This Comic Book Is Not Yet Rated - An Essay on the accuracy of comic books' Age Ratings on Comixology
Oh the irony of this post actually being my 69th post. You would think I was a brilliant genius or something. Well, it is something.
What I do support is informing readers of the type of content they are getting ready to view. And while Comixology provides a very basic means of informing shoppers on the site or within the App, of what they determine the appropriate age of readership should be for a given book, it is flawed and inaccurate period.
Again, I don't believe in censorship.
As a parent I have become very aware that the appropriate age for any given content is really based on the individual and their ability to handle said content and is not based on their age at all. Not all 12 year old are created equal.
My oldest daughter, who is sixteen, does not handle horror movies for the most part, but even then as an individual, it is shocking what she can and can't handle. And my youngest daughter, age 13, absolutely loves horror films for the most part and has since she was pre-tween.
One night six years ago, as a family, we watched "I am Legend". Both of my daughters loved the movie. Even though it has roots in horror with vampir-esq monsters, the horror is truly secondary to the story and the characters. Following the film, we, as a family, talked about the film, what it was about and how it impacted them (basically how scary it was from their perspective). Both of my kids expressed love for the movie and how sad it was when the dog died. They also explained how the movie was scary, but not too scary.
Then we switched to the special features. All hell broken loose as we watched the animation-shorts that supplemented the film's storyline. These are a lot like motion-animated comic book pages, no real violence or gore, and nothing that is remotely close what is portrayed in the movie. But for some reason, my sixteen year old could not handle these and my 13 year old had no issue what-so-ever.
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Even I am not impervious to this. I can watch horror films where people get hacked and slashed to pieces, or viciously eaten alive by monsters. But, set me down to watch "Descent", where they have to crawl through this tight space, with the cave threatening to collapse on top of them and the possibility of being buried alive under tons of rock and stone and my blood pressure increases, my skin crawls and every nerve ending in my body hurts from firing non-stop through the entire scene. I can't handle it.
We have never once prevented or allowed our kids to watch any movie based solely on a rating. Movie ratings are nothing more than a label to describe an appropriate age for someone to see the movie. Rather, a rating is based in generalisms and someone else's opinions. What a rating doesn't tell you is what is in the movie, just what "might" or "might-not" be in the movie. For more of what is truly in the movie you need to do some research or watch the movie yourself beforehand.
I don't have an issue with my daughters watching violence in movies or playing violent video games. The Expendables is one of my daughters' favorite movies. But, overly sexualized material, or overly graphic scenes of sadistic violence or gore I have had caution with. As such, a simple R rating does not eliminate a movie from the viewing cue and on the reverse of that spectrum, a PG or PG-13 rating does not automatically approve a movie to the cue either.
There are websites that can't provide you with information about what is in a movie. IMDB has a great section that contains a parent's guide to content in a given movie. It makes it clear not only what type of content is in a movie but sometimes even how much of said content is in the movie and where in the movie it can be expected.
I have found nothing even remotely close to this level of information for comics.
In 2011 Image Comics and DC adopted their own rating systems for their own books. Based on Image's rating system the books are rated as such.
E - EVERYONE (all ages, may contain minimal violence)
T - TEEN (12 and up, may contain mild violence or mild profanity)
T+ - TEEN PLUS (16 and up, may contain moderate violence, moderate profanity use and suggestive themes )
M - MATURE (18 and up, may contain nudity, profanity, excessive violence and other content not suitable for minors)
Marvel adopted their own rating system as well.
- ALL AGES - Appropriate for all ages.
- T - Appropriate for most readers, but parents are advised that they might want to read before or with younger children.
- T+ TEENS AND UP - Appropriate for teens 13 and above.
- PARENTAL ADVISORY - Appropriate for older teens. Similar to T+, but featuring more mature themes and/or more graphic imagery. Recommended for teen and adult readers.
- EXPLICIT CONTENT - 18+ years old Most Mature Readers books will fall under the MAX Comics banner, (created specifically for mature content titles) MAX and Mature-themed titles will continue to be designed to appear distinct from mainline Marvel titles, with the "MAX: Explicit Content" label very prominently displayed on the cover. MAX titles will NOT be sold on the newsstand, and they will NOT be marketed to younger readers.
That last sentence in Marvel's Explicit content statement is crucial. "MAX titles will NOT be sold on the newsstand, and they will NOT be marketed to younger readers."
Among all the publishers, their rating systems are different. And this is where Comixology adds more clutter to rating system.
According to Comixologies Support page; "Our age rating guidelines are loosely based on guidelines used by our channel partners and have been elaborated upon based on our past experience."
Loosely based is an understatement.
Comixology has no guide outside of an age indicator; 16+, 12+, 18+ etc. But this rating system doesn't line up with Image's policy as stated above. For example, Graveyard of Empires, published in June 2011 by image comics.
This book contains nudity, moderate profanity, moderate violence, and very suggestive themes. Based on that, this book should be rated as Teen+, just for the violence, profanity and suggestive theme, but because of the nudity, a Mature rating would be more in line, again based solely on Image's own rating system, yet comixology rates it as an Image equivalent of Teen (12 and up.) Below are two screenshots from within the comic book (doctored because this is a safe for work blog).
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I own this book and have read it multiple times. I even reviewed it here.
It is graphic in its violence. It is blatant in its sexual references, including discussion about oral sex and implied acts of oral sex. I rated the book an 18+ book. Yet Comixology is rating the book as appropriate for an audience 12 and older. This directly violates the "MAX titles will NOT be sold on the newsstand, and they will NOT be marketed to younger readers." statement in Marvel's own rating guidelines.
Now I am not prude in any way shape or form, but the content in these books isn't typically something I would want my own 12 year old to be exposed to. Even Death Sentence #1 by Titan Comics, which I reviewed and personally rated as for readers at least 18 years of age, is rated by Comixology as 12+ even though it contains Language, Violence, Gore, Nudity, Sex, Adult Themes.
Comixology has the remaining three books of Graveyard of Empires, and even the trade paperback rated at 15+, which is still not the equivalent of images own rating of Teen+ (16). But why not issue #1? The Punisher (Max) series, as rated by Comixology, remains 12+ until issue three when it jumps to 17+ and stays at 17+ for the remainder of the five issue run. This falls even shorter of Marvel's own Mature (18+) rating for Marvel's self described explicit material and, again, not to be marketed to younger readers.
One of the biggest challenges I have come across is that a particular book in a series might be okay for my 13 year old, but the next book in the run suddenly has a lot of gratuitous content that wouldn't be suitable for consumption by my 13 year old. If a parent were to pick up a book in the middle of series and sees that the content of that particular book okay for their kids, they could assume that the entire series is okay based on that one book. They may order the entire run.
Wouldn't kids be shocked at what mom and dad approved for them.
A generic age rating is not only inadequate it is also very inaccurate in Comixology's current implementation. While I understand the controversy surrounding parental labeling/warnings, something reliable has to be done by Comixology, even maybe the industry. I'm not saying bring back the Comics Code. I don't support censorship, remember. But there should be something to educate not only parents, but readers in general about the actual content of a book or even a series of books.
Imagine how much simpler it would be to find mature content for fans of mature content if there was a way to find it. Yes, some people actually want blood guts and breasts laid out in the pages of the comics. But they can't find it when they, being logical people, are looking for books that are labeled 18+ and all the "good" stuff they want in hidden in the titles labeled for 12 year olds.
In any case, be it movies, books, comics, music or whatever the medium, it should be up to the individual what content they choose to read. If it is a minor, the parents should be provided valid, reliable information about the content contained within. An age based rating system is not enough, especially if the age rating is provided by Comixology.
Until next time... remember you can't judge comics by their age rating, but rather just under the covers.
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