Comments on: Flight Explorer Homeless?

By: Jason Marcy

Jason Marcy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:21:52 +0000

Why anyone wouldn’t want to publish a great anthology for kids like this is beyond me. My son is getting close to the age where I want to introduce him to some awesome comics that aren’t necessarily licensed material (or generic superhero work…), and this book sounds like the ticket.
Here’s hoping it all works out…

By: Kat Kan

Kat Kan — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:01:48 +0000

Missile Mouse used the word “crap” several times. That word is banned at the school where I work. Chiggers had the word “bitch” – and that triggered a challenge in the public library. That particular challenge has a somewhat happy ending: the parent didn’t follow through with her threat to bring her pastor into the discussion and make it a huge public debate. The book was returned to the teen room shelves with no problem.

Crap, bitch, suck – these words are absolutely banned in a number of elementary and middle schools (usually in conservative communities and in conservative private schools). Any book aimed at younger readers that includes these words can’t be put into the schools’ collections. Otherwise terrific books for kids that include these words therefore lose out on a considerable portion of the market. It’s very frustrating for me as a school librarian.

By: THE BEAT » Blog Archive » Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 11/17/09

THE BEAT » Blog Archive » Kibbles ‘n’ Bits 11/17/09 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:52:36 +0000

[...] All of which makes the lack of a publisher for the kids comics anthology Flight Explorer all the more puzzling. [...]

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:59:39 +0000

Kat Kan: What were the words?

By: Rob Peters

Rob Peters — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:48:30 +0000

I wonder if Flight Explorer’s success works against it in some ways. If kids read Flight Explorer and love it, they’ll buy Copper, Missle Mouse, and the other books that spun out of it. But those are all from different publishers. In some ways, Flight Explorer can be seen as advertisements for other publisher’s material (which I doubt any publisher would want).

By: Kat Kan

Kat Kan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:56:15 +0000

You may call many US elementary and middle schools prudish, but a couple of the stories in Flight Explorer used language that these schools ban from use on campus. Because of that, I could NOT select Flight Explorer for my school library collection. Look, I don’t like it either, but the schools have to deal with uptight prudish people in their communities. Flight Explorer could have had better sales in schools if 2 or 3 words had not been used. I have the same problem with Chiggers; in fact, even the local public library has had to face a challenge from a parent because of the use of ONE word (bitch). I have to find out from the librarians what happened with that challenge; they were fighting it with gusto because they love the book.

As far as color or B&W – a lot of kids just won’t read a comic book or graphic novel if it isn’t in color. Others don’t care and will read both color and B&W comics. My own teenage son reads both, but prefers Bone in color, for example.

By: Faith

Faith — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:29:57 +0000

Isn’t speculation what the internet’s for? Speculation and videos of cats. ;)

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:16:21 +0000

Faith- I tried not to speculate too much in the article here, but I’d say cost is an issue. It’s more difficult to sell anthologies in the marketplace than single-creator books as well. And who knows what kinds of contractual terms were on the table?

All of that said though, that was a great, strong anthology and would definitely fill a whole in the marketplace. There’s literally nothing else like it, 2 years later, and I know we’d love it.

As for First Second? All of their books are in colour, except the manwha and the Lat books. I think they even announced that they’d be colouring Paul Pope’s THB at one point, even though he wanted it in B&W (it was announced as coming out in two formats). That’s just their publishing model :).

- Chris

By: Faith

Faith — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:22:51 +0000

Is the sheer cost of producing these full colour books putting off publishers, so that even a 20,000 copy sellthrough is not profitable enough? I pitched my current graphic novel to First Second as a black and white book, but they wanted it colour. I don’t know if colour books sell better, but the expense of producing a colour book verses a black and white one makes me nervous. I personally wanted to do a black and white book, but was told it’s colour or nothing.