The most recognizable and triumphant periods in the comic books era were: the Golden age, Silver age and the Bronze Age. We’ve all heard of the saying, “what goes up must come down.” This seemed to apply to the comics industry as well because it didn’t only come down in the mid 1990s, but it came down with a crash.

Lately the comic book industry has been trying to pick itself up through the aid of comic 2 films. This approach has proved to be helpful for titles like Spiderman, X-men, and Sin City in sales but it may have been hurtful for other titles that flopped in the Box office. That is why this is not enough to bring redemption to the industry. One of the problems that led to the downfall of the comics industry was said to be accessibility due to the removal of comics from stores and shops. This can no longer be true for the reason that comics are getting exposure through animations, movies, and the internet. Then why is this industry still struggling? I’ll ask another question, why is anime doing so well? The simple answer is better storyline and the fact that it is made for a broader audience. Japanese comics are usually in the form of graphic novels 60 to 200 pages. As long as comics are seen as a kid thing, or for the unintelligent, it would be hard for major growth in the American industry.

In the past, there were a lot of criticisms about comics making the readers delinquent and depreciating their reading abilities. These criticisms resulted in drafting of the comic codes. Parents believed the claims and criticisms made toward comics and were not elated about their children reading these “picture books.” I intentionally wrote “picture books” because picture books are related to little kids learning how to read.

Many of us read comics when we were kids, but when we hit fourteen we are feeling closer to adulthood. We’re teenagers, young adults. This meant anything synonymous to children had to go, including our comics. The problem was, we knew we couldn’t just stop reading comics or dispose of them, so some of us decided to read our comics in private. We even played the hide the comic book inside another schoolbook trick, going as far as to dis comic books in front of all our friends, to make sure that no one associated us with such “childish things”.

Some of you may have experienced looking at comic books at a store ready to purchase, when one of your friends walk into the store. You are walking to the cashier and notice her walking towards you. You’re now trying to hide the comic book behind your back and talk to her as calmly as possible, praying that she doesn’t see this comic book you’re hiding. You greet each other and chat a little. Unfortunately for you she notices the comic book behind you and asks, “What’s that you’re holding behind your back.” You begin to sweat and all that runs through your mind is “Oh no!” You now begin to think of all the possible excuses you could give to explain why you’re holding a super friends comic book in 2006. Bingo! You’ve got an idea, so you confidently begin to explain to her, “Oh this thing, my little brother likes to read this piece of trash.” Fortunately for you she believed it and your reputation is safe.

Let’s be real, if we saw anyone around the age of seventeen to fifty reading comics we would think to ourselves, “Isn’t he to old for that?” This grown man may be a genius or even a great athlete, but if he picks up a comic book, he’s just another unintelligent geek. The whole point I’m trying to make is comics and adults don’t mix in our society. As I mentioned earlier, it is because of the perception created about comics. Theories like comic-books are picture books for little children or comics make readers delinquent and reduce their reading abilities helped build the perception. And neither has been proven.

If anything, comic books are helpful to readers because it is a form of story telling. The pictures only help one capture the story being told, leading to the creation of a visible scene. Movie makers, coaches, video game designers, Scientists, engineers, etc, all implement this method.