It’s the end of the school year, and as a teacher, that means that I’m hip-deep in data and swimming in a pool of number crunching, which wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the fact that I teach English specifically to avoid math. But as such, I’ve got my hands full, so let’s have just a quick chat in this week’s Geek Punditry, shall we?

Earlier this week, I was sent an invitation to participate in a survey regarding DC Comics’ Absolute Universe. It seems a little silly to make that the focus of any serious scrutiny, as they’re currently selling comics faster than Taylor Swift could sell out a 75-seat Black Box theater, but I’m always happy to share my two cents. It’s actually the last question in the survey that got me thinking today: they asked the ever-classic, open-ended, “Is there anything else about DC Comics or the Absolute Universe you would like us to know?”

Now, I have no illusions that my words will actually make it to the ears of the people who have the power to do anything. I honestly would be surprised if they make it to human ears at all – I’ve got a horrible suspicion that these surveys are crunched by some AI algorithm that summarizes the responses and hallucinates an added suggestion that Superman’s mermaid ex-girlfriend Lori Lemaris should start dating Detective Chimp, which I’m pretty sure would be illegal in at least 17 states. But I thought about it anyway, and I told ‘em what I think is the biggest problem I have at the moment with DC – a company that is currently on a wild upswing that I’ve been enjoying very much.

Where’s the DC Universe stuff for the kids?

People who don’t read comic books regularly may find this question surprising. After all, aren’t superheroes inherently for kids? And the answer is, no, they’re not, especially since 1985. Sure, since in the early days of the genre, children have been attracted to superhero comics, but although there have been certain specific titles geared towards them, the genre as a whole has largely targeted a broader audience. Then, as that audience aged, so did the genre’s target. The result is that the DC Universe doesn’t currently have any regular comics that are appropriate for a younger audience. 

This problem isn’t exclusive to DC by any means – Marvel, Image, none of the major players really have a ton of stuff in their main line that’s child-friendly. And that’s not to say that there are no DC Comics for younger readers. There’s a robust line of Young Adult graphic novels, and other books geared towards children. If my 8-year-old son came up and asked me to read a Superman comic book, I could get Rob Justus’s charming Superman’s Good Guy Gang and give it to him. And my oldest niece, who was just at the right age to get into the DC Super Hero Girls when they first hit about a decade ago, is also at the right age for the upcoming DC Super Hero Girls Class Reunion graphic novel they’re about to drop, as well as dozens of other solid books. There’s stuff out there.

But the vast majority of them are not part of the DC Universe proper. Books like these aren’t part of the tapestry of the story that’s been unravelling across the pages of the monthly Superman, Justice League, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman, and Wonder Woman titles for the past couple of years now. These graphic novels are good introductions to the characters, but it’s not quite as easy for these young readers to find a way into the world, because by and large the main DC books aren’t being written for them. That may seem insignificant, but I think it matters. Readers may pick up an original graphic novel, but that attachment to the larger narrative makes it feel like books have consequence. Even the Absolute Universe probably wouldn’t be as popular if the titles were all self-contained, but they are specifically earmarked as their own universe, which is interacting (slowly but surely) with the main DCU through their multiverse. That matters.

Even the comics about younger characters don’t feel like they’re being aimed at younger readers. The current New Titans run is only two issues deep, but it’s full of time travel and mind manipulation and other things that would confuse the heck out of a younger kid trying to read it. Firestorm is one of DC’s younger heroes (in terms of the characters’ age in-universe, although he’s been around since the late 70s), and while his new series started off with a bang, it’s the kind of bang that makes it clear this is a series that’s going to delve into deep psychological issues regarding power and trauma, and that’s not what I’m looking for here.

Marvel has the same trouble, but the way. If you pick up recent issues of Miles Morales: Spider-Man (probably the youngest character with his own title) you’d get a lot of dense stories and characters that would push away a newcomer. Even Gail Simone’s excellent Uncanny X-Men, which features Rogue leading a team of veteran X-Men as they try to shepherd a group of new teenage mutants just coming into their powers, is a great book for an audience of teens and above. But there’s nothing “below” that comes from the main Marvel Universe any more than DC.

And look, none of this is to complain about any of the books that I’ve mentioned. I certainly don’t think Gail Simone should shift her focus to make a book that’s appropriate for 8-year-olds, and doing such a thing with the Absolute Universe would be like finding a machine that dispenses unlimited chicken nuggets and then kicking it to pieces because it doesn’t also give you french fries. I need to stop writing these columns before lunch. I’m just saying that I wish there were more comics in addition to those that I could share with the likes of my son, my nieces and nephews, or students. 

In the 80s, one of Marvel’s most acclaimed (if not best-selling) comics was Power Pack by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, then later Jon Bogdanove. It was a book about a group of four brothers and sisters – actual children, I think the oldest was around 12 when the series started – who were given powers by a dying alien to help save Earth from an invader. Once the job was done, they kept the powers and became superheroes. This book hit almost EXACTLY at the same time that I started reading comic books, and it quickly became a favorite of mine. It still is, honestly, because Simonson had an astonishing talent for writing characters who felt, behaved, and talked like actual children, while at the same time, demonstrating true courage and heroism. And it was firmly entrenched in the Marvel Universe, with the kids frequently running into the likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men, even inviting Wolverine and Kitty Pryde to their house for Thanksgiving. Later in the run, the kids added Franklin Richards – son of Reed and Sue of the Fantastic Four – as an official member of the team. They even participated in crossover events like Secret Wars II and occasionally guest star in other titles, just like real superheroes do.

And I think it’s important to note that Power Pack was about children, but it wasn’t exclusively FOR children. Even at the time, adult readers enjoyed it quite a bit, with it being nominated for awards and placed on lots of “best of the year” lists for the first few years of the run. But that acclaim didn’t come at the expense of telling a story that kids COULD enjoy.

It’s been a very long time since there was a comic book series that fit that description that was set in one of the mainstream shared comic book universes. 

And with comics on an upswing – a wonderful, glorious upswing – wouldn’t this be a great time to put out some stuff that opens doors at the beginning of the reading spectrum instead of just having stuff for those of us who have been reading for a while?

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. He’s also started putting his LitReel videos on TikTok. Something something Captain Carrot.