Story:The other day a report came out saying comic books promote literacy for kids. I can attest to that.
This was high on my mind when I set foot in 8th Street Comics in Saskatoon the other day. My daughter is going into Grade 1 this fall, but is not reading yet, whereas many of her compatriots are. Time for me to get cracking.
Like many parents, I worry that I don't read enough to my kids. I spend all day reading various things for my job, and writing, or should I say typing, when I'm not reading. As a result, I have a hard time bringing myself to read for my kids, because I just want to clear my head after work.
It was not always like this. When I was a little, my dad bought a box of comics at an auction sale, with the intention of improving my interest in reading. It's not that I didn't read. My mom was a stay at home mom, and spent hours working with me on my reading and writing. But my first memory of me actively reading was diving into those comics.
In the box were a large number of Archie comics, and a number of super hero comics. I distinctly remember Battlestar Galactica No. 1 and 2, which would have been published around 1979 or so, when I was just four.
I read each and every one of those comics from cover to cover, memorizing each one, and pining for the mail order Sea Monkeys on the back cover.
Around the time I was 10, I realized I could now buy comic books for myself. I faithfully bought G.I. Joe and Transformers, and eventually Punisher, Justice League and a few others. We didn't have a lot of money, and dropping $1.25 on a comic seemed like a million dollars to me back then. But I discovered I could get discount comics literally for pennies.
The practice back then, and probably still today, was for news stands to tear off the front cover of unsold publications, send the cover back, and then dispose of the publication. But the little grocery store in Hyas would keep a box near the till and sell these, for something like a dime or a quarter each. Whenever I had the chance, I would load up on all my favourites for next to nothing.
In time, my friends at church began to notice my comic addiction, and substantial collection. Two brothers in particular would spend more time reading comics than actually playing when the family would come over to visit after church. I didn't mind too much. I loved reading them, too.
In Grade 8, I discovered a book in the school library called How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee. Soon I was drawing comics all the time in class, and even entertained the idea of becoming a comic book artist. This would come in handy years later, when I started doing courtroom art of honest-to-god scoundrels and villains as a court reporter.
It was with this in mind that I stepped into one of the premier comic book shops in Saskatoon. While my kids have literally hundreds of books thanks to Grandma, I wanted to get them into comics at a young age, to draw them into reading.
But what to buy? Most comics these days are aimed to a more mature crowd. Heroines have always been scantily clad, but a lot of these comics simply aren't appropriate for younger kids. Beside, the plotlines are too intense, and the pictures are too scary.
Back in the corner of the store, I happened upon the used Archie Digest section - the little compact comics you still see in the supmermarkets today beside the Cosmo and Enquirer. These are timeless, and harmless.
So tomorrow I will give my kids Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica. I hope they enjoy them as much as I did. Maybe they'll even want to do this little thing called reading.
- Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
