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Recommend me a comic book for a 10 year old?
Romantic Undead
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi guys!
I've been tasked with finding a comic book as a gift for a 10 year old boy who has never read comic books before. I'm only a casual comic fan, and have NO IDEA where to start, what the good jumping-off points are, or any of that stuff.
I'm leaning towards Marvel stuff since the movies are the mainstream now and everyone has been exposed to them, and we're not looking to spend more than $25-ish (so no giant 100 page paperbacks and no super-valuable or hard-to-find stuff).
I was thinking of maybe starting with the Miles Morales Spider Man origin, since it's still relatively new, but I don't know how appropriate for kids it is. Kinda want to avoid anything with too much blood and death just yet, if possible.
Please advise!
I've been tasked with finding a comic book as a gift for a 10 year old boy who has never read comic books before. I'm only a casual comic fan, and have NO IDEA where to start, what the good jumping-off points are, or any of that stuff.
I'm leaning towards Marvel stuff since the movies are the mainstream now and everyone has been exposed to them, and we're not looking to spend more than $25-ish (so no giant 100 page paperbacks and no super-valuable or hard-to-find stuff).
I was thinking of maybe starting with the Miles Morales Spider Man origin, since it's still relatively new, but I don't know how appropriate for kids it is. Kinda want to avoid anything with too much blood and death just yet, if possible.
Please advise!
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Unless you specifically want super heroes, but when I was 10 I loved C&H.
The Amulet series is also supposed to be great, and is rated for 8-12 year olds. A friend of mine gifted me the first one back in early high school, and I thought it was really great.
Other rec would be Axe Cop. It started written by a 5 year old and arted by his older 20/30 something brother. There is a webcomic I think. And in the TV adaptation Axe Cop is voiced by Nick Offerman. So you can probably get a feel for it for free. None of it makes sense, but it's pretty great.
To Djeet: I didn’t care for Axe Cop. The premise, while amusing from an adult point of view, is too disjointed and nonsensical imho. If course children don’t have a well develloped sense of narrative structure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t introduce them to it in a fun way before we start subverting it, even if the source material was based off of a child’s imagination.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Is there a particular reason you’re looking for super hero comics? Does he really like them? If he does, and you know which ones, that could help narrow it down.
Superman: Red Son might work, it's a self contained Elseworlds story following "What if Superman had landed in the USSR instead of a small farm in Kansas".
The Darth Vader comics (or any of the Star Wars graphic novels) might work if he's a fan of Star Wars. Also a fan of the Kanaan comics which flash back to Kanaan's backstory from the Rebels cartoon which he may already be familiar with.
Atomic Robo: The Everything Explodes collection could be a good choice. You can find it used on Amazon for ~20 bucks.
If you want superhero stuff I dunno. A lot of the stuff I've been reading has gone pretty dark. Spiderman is probably the most wholesome, so long as Deadpool isn't involved.
The Watchmen? It's nice cause it's self-contained, but there may be some content you or his parents think are inappropriate.
This trade is also the setup to the Super Sons series complete with a reality hopping story with Dinosaurs so win/win
I don't know the 10 year old in question, or the family of said 10 year old, but I would really, really not suggest Watchmen for anyone that age. Especially if you ever want to be asked for comic book suggestions in the future. It's got some pretty graphic violence and nudity in it. Maybe give it a few years until he hits high school?
I'll toss out another vote for Calvin & Hobbes though. Maybe some Farside collections? It's pretty timeless humor.
If the kid liked watching the Avatar series, they had some comic follow ups that might be enjoyed.
https://www.amazon.com/Avatar-Last-Airbender-Promise-Part/dp/1595828117/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1513902049&sr=8-2&keywords=the+last+airbender+the+promise
"Edison Rex" or "Super Dinosaur" are pretty good.
"Edison Rex" is about a villain trying to become a good guy. Good plot twists, self-contained (you can get the entire comic line fairly cheaply compared to trying to keep up with various Marvel/DC incarnations), classic super.
"Super Dinosaur" is about a boy and his 9-feet tall T-rex in a super-suit, all powered by the rule of cool.
P.S: If it had been a girl I would have recommended Spiderman Loves Mary Jane. One of the best series post-2000, but very girl oriented. Very.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Also, age aside, I don't believe The Watchmen is a good book for someone just starting out in comics. The thing was seminal, yes, but it was also a deconstruction of the comic-book hero genre. You need to construct before you de-construct.
It's intended as a relatively wholesome, humorous look at Spiderman and while popular with older readers also recommended for kids. Spiderman on the whole nails just about everything one would want from a super hero. It might be a bit higher level for a 10 year old but I know that can vary a lot.
Mary Jane loves Spider-Man is a really neat book too.
Ultimate Spiderman and Ms Marvel would be the two I'd learn towards as well, both are great entry level comics.
I like a lot of what Ms. Marvel presents. I'm leaning more Spidey at this point because he's a boy and my lizard brain can't help but think he'll identify more closely with a male character, but maybe I'll get him both. I'll talk to the wife and see what she thinks.
I haven't read my Static Shock books in a while, but Static's great. (Not the new 52 version, Rebirth of Cool.)
If you're worried about what is and isn't appropriate, DC has a line of superhero comics aimed at a Middle Grade audience. I haven't read those, but they got checked out at the library I worked at a fair amount.
Oh, also second that recommendation for The Amulet books. Those are great.
Seconding Atomic Robo. I enjoyed what I've read of this, and isn't terribly age inappropriate (no sex or particularly graphic violence, though there is a ton of fighting. No real blood from what I remember?). There's some flashback story arcs where Robo is basically a 10 year-old-kid (but in the same robot body).
Hadn't heard of Edison Rex before this thread, but several chapters are up for free online hosted by the author. Seems age appropriate and fun, though is slightly a spoof/deconstruction of normal superhero stuff. Violence level is about the same as Atomic Robo. Fighting, no blood, deaths are off-screen (and rare). Think Samurai Jack levels: only stuff getting destroyed are robots and the landscape.
Spidey & Ultimate Spiderman seem like great places to start too, especially with a good jumping-in point.
which leads to them having to defeat Galactus in a game of baseball ( seriously)
I loved these as a kid growing up in Europe (would be perfect for a 10yo), not they are kind of rare in the US. The only Asterix thing i every saw in the states was oriented at first time readers, like 6-7yo.