Children's comics are
comics intended primarily for
children.
Contents
Unlike
adult comics, children's comics generally don't contain material that could be considered thematically
inappropriate for children
Age appropriateness refers to people behaving as predicted by their perspective timetable of development. The perspective timetable is embedded throughout people's social life, primarily based on socially-agreed age expectations and age norms. Fo ...
, including vulgarity, morally questionable actions, disturbing imagery, and
sexually explicit material.
In some places, this can be enforced through legal or industry bodies, such as the
Comics Code Authority in the second half of the 20th century in the United States.
Charles Hatfield claims that one of the common characteristics of children's comics is "
cuteness".
Traditionally, comics were often intended for children, and are still often considered less "serious" than books, but this perception, and their target audience, has been gradually shifting, leading to the growing popularity of the
adult comics.
Audience
The focus on children makes them part of the
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
, and distinguishes them from general audience comics, known as
adult comics.
In between those two, the term ''young adult comics'' (also ''
adolescent comics
'') is sometimes used.
Those terms are somewhat arbitrary, with
Roger Sabin defining children's comics as those for readers aged 16 or less, and within that group distinguishing ''
nursery comics'' for those aged 8 or below, and ''adolescent comics'' for the group of 12-16 years old).
Some comics have also been described as "
all ages" (ex. ''
Little Lit'').
By country
United States
Among the most popular children's comics in the United States are Disney's comics such as ''
Mickey Mouse'' and ''
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American Pekin, white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shi ...
'', which have also been widely translated around the world.
Poland
In Poland, classic children's comics include titles such as ''
Pan Kleks
Ambroży Kleks, commonly referred to as Pan Kleks (Mr. Inkblot), is a fictional character in a series of books by Polish writer Jan Brzechwa. A series of movie adaptations of the books has been directed by Krzysztof Gradowski.
Mr. Kleks is the ...
'', ''
Tytus, Romek i A'Tomek'' and
''Kajko i Kokosz'' .
References
Comics genres
{{comic-stub