Margaret

February 1, 2012 5:40 am I actually wrote an article (http://www.sequentialtart.com/article.php?id=2069) discussing a number of recent and current kid-friendly comics not long ago for the feminist comics and pop culture webzine *Sequential Tart* (www.sequentialtart.com). I'm afraid none of the titles I talked about really involve Wonder Woman, Supergirl, or Batgirl, although I'm pretty sure the pre-New 52 junior high school-age version of Wonder Girl does appear in some of the 1990's "Young Justice" reprints DC released several giant-sized one-shots of in 2011. Besides "Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man" and "Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes" (which is currently a kid-friendly Avengers title, though there are some older trade paperbacks of it collecting stories focused on the Fantastic Four and the Hulk), the other main kid-friendly superhero title I'd recommend that's still being published is Aaron Williams' "ps238" (Do Gooder Press). This is about a so-called school for metaprodigies (ranging from mutants and aliens to the offspring of superheroes and villains), located in a secret installation underneath a regular public school in an ordinary Midwestern town. (After a morning of magical studies with extradimensional sorceress--and guidance counselor--Vashti Imperia and gym class taught by a coach who closely resembles the Thing, the metahuman students go upstairs and mingle with the regular kids--including one conspiracy theorist who thinks he's in an episode of "The X-Files"--at recess.) "Gladstone's School for World Conquerors," which I didn't discuss in the article, is a somewhat similar kid-friendly take on metahuman elementary education, this time from the viewpoint of kids training to follow in their parents' footsteps as (not terribly evil) super-villains. I'm not sure how accessible some of these titles would be to a four-year-old. "ps238" has been running long enough to accumulate something like eight trade paperbacks' worth of continuity so far, so some of the later volumes might be a bit complicated for younger kids to follow. But hopefully some of the commenters who've encountered problems similar to the author's may find something there more tailored to their kids' ages and interests, even if Jimski doesn't.