If you can’t get little Johnny or Suzy into the library with a cattle prod, you just might be able to coax them into a comic book store.  In fact, I’m pretty sure you won’t have much trouble at all.  It’s a simple fact that some kids like the pictures more than they like words.  So you think, they may not be using their higher brain functions and imagination as much but at least they are reading SOMETHING, right?

Wrong.

Sure, comics give you pictures to look at, relieving you of some of the responsibility of imagination, but where comics come alive is IN BETWEEN the panels.  Comics require the reader to “fill in the blank” of continuity to get from panel to panel.  Comics are not for idle brains.

Comic books can be extremely “literary”, which is one of the reasons why the word “graphic novel” is being used more and more.  The series interconnections that make up the “Marvel Universe” probably contain more text than all the Twilight, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings series combined).  Comic series can build epic imaginary worlds and histories that only deepen the mind’s reservoir of experience.  Also, comics aren’t just for superheroes anymore, you can find comics on just about anything, from romance, to detective noir, to space-exploring mouse adventure.

So if little Johnny or Suzy wants to read a comic instead of that childhood tome that was so dear to you, don’t fret.  Their brains won’t melt… and you can read their comics when they’re done.  Come on, join the comics party.  Look how much fun we’re having!