Comic books are as American as apple pie and baseball. My father-in-law enjoyed reading comic books in the forties as well as my dad in the fifties and sixties. My husband has been collecting comic books since the seventies. My brother who learned to read in the eighties didn't read comic books hardly at all. You can look at these four generations come up with five perfectly good reasons for the decline of the comic book: cost, television, videos, video games, and constant activities away from home.

Cost plays a major factor in just about any industry. Unlike the movie and music industry which has seen a dramatic price increase in just the last 30 years, the comic book industry appeals mainly to teenage boys and men who still wish they were teenagers. It's understood that some females like comic books. I myself enjoy the new Spidergirl series that came out about seven years ago. When the first comic books came out in the forties, you could purchase a copy for only ten cents. My husband remembers paying forty cents for his comic books when he was a teenager. Today we pay anywhere from $2.25 to $3 an issue.

The invention of the television is another cause of the demise of the comic book. Besides movies and schoolwork, comic books began having to compete with the television. By the sixties, teenage boys were more into watching "The Brady Bunch" than reading Spiderman. By the time my husband and brother were in the running for comic books, people developed the attitude of why read it when I can watch it.

Two more inventions of the 20th century that helped caused the decline in comic books are the video cassette recorder, and video game consoles. I remember when we purchased our first VHS video cassette recorder and our first video game console. Those who had grown up with the super heroes could now purchase the old television series of "Superman" and "Batman" as well as the silver screen "Batman" series, so why invest the time and energy to read when I can watch television and eat my supper. The introduction of video games allowed the player to become the superhero. Why read when I can work on my hand-eye coordination.

Our fast-paced society plays a major part in the demise of the comic book. Today's teenager has numerous activities in which to compete with their downtime. After school, they are either playing an after school sport or taking some kind of art/musical lesson. Then they have to go volunteer somewhere or do some activity with the church youth group. Then every other weekend they are going to their other parent's house, so they have to spend time with that parent. And let's not forget about instant messaging, text messaging, and homework.

Reading this article, one must be getting the idea that I don't enjoy reading. Well, I do enjoy reading. When I was a teenager, I also had a book in my hand when I watched television. There are all kinds of books out there for girls, but not a whole lot for teenaged boys. I believe comic books were a great development to get boys to read. If an English teacher was to read a comic book, one could see the complex language that is used is sometimes very technical compared to actual books. I have a soon to be 4 year-old son who enjoys watching cartoons with his dad and looking at the pictures in the comic books. I hope he will be able to hold a paper comic book in his hand when he's a teenager.

Learn more about this author, Shanna Blankenship.
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