It’s one of the biggest jokes in comic reading circles when a newspaper publishes a “Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!” article. First of all, anyone savvy enough to even read one comic book knows that most comics haven’t been kid-oriented in a while. Second, all these articles do is expose newspaper writers as writing on a subject that they don’t know much about.
Yet, at the same time, it’s also a lament. Why can’t comics be for kids again? I’m certain a lot of current webcomic readers remember lazy days burying your faces in comics and/or the comics section of the local newspaper. Don’t you want the same thrill to be available for future generations?
Is it even possible for a kids comic/webcomic to thrive in today’s modern world were precious young faces are buried in the pale glow of the Nintendo DS or glued 24-7 to the Cartoon Network. I think so. I believe kids’ webcomics can thrive for the same reason that an even more archaic form of media, the book, can succeed as long as it’s written by someone as adept as J.K. Rowling.
Since “kids” is rather nebulous term, I’m going to address kids ages 4-8 as a ground rule, which is under the School Library Journal’s umbrella of Young Readers. I suppose I can skew a little older too, even up to, say, 11 years old.
Dawn of Time, by Michael Stearns
Incidentally, I’m no authority on the subject. Most of the thoughts below were gleaned from internet articles and half-remembered memories about writing stories to my own siblings (the youngest of whom is 10 years younger than me). Thus, I’ll be including references to people who know better. Many are from the world of kid’s books, by the way… tips on how to write a good kids’ comic are very scarce. Besides, the lessons learned are easily transferable from the world of the printed word to the world of sequential art.
“So Captain Nihilist,” you say, “hit me with some tips about how to write a good kid’s webcomic!”
1.) You’ve got to think like a kid.
Here’s the problem: the current crop of webcomic creators are between the ages of 20 to 40. Most don’t have kids. Even those who do have kids have a hard time understanding what kids like. I mean, seriously, how many of you remember being a kid and saying, “Boy, my parents sure understand me!”
Take Axe Cop as a case study. The comic effectively shows a child’s unique thought process. We never dispute its validity (and for the remaining doubters, there is a Youtube video as proof) because WE remember that’s how we made up stories in our childhood. But, man, assuming you’re a well-adjusted adult, you have to work HARD to have a thought process like that.
So how can we, us boring rational adults, ever tap into a child’s imagination? Well, I suppose you can hang around kids like Lewis Carroll and J. M. Barrie used to do, but these days that’s pretty suspect, and will probably lead to you having to register your name on a federal watch list.
There’s an easier way. From the essay Writing SF for Kids, a highly essential piece by young adult fiction writer Justin Stanchfield about kids’ books that I will be referring to again later in this post:
Write what you know.
All right, we’ve all heard this one before. But with children’s lit it takes on a new perspective. Reach back into your childhood. Try to remember how it felt to be a kid at five years old, at eleven, and again as a teenager. Pick out specific times and instances that stand the most clear in your memory, and try to put those same emotions into your characters.
