The Comic Book--A Forgotten Medium in the Classroom.

Abstract

THE COMIC book has been a part of American culture since 1933?four and one-half decades. Weekly and Sunday comic strips have been around for twice that time, in newspapers in many different countries and languages. Indeed, the comics have endured because they have interested and excited child, adolescent and adult alike. Line, color and print on the comic page interact, first to attract the eye and then to draw the mind into a world of fantasy and fun. The comic book has provided satisfying leisure reading for millions of children throughout the world. In spite of this, there is a paucity of articles on comics in educational literature. Knowledge about this source of classroom reading material may help the teacher in using it wisely. Children's interest in comics As reading teachers we must rec ognize the fact that comics appeal to large numbers of children and that such an appeal is normal. Let's look at the facts. Sinkovec, Tiefenbacher and Finger (1978) listed 113 different children's comic book titles released to U.S. newsstands during June 1978. Most of these titles have a monthly press run exceeding 50,000 copies. Millions of comic books distributed and purchased annually attest to children's interest in the medium. Studies on children's reading in terests during the past four decades support the fact that children enjoy reading comics. Dechant and Smith (1977) have summarized research studies on children's reading interests which indicate that the comic book is popular with primary, intermediate

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