Comic Recommendations for Kids?

[Beta Metroid]

Hi there!

My 4-year-old daughter is an avid reader who loves princesses and playing superhero. She hasn't really been exposed to traditional heroes, other than a general idea that Spider-Man and Batman exist. In a recent trip to the library, she became enamored with a comic, but it was distinctly not age appropriate. I just wondered if anyone has any recommendations for preschool-age superhero comics.

She's accustomed to action/intensity at about the level of your average animated Disney flick. Ideally, the comic I'm looking for would involve non-lethal action. Female heroes would be preferable.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Octopus Prime]

Squirrel Girl is the easy rec

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Not superheroes per se but in a similar action fantasy wheelhouse is Lumberjanes, about a girlscout troop whose woods contain weird magics and they must combat supernatural threats. It's slightly more aimed at preteens but I don't think there's much in the way of blood to my recollection.

I also vaguely a remember a non-canonical Avengers book where it's more fun and aimed at younger readers where things would happen like Ego the Living Planet threatening the Earth by trying to hit on it or everyone being turned into MODOKS. I think Jeff Parker wrote it, who also wrote Batman '66.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Bone is something I would get for a kid. Thorn is both a hero and princess!

 

[Beowulf]

Things my son has liked and should be fairly age-appropriate: Phoebe and Her Unicorn, Cardboard Kingdom, Captain Underpants

(I also loved Lumberjanes and thought the DC Super Hero Girls line was adorable, but he didn't get into them.)

Other things my son has liked that are random, age-inappropriate, and probably unhelpful: Nodwick, Foxtrot, Groo the Wanderer, Hyperbole and a Half, all of Randall Munroe's books.

 

[Ixo]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Not a comic per se but a children's book from Kate Beaton if she likes action and princesses.

 

[Violentvixen]

Bone is something I would get for a kid. Thorn is both a hero and princess!

Uh, I think that Bone has way too much reading of difficult words, war, death and violence for a 4 year old and the request was for non-lethal action.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Yeah, I forgot Bone subtly turns into a different genre of comic after a while. I think a kid around ten would love it, so keep it for later.

I just read Frog & Toad and Harry and the Terrible Whatzit when I was a wee bairn. Four is pretty young!

 

[Violentvixen]

In a recent trip to the library, she became enamored with a comic, but it was distinctly not age appropriate. I just wondered if anyone has any recommendations for preschool-age superhero comics.

I would go back to the library and ask the librarians for recommendations. They very likely have a list maintained somewhere and then she can browse through them and/or figure out if she likes them for less!

Newspaper comics would be less likely to have issues with violence, but if you're looking at collections of older comics from the 50s-60s you'd probably want to check it first for racism/sexism.

Here are other ones I've seen at the houses of friends who have kids ages 2-10, haven't read any myself but might be worth checking out?

Sort of Super - middle school kid gets super powers. This does involve hiding that fact from friends and family, so I know one of my friends didn't let their kid read it since he's having issues with lying and they want to work on that.
Spider-Men Double Trouble- seen this in in multiple households and while looking this up found nothing but glowing reviews, a lot of which pointed out how good it was at being for all ages. It does seem to be a series.
Diana and Nubia Princess of Amazons: I've had a couple kids tell me how much they liked this one but haven't read it for myself so can't comment on violence although I do get the impression it's non-lethal.

While not a graphic novel I also have to recommend the Princess in Black series! It's aimed at ages 5-8 as a learning to read/read aloud book series. There's a whole series that friend's kids have gotten from the library. Definitely simple but seems to be enjoyable. I saw this on the site and am excited that it exists, I don't think my library has it which is a bummer.

 

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

IDW's Sonic the Hedgehog is a good read. They just did an Amy Rose 30th anniversary special, too.

And while I don't know if they still do My Little Pony or if there's an overlapping interest here, what little I've read (mainly the crossover with Transformers) has been good.

It might take some digging, but if you can find books based on the DCAU (Batman Adventures, Batman: Gotham Adventures, Superman Adventures, Justice League Adventures, etc. Just watch out for Batman Beyond, since years later they made a more mature comic with the same name) or any of the Marvel Adventures books, those are good, kid-friendly fare. And I emphasize "good," as I often enjoyed those more than their mainline counterparts. Where else will you get moments like this?

The Avengers title from the line had some fun female leads with Storm of the X-Men and Giant Girl.

Good rule of thumb: If it has "adventures" in the title, that seems to be industry shorthand for "kid-friendly version."

To that end, IDW also has "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures," based on the '87 cartoon.

Boom! Studios also has an imprint called "Kaboom," whose titles aim more for all ages. Sadly, though, their website is really poor at showing what they've got, but there's a Wikipedia article that details a lot of what they've done pretty nicely. And they've done a number of Disney/Pixar titles!

Finally, if you're digging through back-issue bins, I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out Archie's Mega Man comic. While they don't tend to steal the show or anything, it does have a good few more female characters than the Classic games it's based on, including fan-favorite Tempo/Quake Woman.

 

[jpfriction]

My daughter is a big fan of the comic book version of babysitter’s club. There are a million of them. Raina Telgemeier makes the ones she likes the most, especially the ones about the younger kids.

Raina’s other comics are also great. Smile, Drama, etc.

 

[Purple]

Calvin and Hobbes anthologies don't have a ton of action but have been quite popular with a family member of similar age?

 

[ThornGhost]

With a 7 year old in the house, I will tell you that the canonical answer to this in 2023 is Dog Man.

Listen, it's not high art but the kiddos love it. Technically its a spin-off of Captain Underpants (in-universe, Dog Man is a comic drawn by the child protagonists of Captain Underpants, but it's not really necessary to know.) Captain Underpants is fine, but Dog Man is probably the bigger draw these days.

My daughter also really likes a series called Investigators, which is about some super spy alligators, but I'm not sure how well known those are.