Sometimes I think that comic book columnists need a crash course on reader’s advisory. Reader’s advisory is librarian jargon for matching up a reader with books the reader may enjoy based on their interests and the books that they’ve read in the past. This is why you can find many cute lists on library websites featuring genres and subgenres like cooking mysteries, books that have been made into movies, and family saga novels

This column from Comic Book Resources is the latest example of an unfortunate theme often found over and over again in online comics commentary, the “Get your girlfriend to read comics” essay. There’s already some great commentary on this column over at Cognitive Dissonance.

It is much better to base your recommendations on the individual, rather than any generic category of what the person in front of you looks like. I sadly do not get much of a chance to practice my reader advisory skills working at an academic library. But I can think of some comics someone might enjoy based on the tv shows or books that they already like.

If you like Alias, you might like reading Queen and Country or Human Target

If you like true crime books, you might enjoy Torso.

If you like reading Jennifer Weiner, you might want to try Erica Sakurazawa or Happy Mania

If you like watching star trek and reading sci fi novels, try Planetes

I think that one of the publishers with books that are the easiest to map to similar genres in TV shows or books is Oni Press. If someone likes reading murder mysteries featuring female detectives, there is a good chance they would enjoy Whiteout. They have comics for goth people and the pirate people, and people who like vespas. If you love music, you can read titles like Hopeless Savages and Scott Pilgrim which feature musician characters. Manga is another medium of comics which provides great recommendation fodder. There are plenty of titles available for both male and female sports fans. You can read romance, fantasy, contemporary, or historical manga.

So please comics readers, take into account the tastes and reading habits of the individual, don’t assume that just because you are reccomending comics to someone with two X chromosomes that she’ll automatically love Neil Gaiman (lovable though he is).