Blog Entry 1: Tintin and the Blue Lotus

Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media? 
While comics tend to carry the social stigma and stereotype of being directed at children and early teens, they are certainly not exclusively intended for that audience.  Many examples exist which are intended for older teen audiences, if not exclusively for adults.  One such example is a Japanese manga known as Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO for short) which is about a 22 year old ex-bōsōzoku member (bōsōzoku - 暴走族, literally "violent running tribe" or more simply a gang member) who becomes a teacher at a private high school.  The manga touches on subjects such as blackmail, exploitation, sexuality and social taboos just to name a few and was rated as being for "Mature audiences" (16+ year old readers)


A second example though much more lighthearted is the manga Chobits, created by mangaka group CLAMP, while this series is much more lighthearted than something like GTO, it is tailored to older audiences through use of elements such as fan service (limited frontal nudity and implied sexuality, even if it is in a comical or humorous sense) and subjects surrounding adult relationships as well as deeper moral messages that may potentially be missed by a younger or more immature audience.

Furthermore, in more recent years as society has become more 'politically correct' and 'sensitive', in contrast comics designed for younger audiences tend to have a different set of 'rules' that are usually followed.  Traditionally they have a more simple storyline where any moral aspects are "black and white" (good vs evil) rather than having more deeply ingrained plots that may have morally 'grey' areas.  Another if there is any scenes of violence the one wielding the weapon will never physically hit their target with the weapon - If they are firing a gun it will generally miss its target or it will hit something nearby which will then cause the resultant effect, such as a barrel exploding; if they are using a bladed weapon - rather than striking their foe directly, they may strike a tree branch above their opponent which will then strike their foe and knock them down.