BREAKING: Newsstands still exist, kids still read comics

This just in: Print Still Happens! (Click for bigginess)

Amid all the attention put on digital, its exclusive contract with the future, and the “print is dead” mantra, it’s refreshing to be reminded that kids can still be completely entertained by a comic book made of dead trees and staples at their local newsstand.

The Los Angeles Times has a Southern California Moments site that highlights a local photo of the day. This picture, titled “Fully engaged,” was selected for January 25. It was taken by user bobcov1 on September 9, 2010. The kids sit at King’s Newsstand, located at 8361 Beverly Blvd. at Kings Road. It’s named after its neighbor Kings Road Café, although I’m not sure which was there first. The boy on the right is reading a comic book although I can’t tell which one. His brother (presumably) seems to be reading a magazine, another form of print that’s becoming more and more rare in this ever-increasingly app-powered world.

The photo’s caption reads, “Two young boys, clearly aware that life exists beyond Gameboy, entertain themselves the old-fashioned way.” Game Boy. How quaint. (Nintendo DS, maybe. Or the PSP.)

It’s easy to forget that outside of major cities, newsstands have become a rare sight, but Los Angeles actually has a ton of them. In fact there’s one a few blocks away from me on the corner of National and Sepulveda that I could probably walk to in about ten minutes. (Incidentally, there’s a pretty crummy comic book store in the strip mall kitty-corner to it that I’ve finally given up on.)

According to Yelp, there are over 1,000 newsstands in the greater Los Angeles area. It would be interesting to see what kind of presence comic books have in these newsstands, and what kind of sales they generate. I mean, does anyone actually still buy comics at their local newsstand? Here’s the photographic proof that says they do.

(Via The Beat)