Back when I was a kid (you remember the Dark Ages, don’t you?), teachers and many parents were down on comic books. Teachers wanted kids to read “real” books, not comics. My own mother, more than satisfied with the copious numbers of books I read, had no objection to my reading comics as long as I didn’t spend too much money on too many of them. But she was in the minority. Most parents frowned on comics, whether they were the adventure type, like SUPERMAN, the actually comic type, like ARCHIE, or the cheat-your-way-through-English-class CLASSIC COMICS.
The anti-comics brigade has eased up since those days but has not disappeared. Most teachers and some parents still frown on comics and want kids to read “real” books. But even though I write books, I stand in the comic books’ corner.
First of all, I’m all for anything that encourages kids to read. And, although they’re laden with pictures, comic books have WORDS, too. Kids READ them.
Comics of a new sort have even attained a veneer of respectability. I refer to manga, that newish genre that is a cross between comics and books.
If kids want to read comics, I say Let them. No fault, no foul. They’re READING, aren’t they. And I do believe reading comics can lead to reading materials that don’t have pictures. Today, ARCHIE. Tomorrow, ANTS IN HIS PANTS. (That’s one of my books.)
If you want to object to a quantity of comics on budgetary grounds, as my mother did, fair enough. But as far as any other objections, they’re not coming from this corner. I say let your kids read comics. They’re still reading. And eventually they will graduate to “real” books.