Comic books can encourage children to read
More than 450 adult guests visited Science Museum Oklahoma last weekend for SMO 21: Cosmic Con, a sci-fi and comics-themed event held Saturday evening.
I was featured on a panel discussion about exploration of science and science fiction with area experts, including Brian Berlin, Michael Cross, T. Steven Handy and Jeff Provine. The panel was hosted by Science Museum Oklahoma's Clint Stone.
Handy, a 26-year veteran of the U.S.
Air Force who served in Operation Desert Storm, served as the panel's science expert.
Handy, who is a member of the customer training team at Boeing, said some current developments in drone technology and virtual reality technology in some ways mirror technology first seen in science fiction. His own interest in the field began by reading Robert Heinlein's “Have Spacesuit — Will Travel,” and followed from there to G.I. Joe figures and comic books that featured or explored the topic of space travel.
Stone and Provine discussed how Dick Tracy, created by Oklahoma native Chester Gould, introduced Tracy's two-way wristwatch radio communications technology in the “Dick Tracy” comic strip that may have in some ways inspired current wearable technology like the Apple Watch.
“It's science fiction for 1947, but today it's pretty old hat,” said Provine, publisher of “Okie Comics.”
Cross, creator of the “Okie Geek” podcast and the morning voice on KOSU, discussed that some stories have blurred the line between magic and technology, like the “Thor” films from Marvel.
Panelists pointed to an interest in comics as young people for helping develop their interest in reading.
Berlin, the owner of New World Comics, 6219 N Meridian Ave., is also the organizer of the New World Comic Con and the host of numerous “Superhero School” events at his store and elsewhere.
“Superhero School” features cosplayers dressed as comic-book heroes explaining the stories, powers and histories of their characters.
“At the Superhero School that I do, I make sure that I include as many different things in comics, about comics, to (interest) anyone that might potentially want to read,” Berlin said.
From there, he's seen kids develop more of an affinity for reading in general.
Additional SMO 21 events are set for April 26, June 7, Aug. 16 and Oct. 25. Matthew Price is an award-winning journalist who has written about the comics industry for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.