One of the things that sometimes comes up during conversations with friends is why I read comics. My friends consider me (whether rightly or wrongly) to be a responsible, up-standing person, with significant mental maturity and cognitive power. So why would I want to read "kids stuff?" This argument centers around two things:
Let's take these in order. Let's say I'm looking at a Dr. Seuss book. Almost everyone will acknowledge that these books are written for an audience of children. The words are relatively simple, they have funny pictures with bright colors, and lyric techniques such as simple rhyming patterns are used liberally, which is assumed will appeal to younger readers. The Dr. Seuss books are successful children's books. But maybe I enjoy funny pictures with bright colors sometimes. Maybe I also enjoy the use of simple rhyming patterns. Does this make me childish? Will it make me develop a mental disorder that causes me to mentally regress to a third grade level? No. What about the Harry Potter books? They were written for a young adult audience. They were written for children. And they've been read by millions of adults, too. The use of less complex language in no way harms the effectiveness of the book in communicating its message, and this message was one that adults wanted to discover. With no noticeable ill effects, I should point out.
But aren't comic books written for children? Increasingly, the answer is "no." There are some comics that are written for a target market of elementary-aged children. There are comics that have teenagers as their target market. There are also comic books that have adults as their target market. Take a book like Powers by Brian Michael Bendis. It's a gritty detective story set in a large city with superheros and villains, just like classic DC stuff. It's adult-focused, just like the television shows NYPD Blue and The Sopranos, both in the plots it uses (child custody battles, murder mysteries, etc.) and the use of strong language and "adult (read: sexual) situations". It's an "adult" book. Not that every adult-oriented comic is one because of the use of foul language and sexual situations. One of the more interesting books I have in my collection is Ballads by Charles Vess. It contains a number of traditional folk ballads (mostly European) set to pictures. Because of the historical content, this book appeals well to adults, especially those like me that have strong musical interests.
Another issue I've dealt with specifically relates to my reading of some Japanese comics. There is an idea that has entered the American mindset that Japenese comics (and animation) are all pornographic. I had an otherwise intelligent woman once make this comment. Probably her sole knowledge of Japanese comics comes from the movie Unbreakable, or stories she's heard about the sexual content of Japanese comics. Well, let me be the first to tell you, I know enough about the industry to know that there are Japanese (and American and European, by the way) comics that have disturbingly high sexual content. I'm talking about real nasty stuff. However, that is just one segment of the market, and there are plenty of comics out there that never really touch on sexual themes. Shoot, there are Japanese comics that cover all aspects of life, from being a housewife to playing sports to going to high school, most of which never use sexual themes.
"But a Christian shouldn't have anything to do with such things!" Well, I don't. I don't read the stuff that depicts people having sex. That's not something that I want to see. "But you shouldn't have anything to do with an industry that condones such things!" If this is true, then I could never step foot in a bookstore, as we all know that bookstores sell romance novels that get very specific in describing sexual intercourse. It would also rule out all recorded music from major companies, as they've all published albums with explicit lyrics or sexual content. Nor could I ever go to a movie, or watch any TV. I'd end up living in a cultural cave. Which some people do, and if they really feel that this is the only way they can live and be true to their moral code, so be it. I don't see things that way, however. God called me to be "in the world, but not of it." I remain unconvinced that I'm even "in the world" if I completely remove myself from the culture I live in, and God didn't say "flee the world," just to not be one with it, a complete part of it, and slave to it.
Well, that got a little deeper than I had originally intended, but it covers the main arguments against reading comic books that I've encountered. If you have any comments on this topic, feel free to write me.