[TheBlueMarvel]

Without succumbing to a knee-jerk reaction in either direction, I think this is a debate that adult action-figure collectors should embrace. I have always laughed quietly about some of the comic characters being marketed to our children. Wolverine is a wanton murderer, yet he’s packaged as a hero (or anti-hero…you pick). I remember being just as fascinated with Wolverine as I was terrified of him growing up as a kid in the 80’s. The open secret with Deathstoke, for those of us that remember, is that he was/is a pedophile (on top of also being a for-hire murderer). Or at least that was what those Teen Titans stories from the 80’s seemed to allude to with the relationship between him and Terra (who was what? 12-13?). Sabretooth, when first introduced as an Iron Fist enemy, was a rapist and cannibal. When Creed shows up later in a Powerman and Iron Fist comic, Luke nearly kills him for what read like a sexual assault against his then girlfriend (Harmony). My point is that many of these characters are truly inappropriate for kids. While I agree that parents should rear their children without placing onerous expectations on society, I also believe that society should respect that childhood is a delicate and formative life phase. Like it or not, whether you agree or not, children are quite impressionable. Biologically speaking, the brains of kids are not fully formed. In fact, our brains don’t stop developing (on a synaptic or neural level) until we are 23-25yrs old. If this “soccer-mom” (FYI: a stereotypical descriptor that is loaded with certain prejudices) was as aware of some the aforementioned comic book character backgrounds as she is with Breaking Bad, well, we’d have a bigger issue on our hands. Be glad she’s only a fan of AMC programing. Similar to what Poison Shadow mentioned, I have a stake in this as I worked for years with inner-city "at risk" youth, specifically, teens that were in and out of juvenile remand. By the way Shadow, I don’t think you should feel like you have to recuse yourself from this debate. Your “closeness” to the issue makes you an ideal candidate for this type of dialogue. I’m not as interested in having a war of petitions as I’m interested in creating a meaningful conversation. Is there a middle ground here within the context of the larger issue? I’m not sure, but we won’t know unless the issues are fleshed out via communication.