Mourning Daily Musings

What rating system should you use to measure your comics against? Trying to define your “age level” in creating comics can be a nightmare. Everyone seems to have their own views on what is acceptable in each age level. On top of that, it does not help matters that ratings have changed over the years. So, the rating you use today may not be acceptable tomorrow. With that in mind, which rating plan will you choose?

The most common idea in Independent Comic Books is do not rate your books. You simply let the reader judge for themselves the age level your book should fall in. Unfortunately, that implies that your Unrated book is intended for a older audience. So, what will you say when you are asked the rating of your book? Will you say, “I don’t know?” If you say that, then you might lose the sale.

If you rate your book whose standards will you use? What is the worst thing to happen if you make your own rating system? The worst that could happen is that a potential buyer of your book believes that your rating system is incorrect. (Check Out My Blog – Double Standards For Rating Comic Books And Graphic Novels.)

My partner came up with a interesting idea to figure out a rough “age level” for our comics. We compare popular TV shows to rate comics. Simpsons level type humor is our teens and above books. Dragon Ball Z type fights is ages 5 and up. Sesame Street level is all ages. Anything else is rated for an adult. So far that works for us. People can decide for themselves based on how they feel about the TV Show.

What have you decided about rating your own comics?

-MD