nototis

My son, then 9, walked up to me one day and pointed out with a laugh that while the characters in his manga are moving, the characters in American comics -- my comics and the anthologies I've purchased for him and his brother -- are "standing still, like a photograph." This might seem like a small thing, but when you realize younger readers are learning a different vocabulary of comics, I don't see Shonen Jump readers moving to Marvel and DC. Manga publishers have teen and adult comics ready to fill the void. 

 Also, while the subject matter of Marvel and DC comics may be creeping to a more adult level than when we were kids, the kids today are more sophisticated about storytelling. I have no problem with books for younger readers, but dumb them down and lower the standard of the artwork and they'll go to manga or video games without a second thought.

 I hate to point this out, but we're the last generation of classic American comic book readers.