Adventures in the DC Universe #6 - Sept. 1997

It's Comic Friday again, and today we're talking about an obscure little book in the DC canon: Adventures in the DC Universe, starring(of course) Aquaman!

AITDCU was a good ol' fashioned anthology book, christened with the name of one of DC's longest-running titles, to boot. The book itself was written and drawn in a much more kid-friendly, cartoony style.

This issue stars Aquaman as the lead feature, in the story "Family Matters" by Steve Vance, John Delaney, and Ron Boyd. It's another tussle between Arthur and Ocean Master, with some nice fun moments thrown in, like when Aquaman talks to some sharks who can only think of food("We had some tasty Tarpon earlier!").

This is actually an ideal story for younger readers(as is the Power Girl tale, by the same team, who tries their best to, er, downplay Power Girl's main reason(s) for her enduring popularity with aging fanboys), and it's a shame this book didn't last longer than nineteen issues and one annual. I'm guessing DC didn't sell this any differently than any other comic in their line--i.e., just to comic shops--and as we know, those places aren't populated by little kids all that much, which is why you see the kids section in most comics stores--if they have one at all--is just a pile of dusty Archies with a few Cartoon Network titles alongside.

Can anyone reading this explain to me--really, since I want to understand how the business works, not just bitch on the sidelines--why it seems so hard for companies like DC and Marvel to get their kid-friendly comics into where kids would see them, like Target*, Toys R' Us, and supermarkets? Wouldn't it make sense to put the books where the audience is/might be, rather than put them somewhere they're not, and hoping you can drag them to you?


*as I've mentioned on other blogs, Marvel has started producing lines of comics just for Target and 7-11, which I think is a wonderful step in the right direction. C'mon, DC, catch up!