The Snoopy trademark is owned by Peanuts Worldwide LLC

The Snoopy trademark is owned by Peanuts Worldwide LLC

As a kid, I used to love reading comics.  I still do, actually.  My parents, concerned that I would fail at school, thought that it was not ‘serious reading’ and that I was wasting my time, while I should be studying math and physics instead.  During a move from one house to another, my mom thought it was a good opportunity to get rid of most of my comic books, without ever asking me.  I did realize it shortly afterwards, of course, but it was too late by then.

Anyway, I am now a grown-up and I still love reading comic books, and have filled quite a few shelves with them – for I have to admit that I find it hard to enjoy comics electronic format.  From Dilbert to Watchmen, Calvin & Hobbes and Maus, I buy them, read them, and re-read them, reappraising the story and the drawings.  I still have my old Tintin, Iznogood and Asterix which I keep reading from time to time, just to have a laugh and remember how priceless and timeless they are.

So, when I read Thought Catalog’s “6 reasons you need to start reading comic books I was this close to calling my parents and explaining to them how wrong they had been all these years.  Instead, I decided to share my newly-found insight with people who understand me!

So, here is a brief summary of the 6 reasons you should read comic books:

  1. Elevating thinking and reading because the brain has to combine both the graphic part and the story part.  While books are meant to be read, comic books are designed to be decoded; the story is told both by the text and the picture.
  2. Although comic books are usually seen as the story of a superhero, they are so much more than that.  Just read Maus or Persepolis to get how more fulfilling and encompassing a comic book can be.
  3. If you do like heroes, comic books offer a variety of perspectives on the same hero: writers and artists vary between series and you can get a glimpse of a different approach to your superhero.  How cool is that!
  4. If, like me, you enjoy going back in time, comic books can journey you through various times, literature and prose, artistic and design fashions of their epoch.  Jason Lutes’ Berlin series is an excellent case in point!
  5. Comic people are fascinating, quirky and challenging, all of them qualities I like.
  6. You are reading something, which is always a good thing, right?

So, go comic books!