With that, All-Ages week comes to a close. Throughout this week, I hope you came to realize that, more than ever, comics are for everybody. While we all have our shirts that say just that, it’s different to actually live that ideal, and I think we’re doing that more than ever. Comics are still for 30-year-old guys like me. There are comics that appeal to senior citizens. There are comics for men, women and anyone else. Comics are being made for everyone, by everyone, more than they ever have been in the history of the medium. It’s a great time to be a comic fan.
And much to the surprise of some people, there is perhaps no group that is better represented than young readers. They just tend to come in places and forms that we don’t always expect them to. As David Saylor shared, we’re living in a golden age of all-ages comics, as I can pick up a copy of some great comic and share it with a young person and create a new comic fan, just like that. It’s an incredible thing, being able to help sculpt a new comic book fan where there wasn’t one before, but it’s not hard, as many aren’t just interested, but eager to read them.
And that’s something that recently happened for me. My coworker’s 12-year-old daughter wasn’t overly interested in reading, but she had previously shown interest in comics through a bevy of “Archie” comics she discovered. I loaned her my copy of Raina Telgemeier’s “Smile” in November, and by the end of the week, her daughter’s Christmas list was overwhelmed with literally every comic Telgemeier had ever made. By the end of the weekend that followed Christmas, her daughter had read her copy of “Sisters” four times, or once per day. More than ever, her daughter loves reading, and it’s thanks to a comic book.
I’ve said this before, but comics are magic, and there’s no time where that magic feels more real than when you’re a kid. It’s the time where everything feels real and each twist feels like the end of the world, and the period in your life where you connect the most with the stories you’re reading. Comics can be an incredible experience for a child, and if you can turn a child into a reader – not just of comics, but of anything – then you have someone who is likely a reader for life, and through them, we create the future of this medium we all love so much.
So that’s what I challenge all of you to do. Do you wish more kids read comics today? Share comics with them, then. Share comics with the kids of your friends, with your nieces or nephews, with your children, with libraries, with schools. Comic fans can be anyone and can from anywhere, and sometimes, they just need a little help finding where to start and what to read first, and maybe you can help create the next generation of comic readers by lending your expertise.
We hope you enjoyed All-Ages Week, and as per usual, thanks for reading.
