so many of the other comic books.  They act like the product is for kids with their goofy colors and their silly gags, but they miss the mark completely.  And then they don't have to care, because they've got that 22 to 45 year old set that will still buy the books, even if it's just to say "hey, this is terrible, don't buy this."  (Hey.  He's my husband, he's not my freaking Higher Power.)

Theater people are always talking about “building tomorrow’s audience,” because, yes, theater has been a dying art...well, not forever, but since the invention of television, at least.  Theater is much more expensive to attend, it takes more effort to go see.  It’s a wonderful art form, but it's always dying.  So theater and directors and producers and theater companies are always trying to find ways to build audiences.  Here's another special for people in their 20's.  Here's another troupe that travels to elementary schools.  Here's another workshop, another artist residency, all trying to expose kids to theater in hopes that they’ll develop a habit, a craving for theater, that they'll take up the reigns and keep it alive, so that things like live drama will last and last.  You can not like it, sure, a lot of it is pretty bad!  But you can't doubt that there's serious effort.  You can't pretend that nobody cares.

Which brings me, sorry, once again to mention that DC panel I attended at Baltimore Comiccon.  (And yes, I will hammer this dead horse for at least nine more months.)  Although DC was proud to announce new upcoming kids series like Supergirl In The Eighth Grade, they had no problem looking at the crowd and asking "Why do we need to try and sell to a different demographic?"  (In so many words.  I'm not listening to that 95 minute recording of that thing for exact quotes.)  Dan Didio said, “Look around this room."  (The room was filled with mostly men in their late 20s up to what looked to be mid-40's) "This is our audience, and you’re all here, so I think we’re doing just fine.”  DC seemed to pat themselves on the back, rather than seeing 20 years ahead and the beginning of the end of their readership.

You know what?  That's totally fine with me.  It's their company, and they like their fans, and their fans like them.  (From what I saw.)  But I read Wolverine Power Pack, and when I was done with it, I found myself completely and totally in love with what Marvel did here.  I applaud Marc Sumerak and GuriHiru for this comic book.   It's adorable, it's fun, it's ready for Saturday morning cartoons, and it's perfect for getting a whole new batch of kids into comic books.  Well done.

-Nina Stone, 2008

Comments

[Tim O'Neil]

You raise some interesting points, but I guess the first question that pops into my head would be - don't kids know when they're being specifically targeted, and aren't kids always into things that seem, at least on the surface, to be aimed at older audiences? I worked with kids for a few years myself and the 8-year olds wanted to be ten, the 10-Year olds wanted to be 15 and the 15-year olds wanted to be 21. Anything that even slightly smacked of "age appropriateness" - whatever that age was - was immediately shunned, to the point where ten year old kids refuse to watch Spongebob because "it's for babies". This is part of the conventional wisdom (flawed or not) behind the historic lack of success for the mainstream super-hero publishers' kids initiatives: kids know when they're getting the watered-down version of the "real thing". They want the "real thing", even if the real thing is grade-A shit. (Whenever they'd go on about 50 Cent or whatever G-Unit wannabe they loved this week I'd joke with them that they should be listening to Raffi at their age. They never got the joke.)

So what's the age group for this comic? Is it young enough not to care that it isn't "cool" to read Power Pack? At what age do kids stop wanting to identify with age-appropriate material and start pretending to be older? At what point do adults lose touch with the fact that what seems to be fun and interesting from an adult perspective is hopelessly square to a kid? I'm asking these questions because I honestly don't know, and working with kids for three years didn't do a lot in the way of illuminating these issues for me.

[Kenny]

I read the comment first before the article, but the comment from Tim misses one very important point: kids like *good* stuff. I'm not going to argue that 50 Cent and G-Unit has any artistic merit, but while 50 Cent was in his prime, he was making good pop music that lots of people - kids and adults - both liked.

Kids will always pick age appropriate *good* material over "mature" *good* material; that's why the Jonas Brothers are making a fortune, why American Idol is a money maker, why Harry Potter is a money maker. Hell, it's why Bone - an *excellent* age appropriate book - sells like gangbusters with kids.

I haven't read Wolverine/ Power Pack and in my experience, Power Pack stories (outside of Runaways) aren't usually very good, but Nina's point is exactly right. Writing *good* material that any kid can read and understand is difficult. It's when kids are given garbage that's all soft and sweet and free of violence, profanity, and sex that they're turned off. No one wants to read garbage, not even kids, and dressing garbage up for kids is just an insult to them.

[Guy Smiley]

Nina – good column, as always. I haven’t seen this Power Pack, and the idea of a superhero comic that does not center on graphic dismemberment does seem like something that could fill a glaring hole in the marketplace.

I do agree with Tim, though, that kids want access to the older stuff – it ain’t the 17-year-olds keeping “Seventeen” in business, I’m guessin’. Assuming that magazine IS still in business. Something I dislike when I see the “Marvel Adventures” and kiddiefied DC books is how they all look like TV cartoons, and seem to have no attempt at engaging the reader the way a younger me was engaged by the comics of my youth. I came back month to month to follow the characters. Peter Parker’s struggles, the soap opera mania of early Claremont X-Men and Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans. To the kid I was, those books felt like they were dealing with young adults in an adult world (plus, you know, giant robots), yet were totally accessible to me, and that’s what was interesting to me (besides the robots) – the world I was growing into and the friendships, romances, responsibilities and freedoms therein.

Of course, if something like Wolverine/Power Pack (should the Power kids be hanging out with Wolverine, anyway? “I’m the best there is at what I do, and what I do … is babysit.”) serves as a gateway drug for The Next Generation of readers, their next stop, at age 12, is probably Unshaven Batman boinking Slutty Black Canary on the dog-gutted corpse of Wendy and/or Marvin, or whatever. Or “Invincible.” Thank jeebus for “Invincible.”

[david brothers]

Marc Sumerak and GuriHiru have been doing really solid Power Pack series for a couple of years now, I think. They've all walked that fine line between kiddy pandering and fun comics that make kiddy titles so fun.

I'm 24, so I'm clearly out of the target age range, but I've found that most of the Power Pack series are twice as fun as your average comic for grownups. The last one they did was a Secret Invasion send-up that had a few good gags. At its hearts was a simple evil twin story, but the jokes were smart and the action was fun.

Gurihiru's art rules, too. I love that style.

[TimCallahan]

My seven year-old son LOVES the Sumerak GuriHiru Power Pack comics.

But the Marvel Adventures comics are supposedly targeted at the same audience, and he doesn't love those nearly as much. You should try one of those sometime and see what you think.

[Alec Trench]

yes.
comics can also be for kids.
something that seemed to get almost forgotton in the sordid grunting frown of the 90s.
however:
Smooth lines and mildly drawn monsters might appeal to some kids but they never particularily floated my boat.
what's the point of a monster that doesn't bring on nightmares? it's a bit like making sure any sex scenes are just too repugnant to be appreciated erotically.
illustrators i (and many many others) liked were people like Mike McMahon and Kevin O'Neill when i was 8-12 (about the same age as the rest of their target audience), and before that, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid. when i was very young i liked Arthur Rackham, along with generations of children before me.
those artists are not about the smooth anodine negation of physical reality. but then, i wasn't born completely blind to natural forms and no-one around me really celebrated the candy-coated commercial cookie-cutter produce that some silly bigoted adults think kids should like and only the most creepily acquiscant youngsters are happy to go along with.
as a child i was particularily interested in things that i didn't completely understand, as long as most of it was entertaining.
same as now...
all you need for a kids book is to leave out the swearing, sex and drugs etc so that the parents don't confiscate it, comic creators compulsively patronise their audiences quite enough already.
don't they?

[Alec Trench]

yes.
comics can also be for kids.
something that seemed to get almost forgotton in the sordid grunting frown of the 90s.
however:
Smooth lines and mildly drawn monsters might appeal to some kids but they never particularily floated my boat.
what's the point of a monster that doesn't bring on nightmares? it's a bit like making sure any sex scenes are just too repugnant to be appreciated erotically.
illustrators i (and many many others) liked were people like Mike McMahon and Kevin O'Neill when i was 8-12 (about the same age as the rest of their target audience), and before that, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid. when i was very young i liked Arthur Rackham, along with generations of children before me.
those artists are not about the smooth anodine negation of physical reality. but then, i wasn't born completely blind to natural forms and no-one around me really celebrated the candy-coated commercial cookie-cutter produce that some silly bigoted adults think kids should like and only the most creepily acquiscant youngsters are happy to go along with.
as a child i was particularily interested in things that i didn't completely understand, as long as most of it was entertaining.
same as now...
all you need for a kids book is to leave out the swearing, sex and drugs etc so that the parents don't confiscate it, comic creators compulsively patronise their audiences quite enough already.
don't they?

[Alec Trench]

Echo...

[Nina Stone]

Hi everyone -- Sorry for the delay in response...its's been a busy week.
You all raise interesting points. It's true that kids always want to be interested and a part of things just "above" them. I mean, I think that's universal. Whether is in relation to comic books, other kids or the world at large. We are all always striving to be a part of that other group, the one that's just out of our grasp. And it's a neccessity. I think that social drive is what pushes us to grow. I have a 15-month-old in one of my classes who's not walking yet (a skill that usually emerges between 10 and 12 months). He hasn't had too. He lives with his parent who cuddle him (has no siblings) and then leave him with the Nanny who carries him everywhere. Now that he's around other children who are standing and walking, he's showing an interest and desire to do the same.
So, I think it's inherent in all of us. And therefore its just inherent in our writing when we write for kids. If one, though, is not regularly around the age group they write for, they will miss the mark. They'll over-think it. The over-thinking of the target creates an over-simplification. And The over-thinking the target for only capitalistic gain, rather than the mission of trying to write something of value for children to enjoy, will surely miss the mark.

This comic will definitely appeal to the child who's just learning to read (5or 6 years old -- age depending on where you live), up to, I'd say @ 9 or 10. But notice that the age range of the kids in this comic is up to @ 14-ish (I think).

Kids do know when they are being patronized, as you all know. Kids no when you're lying to them. Kids know when you're using them. But they appreciate when you're sincerely trying to interest them.

I don't find this comic patronizing or contrived. I think its directed at children to entertain them.

Disney films in general do well because of the "universal truth's" or ideals that run through them. That's why those films stories can appeal to all of us. I mean, I realize the average 40 year old man won't take himself to see "Finding Nemo." But he also won't be completely bored to tears while watching it with his son. There's some humor and resonance for everyone, since "Finding your Place in the world" is relevant to us all.

I think though, that maybe some Universal Truths are changing. Or rather, the way that we deal with them. Sort of. Like, although we all really hope and want to believe that Love conquers all, and that Good always triumphs over evil, we live in a world that is actually quite unjust. Love may not actually conquer all, but it makes everything the hard things easier to tolerate and is my preferred choice. Good doesn't always conquer evil....but I like to hope it will. But the more universal truth these days is that Evil is out there, how are we going to live with it? Who are we going to be in the face of it?

And, isn't that what comic books deal with? The more realistic Universal Truths, the New Truths of today's world. And giving kids a place to read and think about them, without it being hyper-realistic is pretty fantastic. So, in this book, I think they get to experience the realities of childhood -- school, tests, museums, family -- and the bigger scarier things like "evil", and live vicariously through these characters who use their gifts to defeat evil -- with the help of a grown-up. : Er, grown-up-mutant. ;)