Worlds Within Worlds...

Scott's entry on the loss of a sense of wonder prompted a really interesting exchange in Kevin's comments section:

Scott:

And yes, I was talking about super-hero comics. While I enjoy non-super-hero comics, I think super-hero comics are still the superior choice for drawing kids into comics.

Tom Spurgeon:

Why?

The kids I know seem just as excited about their favorite comics, their favorite TV shows, their favorite books, and their favorite movies as I was about whatever crap that rocked my world when I was a kid.

If the kids I know are awed by manga and Harry Potter, I was bowled over by Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings, and my dad was knocked out by Terry and the Pirates and Sherlock Holmes, what's the difference?

Shane:

Well just take out the super and just say hero and we got it covered.

I don't think I've ever seen someone really point out how things have changed over the years in quite that concise a fasion before. When I was a kid, I was big into certain fantasy novels and Image comics. A lot of kids don't want to buy old anime or manga because they think it looks old. But there's always something new on the horizon. And when you have such a big choice of topics now, it is more difficult to settle into any one thing, superheros or otherwise. As I mentioned on Scott's post, I think the theme vs. surface trappings also come into effect (which I've written a lot on before). I think the fact that this enclave has been about one particular thing for so long, really does make it more afraid of change than most, in the same way that Disney typecast itself and most of the medium of animated movies into being musicals about fairy tales.

Anyway...