Comic for Kids

Marvel & DC both have all ages lines (& the two Marvel First Class titles -- X-Men and Wolverine -- are also good all-ages fare), but you could do worse than getting the actual Silver Age comics from both companies. Reading the original Spider-Man (in reprints) hooked me on comics when I was a wee one.

Also worth a shot:

- Spider-Man Meets Mary Jane: a YA-esque titles focusing 99.9% on Spidey's supporting cast and their relationships (v. little spandex fighting) drawn in a gorgeous manga fashion
- Courtney Crumrin: wry Oni Press title (series of GNs and one-shots) about a young girl magician and her shenanigans
- Polly & The Pirates: another Oni mini-series written & drawn by Crumrin creator Ted Naifeh about a young girl whose mother was a, well, you can figure it out
- Rocketo: Image mini-series about the son of an adventurer / explorer and big flying ships and large mythical creatures and talking pirate dogs that features fantastic artwork; here's an ILC thread about the creator (& the series)

Sorry -- the first title is called Spider-Man LOVES Mary-Jane.

DC's Kids stuff has traditionally been pretty cool. Teen Titans Go is EXCELLENT. I know a 4 yr-old who loves it (he also loves the cheapo edition of Essential Spider-Man Vol. 1 I got him--"This is the biggest coloring book I've ever seen!").
The new line of Johnny DC titles seems more product-orient. Tiny Titans, I'm not too sure about, seems cute, but more in a twee way than in a fun for kids way. The Superfriends book looks like crap.

OWLY, of course. And Bone. Is Mouse Guard kid friendly?

We've got Owly, Bone (can't keep these on the shelf), Babymouse, The Babysitters Club, and some others. We have Tintin and Mutts but they don't seem to move that much. We also have Spongebob, Hannah Montana, and other popular (tie-in) stuff like that the kids ask for. I heard that Teen Titans was good, and I am especially interested in Tiny Titans. Anything in the kid's room has to be pretty clean--a hint of violence/and/or/mature themes and it's bumped up to teen.

I have a nine-year-old who is reading all of the 1940s classic collections, but we have to get them from the other side of the library. . . .

There was recently a brilliant Krypto miniseries, and DC just announced a forthcoming SUPERGIRL: COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE which looks RAD.

I don't think MARVEL ADVENTURES is blah, but the books are all pretty much straight-up-yet-wacky superhero adventure stories, which may be mundane in this day and age.

The Fing Fang Foom MA Spidey was pretty classic!

My number one choice - The LITTLE LULU reprints published by Dark Horse - clean artwork, genuinely funny 'situations', a big hit w/ the two ten year old girls I know

Also:

The complete PEANUTS volumes published by Fantagraphics

Cinebooks, a UK publisher, do an excellent range of 'juvenile' translated European comic strips, including LUCKY LUKE, written by Rene Goscinny, the man behind ASTERIX, which should be in every library in the world

The LITTLE LIT anthologies edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly - I think there is a 'best of' single volume

FUNGUS THE BOGEYMAN by Raymond Briggs - dunno how easy this is to get in America, but worth tracking down - wonderful gross-out humour that kids just LOVE

I should get some Little Lulu. Peanuts is my fave, but those volumes go in adult. I'll look into Lucky Luke--we have Nicholas, a prose work by Goscinny, and Asterix, of course. We had Little Lit at my last library and it really didn't move, but maybe I should try again. Mouly is now doing Toon Books--comic book easy readers. I have a bunch ordered. I'll look for Fungus--we have some other Briggs but I've never heard of that one. My kids love gross humor, definitely. I've also ordered some Magic Pickles, which look interesting. Also, we have the Sardine in Outer Space books, which I think are adorable, but they are not so popular. I'm getting the graphic version of Warriors, and looking into the graphic version of Bionicle.

Re the Marvel Adventures, I thought that of the one's I saw, the art looked sort of garish. But anything superhero is destined to succeed. Thanks for the advice! Keep it coming.

The current Teen Titans: Year One has amazing art, splendid writing. Though it might be a little mature for kiddoes. Even as a grown-man-reading-funny-books, I thought the scene where (mind-controlled) Batman thrashes Robin was pretty harsh.

CARL BARKS

Also anything by Sfar or Trondheim is a safe bet.

*Anything* by Trondheim? What about that wordless-wants-to-be-freaky-but-FRANK-did-it-better-thing?

Or am I thinking of someone else?

A librarian told me I should stick with Teen Titans Go!

Bone is so good and so obvious I have to second the recommendation. Carl Barks is pretty cool, too, though I wonder if any kids even know who Uncle Scrooge is anymore.

Ultimate Spider-Man might be good. Any of those comics based on the Batman animated series from the '90s (Batman Adventures, etc.) are great and age-appropriate.

Don't ignore manga - also kind of obvious, but lots of good stuff, and frankly I think the art and storytelling style is more appealing to kids than a lot of the indie/European stuff suggested here. Yotsuba&! is hilarious. It's like a wacky sitcom aimed at kids... sort of. Sgt. Frog seems to be liked. Also, perhaps the original Dragon Ball (much less violent and more comical than DBZ) and Astro Boy series.

I really dug those DC "Greatest Stories Ever Told"-type collections when I was a kid, but the maturity level will vary depending on the collection and what stories were chosen, even 20 years ago when I read them.

Matt, you're thinking of ALIEEEN and I'd give that to a kid.
That may just be me.
Usagi Yojimbo, Groo and Akiko are also no-brainers.

They put all but the G-rated manga in YA. We only have Kingdom Hearts. I ordered Strawberry Marshmallow, but they'll probably but it in YA anyway. One of my kids who never reads is now reading Yotsuba:)

I'd give A.L.I.E.E.N. to a kid, but I wouldn't give them any of his autobiographical musings on the nature of philosophy