Comics have nothing to prove

“Remember: Pick a real book! No comics!”

The parent’s voice cut through the children’s room at the library where I work, and I watched as a young reader’s eagerness to choose new library books turned to sullen acknowledgment.

Adult resistance to comics isn’t unusual, despite their growing popularity among young readers. In fact, dealing with parents and teachers who see comics ( also commonly called graphic novels) as a low form of entertainment is a key topic of discussion among many children’s librarians.

As librarians, we see how so many kids readily connect to comics and how they help create lifelong readers. Dave Burbank, my library’s comics expert, likes to reassure parents that many young readers are drawn to the genre because comics bear a resemblance to the screens so ubiquitous in our kids’ lives, yet they are reading a book.

We know that comics are especially beneficial to struggling or reluctant readers, as well as English- language learners. These books also offer all readers a way to practice important reading skills such as building vocabulary, understanding a sequence of events, discerning the plot of a story and making inferences.

So why do some parents and teachers continue to regard comics in such a negative light? Part of it may have to do with the history of comics in the United States, Françoise Mouly, the publisher of TOON Books, said. In the 1950s, Mouly notes, congressional hearings were held on what lawmakers saw as a possible connection between juvenile delinquency and comics. Worried that the federal government would try to regulate their industry, comics publishers established the Comics Code Authority. The Comics Code required that comic books show respect for established authority and banned nudity and explicit violence.

In the 1980s, there was a backlash as more publishers decided to create comics for adults, such as the classic Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, published in 1986. The market became dominated by glossy, expensive superhero comics mostly aimed at an adult male audience.

Then, in 1992, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, a graphic novel by author/artist Art Spiegelman ( Mouly’s husband), became the first comic to win a Pulitzer Prize.

From there, comics have been on a slow, but mostly steady, march to acceptance as more literary graphic novels and comics were published, first for adults and now for children and teens. In the past decade, the increase in female comics creators, such as Raina Telgemeier, has expanded the range of books published for both adults and kids.

The kids are on board with comics, and so are many publishers, librarians, teachers and literary award givers. I’m hopeful that still- reluctant parents and educators are coming around.