Today we bring to you a brand new article entitled Comics Really Can Be For Kids! The article is brought to us by guest poster Jon Stump, who is Community Collaborator for Graphic.ly, and the article was originally posted on couch.graphic.ly. It’s a nice article and will definitely help those of you looking to get younger kids (maybe even your own!) into comics. As I’ve said in the past, Tiny Titans is an absolutely adorable book and a fun read for someone of my age, so this definitely has my backing.
Enjoy the entire article behind the jump.
Something that’s important, that people seem to think is more difficult than it was 20 years ago, is getting kids involved in reading comics. More and more comics appear to have grown up themselves, leaving kids behind. That doesn’t mean that there still isn’t comics made for kids or that there aren’t ways for kids to get involved with comics.
iFanboy themselves did a video show recently on the topic of Comics for Kids. Great examples of books that they discussed where Tiny Titans and the Muppet books from BOOM! Studios’ kids line. Tiny Titans last year won an Eisner Award for Best Publication for Kids, which is similar to winning an Oscar for Best Kid’s Movie.
One of my good friends, Jake, raves about how happy he is for Batman: The Brave and The Bold along with The Superhero Squad because it gets his kid excited for comic books. He loves the fact that not only does his son, Daniel, get to share his hobby, but he loves the fact that both shows have more than just staple characters. Eventually the show ends and Daniel may want to see more of these different heroes. This gives Jake something that he can leverage with his son into reading comics and learning how to read at the same time. Both Marvel and DC have Kids comics. DC even has a comic book version of Batman: The Brave and The Bold which you can download the first issue for free online. Marvel has a Superhero Squad Webcomic that kids can read for free on their site. Who doesn’t love free? Especially when buying all of the toys and what not you do for your kids.
Comics can be great for kids as learning tools. Sure things like the mentioned above teach good values and morals, but more importantly they can easily teach kids to read. In an article on Disney Family, by Steven Grant titled POW! Using Comic Books to Get Kids Reading, Steven mentions how comics can usually keep kids more interested since they have pictures and text. He also mentions how comics can be used to get kids to ask questions and understand how fiction works. He also points to an interesting site called The Comic Book Project.
The Comic Book Project reminds me of something I loved in school and that was the chance for me to be the comic creator. They give the chance for kids to be comic creators as well to promote literacy and learning. It’s awesome to see all the different books they have for free online like one that has a bunch of stories brought together on keeping the planet clean, titled “Save Our City, Save Our Planet.” Dark Horse actually helps with publishing the materials as well.
So to say that comics are for grown ups seems to be untrue. There are a bunch of ways that you can get your kids reading comics, even if you have to trick them into it after The Superhero Squad is over with.
If the above isn’t enough Comicbooks.about also has a list of the Top 20 Children’s Comics that you can share with your child, cousin, nephew or niece to get them reading. So what are you still doing here? Go get reading with your kids!
-Jon
