We encourage children to read 'proper' books - but what about comics? Are they 'proper' reading material?
My Granddad was a Rear-Admiral in The Royal Navy. He was good at maths and physics and a prodigiously talented man with an eye for making things. It took him ages to reach his rank because - and wait for it - he was an engineer. That’s right, he knew stuff and that apparently made him LESS suited to the role than someone who didn’t know as much about the machines the Navy relied upon.
That’s just one of the many silly snobberies that we humans have managed to shed during our history. A more recent one would be our attitude to TV. About 15 years ago the idea that all the best stories and dramas would be on TV and not film would have been laughable. And now TV is THE storyteller’s medium. All the great sagas of our time are happening on TV. Film is now playing catch up. And there are too many examples like this to count.
Though I’m here to talk about one more: comics. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen someone turn their nose up at a comic. It’s a number only matched by the times I’ve seen a child grab a comic and devour it from cover to cover.
My father and mother grew up on comics. Millions of kids did. The Eagle, June, Schoolfriend, Beano, Bunty (I used to steal my sisters) Dandy, Hotspur, Boys World and all the rest. A great weekly treat that filled your life with excitement. Then they just sort of… stopped. But kids love comics! And they particularly like really brilliant funny ones or swash buckling adventures. And you know what? We do actually make a couple of those in the UK. I know of one or two…
You can't foist reading on someone. They have to discover it for themselves.
But back to that prejudice. Comics are a medium. You can’t say comics are X or Y any more than you can say TV is. There are so many different comics, so many genres, so many flavours. Experimental digital ones playing with an infinite page and more traditional ones like Tintin and Asterix. People still read those you know, by the million.
And that brings me to reading. There is now so much research showing that people who read are happier and healthier than those who don’t. As in if you read, if you develop the habit, then you will literally be a happier person. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Reading opens the mind and children must be encouraged to read, particularly today when there are so many other distractions. It is a vital gift we can give them. A gift that basically costs nothing. And to get them reading? To get them to move on to the infinite array of amazing texts out there you can’t go wrong with a comic. This is an object that a non-reading child will pick up and look at of their own accord. And that is the key. You can’t foist reading on someone. They have to discover it for themselves. Reading is a wonderful adventure that can open doors to everywhere and comics are a great first step.
So when I hear people talk dismissively about comics I think of those who must have looked down on my grandfather. People were wrong about him. And they’re wrong about comics too.
What was your favourite comic? Do your grandchildren like to read comics?
Tom Fickling is editor of The Phoenix: which makes a great gift for boys and girls aged 6-12. You can get a range of subscriptions at www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk.