Delighting My Daughters with Comics
Comic books have been a family affair from the beginning, at least for me. My mom used to buy comics for my brother and me for long car rides and camping trips and I trace my love for comics back to her. When I became a parent, I wanted to pass the same joy along to my daughters.
I started bringing my first daughter to the comic book store when she was a little more than a year old. We’d make a family day out of it and my wife anacoqui (that’s her screen name here at Captain Comics) would hold our daughter’s hand while I browsed the shelves for new comics. Pretty soon, we were buying her comics of her own that we would bring home and read to her -- Donald Ducks and Owlys and Powerpuff Girls.
Our second daughter is two years younger than our eldest and she was included in the family trips to the comic book store as soon as she was born. Even before she could walk, she was interested in these funny, four-color books. I remember one time when she was upset that everybody except her had comic books. She was still at the stage when she would chew on the corners and should really only have board books, but I decided to give her a few comics anyway to keep her happy. I pulled out some old comics that I’d found in dollar boxes -- tattered comics and reprints that had no resale value. I gave them to her and she squealed with delight. She flipped the pages as if she could read. She looked at the pretty pages. I don’t mean to shock any serious collectors out there but yes, she tore quite a few pages and even chewed a few.
We kept up with the regular family trip to the comic book store until the girls started school. Along the way, they transitioned from the kiddie books to ones for young girls or boys- Marvel’s kid-focused Power Pack books were coming out at that time and DC was publishing the occasional kid-friendly book like Krypto the Super Dog and Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade. The girls became better at expressing their own opinions as well. When my wife and I printed up comic book posters to decorate the family room, our younger girl asked for a Legion of Super-Heroes poster because she liked Saturn Girl’s costume. What’s not to like? It was white and pink and had a picture of Saturn on her chest.
One of my favorite kid-connected comic book memories occurred far from home. During a summer long, long ago, a number of us held an unofficial Captain Comics summit at Andrew’s home in Memphis, Tennessee (his wife, Joan, was kind enough to put up with us for the weekend). We mostly sat on the back porch and talked about comics. Anacoqui and I were the only ones to bring young children with us so we had to take turns excusing ourselves from the general conversation and attend to parenting duties. At one point, I brought both girls out onto the porch. I sat one on each knee and read them a comic book -- Powerpuff Girls probably -- while the rest of the adults continued to talk. They were debating The Avengers’ Celestial Madonna saga and wondering about Mantis’ role and powers. Somebody made a mistake akin to calling the Silver Surfer’s power cosmic “cosmic power” and I corrected them -- all the while reading a comic to my daughters. Captain Comics cracked up. He found it hilarious that I could overhear and correct one conversation while reading a different comic book without losing a beat.
The family outings to the comic book store changed when first one daughter and then the other started school. We also moved from Alberta, Canada, to Rochester, New York, around that time and the drive to the comic book store was no longer a half-day affair. I would still take the girls to the store with me occasionally -- if they had the day off of school, during the summer, or for special occasions like Halloween and Free Comic Book Day. For one Halloween, anacoqui crafted a homemade Raven costume for our younger daughter based on the Teen Titans cartoon and we went to the comic book store dressed in full costume (I was Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat).
Whether my daughters come to the store with me or not, I always make sure to buy a couple of comics for them. I sometimes surprise them with a new comic when they get home from school. Other times, I’m a little bit sneaky- I hold on to the comics for a few days and then hand them out before a long car trip, just like my mom used to do for my brother and me.
We’ve made other adjustments as the years have passed. Some of the girls’ favorite series have been canceled and we’ve had to search for new favorites together. They’re fond of Art Baltazar (though they might not know his name) and they look forward to his work whether he’s drawing Tiny Titans or Little Hellboy. At one point, my eldest daughter discovered the joy of my old longboxes and she read my ‘80s Power Pack and Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld comics.
Their tastes have changed as well. I knew to expect it -- my mom had transitioned from buying Richie Rich to Archie to Uncanny X-Men for my brother and me -- so I was mentally prepared to do the same. It’s still pretty easy to buy comics for my younger daughter. She’s ten and still occasionally plays with dolls and toys so I can keep her happy with toy-related comics like My Little Pony. Plus, she loves the aforementioned DC kids comics like Tiny Titans and Teen Titans Go.
But my older daughter is a pre-teen and it’s a lot harder to find comics for her. She’s no longer interested in Marvel’s kiddie comics -- they’re too young for her -- and she’s not yet ready for their main line -- she’s too young for them. For the past year or two, I’ve been getting by by getting her Archie and Garfield comics. She likes them well enough but she doesn’t get excited about them the way she did for other series when she was young.
Last month, I came up with a plan. I needed to take my older daughter to the comic book store with me again. I needed to have her pick out her own comics so that I could surreptitiously see what kind of comics she liked. I told her that I was taking her with me to Free Comic Book Day and didn’t give her the option of saying no. She grudgingly agreed to go along. At the first store, she found Dark Horse’s one dollar offering of Emily and the Strangers. She asked me if she could have it and I was delighted to say yes. I would have paid full price for a comic she picked out herself. She read the entire comic in the car while we drove from one store to another. I asked her what she liked about it and she mentioned that it reminded her of Courtney Crumrin. Cool. My daughter had revealed her adolescent interests to me and I would once again be able to buy her comics she really wanted.
A couple of weeks later, I was back at the comic book store by myself and I saw that Dark Horse had released a new hardcover of Emily and the Strangers. I picked it up immediately. By the way, I have to compliment Dark Horse on their publishing strategy -- whetting the appetite with a one-dollar sampler and then following up with the full deal. Well done. On that particular day, the girls got home from school before I returned from the comic shop. They didn’t know where I’d been -- they don’t exactly keep track of their parents’ schedule -- so I was able to sneak my purchases into the house. I found my youngest daughter watching TV downstairs. I pulled out a new comic, the debut issue of My Littlest Petshop (a toy-related comic that I suspected she liked) and showed it to her. “Oh daddy!” she exclaimed. She pressed pause on her TV show and immediately started to flip through her comic book. I found my older daughter upstairs on the sofa watching videos on her iPad. I got her attention and then I showed her the new hardcover of Emily and the Strangers. “Oh daddy!” she exclaimed. “I love that!” She, too, paused her screen and promptly read her new favorite comic book.
I love sharing my love of comics with my daughters. As much as I enjoy reading my own books, it doesn’t compare to seeing the sheer look of happiness on their faces when I hand them a comic they can’t wait to read. When they’re delighted, I’m delighted and that’s one more reason to love comics.
Replies
I'll be back with another installment of the Teen Titans project in a week or so but I had another topic I wanted to talk about first. Enjoy!
Yay, you!
I empathize with your concern that your eldest daughter falls in an age gap at Marvel. Fortunately for me, Action Lad is "all about the superheroes", and we live in a golden age of Silver Age reprints.
Great column, Chris!
Reminds me of talking to my cousin's husband who has three daughters, and him getting them interested in comics.
...Very nice !
Twelve hours after writing this column, my recall has improved regarding the verbal slip-up at the Captain Comics summit. Someone- Jeff of Earth J, I think- referred to Mantis as the Cosmic Madonna and I interjected with the correction "Celestial Madonna."
Aw, that's wonderful!