Study Indicates Comic Books Are Good for Kids

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I remember Eagle, one of the things that was very annoying for me was the fact that I almost never got a continuous story, the comic had gone out of print by the time I'd discovered it (about ten years ago now).

There are a couple that are around.

Max/The Thirteenth Floor I've seen around.
Doomlord had 4 seasons!
The Collector only had one.
Dan Dare actually bored me. Kinda hard to take the Mekon seriously.

 

[lostclause]

There are a couple that are around.

Max/The Thirteenth Floor I've seen around.
Doomlord had 4 seasons!
The Collector only had one.
Dan Dare actually bored me. Kinda hard to take the Mekon seriously.

I quite liked Doomlord and Max, though my favourite probably was Charle's War. Anyway, I'll keep my eye out for those ones.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Yeah, I must have bought at least a thousand 2000ads when I was collecting it. They have a cunning way of keeping you locked in by ending all the various strips at different times, so if you're following more than one, you can't quit.

2000ad and to a lesser extent the comic page in the newspapers got me into it, it's a good stepping stone I think.

Really, anything that helps get kids reading has to be a good thing, people who get wildly over the top about fantasy violence obviously never ran around with their friends as a 5 year old pointing their finger and shouting BANG.

 

[comiczonelinda]

With a Masters degree in Education, I have to admit that I have seen more good come from comics than not. Comic book readers may otherwise not read at all, so this is a way to expand their boundaries. Comics are written in a style similar to myths, which emphasizes the main points. This adds to a strong sense of values - something dearly lacking in much of our culture these days. Comic books give their readers archetypal heroes to venerate. And finally, due to the brevity, the brain fills in the missing detail, thus strengthening the creative thought processes. See http://comiczonelinda.blogspot.com/2009/11/comic-books-good-for-learning.html

 

[Tom Goldman]

The word "comic" itself could be part of the reason comic books are criticized, giving the medium a child-like connotation. Comic books are anything but, especially these days with the average comic book marketed more towards adults than children. Manga could be an exception, though many series have mature content not meant for kids.

As someone who has actually studied Manga I can tell you that Manga specifically is NOT an exception. In fact, from it's sheer origin Manga tends to be a lot more about philosophical, psychological and even metaphysical concepts. You have authors that study these things extensively just for the sake of writing their stories, while western comics have a history of relying much more on the boyish "white knight"/power fantasy.

That said, it's always a gross over-generalization to say "manga>comic" or "comic>manga". It depends a lot on authors. Alan Moore [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore] is a god amongst writers everywhere, but so is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiyuki_Sadamoto] creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion. At the same time you can find copious amounts of crap on the west and east alike.

Long story short, don't discount Manga, you'd be surprised.

Didn't intend to discount manga, but when you write these short news posts I guess the intent of certain sentences doesn't get across. I was talking about how manga is marketed, specifically in North America, which is generally towards kids. For example, N.A.'s Shonen Jump, though some kids may have been surprised to see how evil Yu-Gi really is. Some manga/anime I've read/seen has extremely intelligent and emotion-wrenching content that I have not experienced from other art forms ... which is why I hate the stigma that animation and comics are inferior or for children only.

 

[Wintermoot]

games are pretty much where comics where 50 years ago they thought it was bad for kids so who knows

 

[NewGeekPhilosopher]

The word "comic" itself could be part of the reason comic books are criticized, giving the medium a child-like connotation. Comic books are anything but, especially these days with the average comic book marketed more towards adults than children. Manga could be an exception, though many series have mature content not meant for kids.

As someone who has actually studied Manga I can tell you that Manga specifically is NOT an exception. In fact, from it's sheer origin Manga tends to be a lot more about philosophical, psychological and even metaphysical concepts. You have authors that study these things extensively just for the sake of writing their stories, while western comics have a history of relying much more on the boyish "white knight"/power fantasy.

That said, it's always a gross over-generalization to say "manga>comic" or "comic>manga". It depends a lot on authors. Alan Moore [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore] is a god amongst writers everywhere, but so is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiyuki_Sadamoto] creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion. At the same time you can find copious amounts of crap on the west and east alike.

Long story short, don't discount Manga, you'd be surprised.

Didn't intend to discount manga, but when you write these short news posts I guess the intent of certain sentences doesn't get across. I was talking about how manga is marketed, specifically in North America, which is generally towards kids. For example, N.A.'s Shonen Jump, though some kids may have been surprised to see how evil Yu-Gi really is. Some manga/anime I've read/seen has extremely intelligent and emotion-wrenching content that I have not experienced from other art forms ... which is why I hate the stigma that animation and comics are inferior or for children only.

Note: Apollo's Song by Osamu Tezuka is not suitable as children's manga. The man created Astro Boy but would YOU want your kids reading about Shogo the Sex Offender who strangles doves because he can't stand to see animals being loving to each other?

On the other hand you've got the problem that many comics in the Western form are no longer kiddy ghetto and now there's too many adult comics and not enough children's comics for children to be introduced to the artform with. There's Archie Comics, but that's about it.

I have one, ONE Archie comic. A double digest filled with Archie stories. I treasure it because in Australia singular comics are hard to get hold of. I also have a stack of 1960s British comics from a magazine called Fantastic! I found in a thrift shop. The irony is the first comics I read weren't manga, they were Superman comics. I liked Superman but everybody else I knew liked Batman instead. I felt like somebody from another planet minus the super strength so I could relate to Supes's emo years.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I grew up reading Batman and Spider-Man etc. and I used to love drawing them and playing with toys acting out the stories in the books. I gave up when I was about 12 and took up reading them when I was 22 after spotting the paperback Walking Dead vol. 1-4.

Since then I have got everything from Sandman, Preacher, Transmet and yes even the horribly funny "The Boys" but I have to say the highlights on my shelf are Jeff Smith's Bone, Maus, Persepolis and a few Will Eisners dramas.
Now I don't know if they would be kid friendly exactly, but any of them should be on the school curriculum. If I ever get slapped with a paternity suit I'm making damn sure my kid learns morality from Frank Castle, honor from Lone Wolf and cub, religion from Jessie Custer and most importantly how to be a bastard from Spider Jerusalem.