Comics are everywhere!

Humans told stories through narrative art long before any written language whether through cave paintings, hieroglyphs, graffiti, stick figure cartoons, or memes.

Comics tell stories!

In addition to featuring incredible art, comics are an excellent way to tell the important stories of our world (even ones we make up). Comics use visuals, text, and even hidden language in cultural cues. Comics are a literal example of the old author adage, “Show, don’t tell.”

Comics can also promote literacy. A survey of educators showed that “most participants perceive comics as extremely or very important for both literacy (74.4%) and reader development (76.1%)” (Kruszielski). Another survey showed nearly every librarian at public and school libraries recommend comics for students struggling with reading. They can be especially helpful to ESL students!

Who reads comics?

According to Linder (2023), “The average age of a comic book reader is 35 years old” with “63% of readers being male and 37% female.” They’re an educated group with 57.9% having attended college. Having older readers is good, but this also means that many children and young people have never read a comic book. We at OCAF want everyone to have the chance to read and enjoy comics.

Sources:

Cockcroft, M. (2023). Graphic Novels, Manga Explode in Popularity Among Students. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/Graphic-Novels-Manga-Explode-in-Popularity-Among-Students-SLJ-Survey

Kruszielski, L., do Nascimento Sokulski, A., & Thiany dos Santos, D. (2023). Presence of Comics in Childhood and Personal Perception about their Influence on Literacy and Reader Development. Organon (01026267), 38(76), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.22456/2238-8915.133958

Kwon, H. (2020). Graphic Novels: Exploring Visual Culture and Multimodal Literacy in Preservice Art Teacher Education. Art Education, 73(2), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043125.2019.1695479

Lindner, Jannik. (2023). “Comic Book Demographic Statistics.” Gitnux.