YOUR CHILD Case For Comics

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32359, 27 July 1970, Page 2

YOUR CHILD Case For Comics

<By~

NEIL THOMAS)

“Comics! Get those comic books out of my sight. I ought to burn the rubbishy things.”

Many are the mothers who have slapped such sentences on this favourite reading matter of children. And many are the children who have gone on reading them regardless. Are comics harmful? Are they good in any way? Well. I used to read and swap comics by the dozen. They have never done any harm to me. My mother would agree that I read lots of comics, but disagree with my conclusion. Kidding aside, I know a lecturer in political science, complete with doctorate’s degree. who cannot get enough of “Mad” magazine. As a child he read as many comics as any boy could. He lived with his grandmother for long spells and she owned a bookshop full of comics. He took a stack of comics to bed every night. Now he takes a stack of books and periodicals to bed.

Another professional man took similar cheap reading to his mbst boring university lectures. An international author and noted scholar I know curls up with a good “cheap n’ nasty” western (which I class alongside comics) at the drop of a legation hat. TV Cartoons

Some of the television programmes your child watches are about the same as comics. Many of them are adapted from comics, or vice versa. Most of them give your child the same sensation as comics.

Most parents happily let their son watch a Walt Disney film or a western movie. Yet they hedge when he picks up the same story in comic book form. They overlook the fact that with a comic the child must make some effort to read. He at least practises his reading with a comic. With television he only practices flicking the vertical hold occasionally. All of this does not prove that comic reading is good. It only indicates that it may be

no worse or better than television or cartoon films.

You probably regard the latter two as entertainment Why not look at comic books in the same light? Look upon them as your childs version of James Bond books: not educational, merely entertaining. Stages Most children enjoy comics at some age. Stage is a more appropriate word here, because comics eventually pale for even avid readers. Few adults read them. The reading rate in high school is far lower than in primary school. You may rid his room of comics and feel most successful while he flops on the floor | in his friend's house to catch up on the latest Superman I adventures. You would be better to' spend your energies guiding: him into “good” reading. As you guide, be aware of what he likes to read—not what you want him to read. If he likes adventure comics, he should enjoy the many books of mystery and intrigue especially written for. boys.

If you treat them properly, comics can bridge the gap between elementary and advanced reading for your child.