What's the Age Group your Comic is Intended For?

[alaingrey]

This has been cropping up in various forms lately and so I'm curious who people are writing for- teens? adults? kids?

Also- If your comic is for a mature age range, how do you let people know it's mature? Sometimes mature warnings can attract more kids than leaving them out.

Personally I have a -somewhat- mature comic. It's about teens, so I expected some teen readers, but a lot of readers are real young (like 13) and I personally don't think it's appropriate to have them reading my comic. How do you deal with this other than just blocking offending pages with nsfw filters? My reaction so far has been 'let them read it and let their parents tell them not to if they don't like it' because that's about all I can do, but it's still a bit worrisome.

[R.n.P]

Hm, my comic THE LAST SAMURAI is a manga-like comic so my work is meant to target somewhat older viewers like from 13+

[PotooGryphon]

For asking publishers, my series targets mid-grade readers specifically 9 and up. However, to the general asking audience Oops is an all ages series safe for the young and fun for the older young at hearts.

The darkest aspect in Oops is that we don't shy away from placing Oops and kids in danger however we make sure to show ways they can overcome their own fears and dangers.

[Aspie_Gamer]

Life of an Aspie is intended for ages 13 and up due to language, violence, and some mild-ish suggestive themes.

[SpavVy]

Soul Ascendance is intended for an older audience 17+ because of the violence and other mature themes.

[joannekwan]

PG13 for Demon House, Erie Waters, and At Ease; some language here and there and slightly more mature themes.
Or T for teens in video game ratings.

R, so 17+ for Heavy Horns; lotta language, and mature themes.
M for mature in video game ratings.

Yeah, since it's the internet, there's really nothing I can do to keep younger folks from looking at my mature content. I can only label it appropriately to save my own ass from any repercussions.

[J.Z.Castillo]

I have never thought much about this? I would say mine falls under 17+ because of light swearing and cursing... but later it becomes an M rated comic? I put whatever I would consider NSFW under the NSFW tab, even if there is only one swear word, because better safe than sorry (don't want no suburban soccer moms chasing me out of town with pitchforks and gluten free pasta). Those updates usually get more attention, but I don't know the demographics, however, I don't care lol, I'm just writing a story, it's not my job to police children and audiences online further than putting NSFW filters and the occasional disclaimer. ¯\ _ (ツ) _ /¯

[fighterxaos]

There's no swearing or sexual... stuff in New Courage but there is violence so I guess it's be like PG or 10 and up?

Mixtape has the occasional sex joke in it and some skimpy clothes time to time. Still not meant to be too risqué and nothing graphic is shown, so I guess that would be PG13, or older teens.

[alaingrey]

hah yeah it's not the kids I'm worried about so much as the moms. Teens mature awfully young, and probably get exposed to all sorts of crap at school, but this is the age of helicopter parents.

I don't have disclaimers or any comments like 'PS this is showing something bad' because I figured the filter was enough but my comic has swearing, explicit drugs, non sexual nudity, and general mature themes. I would rate it 16+ ? but I'm not really an expert at this and I think most the 'bad' stuff is mostly heavily implied. I don't know much about kids and what they should see.

[Isky]

Hmmm... I'd say the intended age group for Rich Fiction is 17+.

[shazzbaa]

I describe Runewriters' rating as "PG-13, for a bit of language and a bit of blood."

I debated a lot on how much swearing I wanted in RW -- when I was a young teen, strong language could keep me from being able to read a thing. But ultimately I decided the occasional swear early on is a heads-up of what kind of story this is, making it clear that it isn't aimed at younger kids before the actual story hits more intense points.

I feel like beyond that it's up to readers or their parents to determine whether it's an appropriate story for them. PG-13 isn't an minimum age or intended age group, I just use it to mean "the kind of stuff you'll find here is roughly at the level of what you'd see in PG-13 stuff"

I did try to make a story that I would've been really into as a teen, but I never intentionally aimed it a specific age group -- that part isn't something I really put much thought into!

[Ringarune]

I'd guess that my comic Star Pace would mostly appeal to a teen demographic, maybe 10+ to be more specific

[mariusthered]

I would say Talesfromswipecity is for mature teens and up due to some of the Story lines and occasional bad language.

( Even though kids these days swear more than adults and they seem to learn sex education while they are still children- opps grumpy old fart mode kicking in)

[Michelle]

I'd probably rate Centralia as being intended for people age 16+, mostly for violence and swearing, not really anything sexual. It's also a heavier story thematically, so I think anyone under 16 would potentially be either bored or confused.

Fortunately it anyone's turned off by swearing, I think the first swear is in the first 10 pages so they can figure that out early on :u Even so, it's not chock-full of cursing. As for violence, it starts out pretty tame but ramps up down the line so we'll see if that becomes an issue. I didn't write the comic with an intended age group in mind, but I think I'd have a hard time writing anything for a younger audience.

[niinasalmelin]

I'd say Numb is for 15+ readers, because of incoming violence and mature themes it has. The story is going to be heavy and slow paced one so I think that the older teens and adults would get the best out of it.

[spadesart]

I guess SPIRE would be 13+? It's going to have some gore because vampires but it ranges mostly from light-moderate. It does have some F bombs in it but honestly the 13 year old kids in middle school tend to swear like sailors :/ the comic's not too heavy on death but chapter 3 is going to get pretty brutal (it's the most intense one currently outlined, it may or may not be outdone idk.)

[aspiderjonny]

I guess for demographics, my J-Man and Valve comics would be in the middle/high school range, like 13+. It has violence and slight blood and "cursing" (If you consider damn a curse. I personally don't.). But I overall try to make it "all ages". Something for kids, teens, and adults.

Whether it's working is up to the viewers, I guess.

Also, if someone you don't consider old enough is reading your comic, I don't think you need to change anything. It should be the parents that decide whether their kid should continue reading it (if they find out, that is). I think everyone, including kids, generally knows what they're getting into.

[alaingrey]

I think your comic specifically is really good for tween audiences. They all know how to swear and see a ton of violence, and I would be really comfortable giving Centralia to a 13 or 14 year old, since the art style definitely appeals to that demo. as well.

I think a lot of people tend to rate higher than their comic really is, which makes me wary of mine as well- maybe it is fine for the kiddos after all.

[Greg_Dickson]

I would say that Don't Be A Hero is pretty much 16+. There is some swearing and scenes of some pretty brutal violence, but it's very cartoon-y violence for the most part. My comic is quite vibrant, light-hearted and a bit goofy, so it's not aimed at a super mature and serious audience (although that's not to say it isn't deep enough that adults can't enjoy it). Even though I've used the NSFW tab lately for my swearing and violence, it's nothing that I never encountered when I was 16.

[Michelle]

Aw man, haha. Well, my hope is that I can garner an audience that's more around my age range and not mostly 13-14 year olds, since that's not who I intentionally write for. But if they want to read it, I certainly wouldn't try and stop them.