5 Comics That Will Improve Your Children’s Writing

5 comics that will improve your children’s writing

It’s been a long, long time since we heard somebody denigrate comics as "kid’s stuff" (we may in fact have gone too far in the other direction, but that’s a completely different discussion).

It’s good that people now know that comic books are no longer (if they ever were) the sole domain of children. The success of films like Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made comics accessible, and convinced many regular people (i.e. not geeks) that comics are not just for kids.

However, there are still many parents around the world that think comics are a waste of time, and that children should not be rotting their brains with such frivolous nonsense.

Not only are there many amazing comics that are of the same calibre as the work of the latest Nobel Literature Prize winner (congratulations, Alice Munro!), and more appearing every week, there are age-appropriate comics for your kids that are of the same calibre as the work of the latest Nobel Literature Prize winner.

Here are five comics for kids that you can add to your child's reading materials, and no brains will rot. In fact, you may find yourself reading them before you pass them on to your children.

Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius by Chris Eliopoulos and Marc Sumerak

Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four have always been a family, first and foremost. Mr. Fantastic and his wife the Invisible Woman were the heart of the team, while her brother the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic’s best friend the Thing rounded out the quartet. But along the way, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman had a little boy, and these are his ridiculous adventures.

Being the son of adventuring superheroes isn’t all it’s cracked up to me, especially when your father is one of the smartest people in the world. Simple things like homework, cleaning your room, eating dinner, and doing your chores can become extremely fun, difficult, and hilarious when your dad leaves all kinds of crazy inventions lying around the house and your robot nanny H.E.R.B.I.E. is always trying to spoil the fun.

There are two Ultimate Collections that contain every Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius story, and it’s sure to keep your kids in stitches.

Amelia Rules! by Jimmy Gownley

Amelia Louis McBride is a fourth grader in small-town Pennsylvania, USA. She has wacky hijink adventures with her friends Reggie, Rhonda, Owen, Mary Violet, Earth Dog, and Pajamaman (yes, those are their names). Oh, and Amelia’s parents split up and she now lives with her mum and Aunt Tanner in Pennsylvania while her dad lives in New York. They don’t see each other very often.

Besides being sweet and hilarious, Gownley’s stories can help kids cope when their own homes get a little mussed up. In fact, almost all of Amelia’s friends have a less than ideal home situation. Not all families are the same, and we should all remember that. This series is one of the best examples of kids from "broken homes" still being kids while dealing with situations that are beyond them. There are eight collections out so far, and you can find out more at the Amelia Rules! website.

Owly by Andy Runton

A truly all-ages comic that features beautifully drawn wordless panels that require no reading whatsoever. Owly is an adorable little vegetarian owl who befriends all sorts of woodland creatures, including worms, racoons, rabbits, ducks, and many more.

Owly and his friends go on various adventures, learn many lessons, and have loads of fun, all while never saying a word. The characters communicate using word balloons that contain simple images and pictograms to let young readers know what they’re doing.

Runton’s art is adorable and very cleanly and simply communicates emotion and ideas, which can be occasionally complex. There are six black and white softcover collections and two full-colour hardback storybooks so far that collect all the Owly stories, and you can find more information at the Owly website. They even have free PDF comics available for download!

Bone by Jeff Smith

An epic fantasy adventure that no other comic, kid or adult, has ever been able to match. Follow the Bone cousins (Fone Bone, Smiley Bone, and Phoney Bone) as they find themselves in the Valley, a magical land, after being run out of Boneville. They find dragons, mountain lions, cow racing, lost princesses, and stupid, stupid Rat Creatures (and a fair amount of intelligent ones, too).

The Bone cousins and their allies in the valley must defeat Kingdok, the largest and most vicious of all Rat Creatures, and the secret power behind him, The Hooded One. Bone is a rollicking adventure story that is hilarious, sad, exciting, and… well, epic, all while being accessible to children as young as six (with maybe a little help here and there).

It’s available in multiple versions for various tastes: you can by individual volumes, of which there are nine, in either colour or black and white, or a One Volume edition that contains the entire story, and can be found in hardcover and softcover, in black and white and in colour. You can find more information at Jeff Smith’s website Boneville.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

There’s not much that can be said about this seminal comic strip that hasn’t already been said by people smarter than me. Quite simply, it is a masterpiece.

Watterson made us laugh and think every day for over ten years, and he is still doing it with kids today who have never heard of it before beyond those truly obnoxious "Calvin Peeing" images.

At its most basic, Calvin and Hobbes is about a boy named Calvin and the adventures he has with his anthropomorphic tiger friend, Hobbes, who everybody else sees simply a stuffed toy tiger.

Calvin clearly has a very healthy imagination, using it to go back in time be a dinosaur, or visit far-off planets, but he and Hobbes also discuss important issues of the day, like politics, environmentalism, public education, and even philosophical issues.

Calvin and Hobbes are so named because of John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, after all (and if you don’t know who they are, shame on you! go look them up on Wikipedia; we’ll wait). The Calvin and Hobbes strips are available in multiple collections, but I would strongly recommend splurging and picking up the The Complete Calvin and Hobbes slipcase edition.

It’s available in both hardcover and softcover, but that hardcover is just beautiful.

There are other comics for kids your child would enjoy too - like Akiko, Johnny Boo, Tiny Titans, PS238, etc. Stop looking down on all comics and find the ones that are great for you!

Republished with permission from Monsters Under the Bed.

Written by

theAsianparent

comics for kidseducational comics for kidschild's writing