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Comics, reading and primary aged children

Article · January 2007

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70 Education and Health Vol.25 No.4, 2007

Dr. Paul Aleixo is a senior lecturer at DeMontfort University and the co-author of 'Biological psychology: An Illustrated Survival Guide' a student
textbook written in comics format for publication in 2008 by John Wiley and Sons. Dr. Claire Norris is an academic who spent many years in
higher education teaching and researching in psychology prior to becoming a freelance writer.
For correspondence - email: paleixo@dmu.ac.uk

Paul Aleixo and Claire Norris

Comics, Reading and Primary Aged Children
C omics are often associated with
cheapness, poor quality and
disposability. Rarely have comics been seen
entertainment. McCloud (1993) noted that
we need to disassociate the form of comics
from their content. In other words, while we
as appropriate reading material for children. associate the medium of comics with
Milliard and Marsh (2001) summarised juvenile humorous characters and
the feelings about comics: superheroes these are not their only possible
"Boys' comics have been thought to subject matter.
promote violence, girls' to induce a soppy
passivity based on a preoccupation with A Short History of Comics
domesticity, appearance and dress which Most traditional 'histories' of comics
denies girls' agency in the adult world". (p. begin around the turn of the 20th Century.
26). However, McCloud (1993) has pushed this
They argued that as a society we do not back by several thousand years and notes
value visual literacy and that a progression examples of early comics in Ancient
in reading sophistication is assumed from Egyptian art and in the Bayeux tapestry.
picture books to full text books. Early With the advent of western printing
readers rely on pictures while good readers methods, comics began to expand. One
use the text alone. early example is 'The Tortures of Saint
Despite these problems however, we are Erasmus' published around 1460. William
suggesting that comics can make good Hogarth's series of paintings (later printed
reading materials for children. as engravings) called 'A Harlot's Progress'
(1732) are 'comics' since they were displayed
Defining Comics in a specific order so that the sequence of
The clearest definition of comics comes paintings told a story.
from McCloud (1993) who defined comics as The title of 'father' of modern comics is
'juxtaposed pictorial and other images in usually given to Rudolphe Töpffer who
deliberate sequence, intended to convey produced satiric stories in the mid 1800s that
information and/or to produce an aesthetic employed many of the conventions of
response in the viewer' (p. 9). modern comics. These led on to caricatures
Most people can recognise comics: in magazines that eventually developed into
sequences of pictures accompanied by the comics we know today. It seems
dialogue in word balloons or other text in therefore, that comics have a long and
captions. The point is that it is the sequence (fairly) distinguished history.
that is important in comics, so single panel
cartoons, for example, cannot be considered Academic Interest in Comics
comics. Early academic interest in comics was
Bender (1999) argues that because comics generally derisive. The most famous
are a relatively new medium they have often example was by American psychiatrist
been treated as a less than legitimate form of Frederic Wertham (1954). He argued that
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Vol.25 No.4, 2007 Education and Health 71

comics were responsible for increased levels Oshiro, 1982).

of delinquency in children. This led to a set
of congressional hearings by the US Do Children Read Comics?
government to ascertain the validity of his Reading surveys by Davis & Brember
argument. While the hearings found no (1993); and Worthy, Moorman & Turner
evidence to support Wertham's proposition, (1999) found that comics are in the top three
it resulted in a voluntary system of choices of reading materials for primary
censorship amongst American comics aged children. Millard (1997) and Hall &
publishers. There have been other similar Coates (1999) found that boys tended to read
'crusades' against comics in different english comics more than girls.
speaking countries (see Barker,1989). In a study involving over 18,000 children,
Wertham's attacks on comics lacked any McKenna, Kear and Ellsworth (1991) found
serious theoretical or empirical foundation that the proportion of boys reporting
and modern investigations have suggested reading comics rose significantly from
that the link between violence and comics is around 69% to 75% from the first to the sixth
not well established. year in school. For girls they reported a
Nevertheless, many authors believe that significant decline from 60% in the first year
the impact of Wertham's criticisms is still to 50% in the sixth.
being felt and has kept mainstream comics Worthy et al. (1999) and Ujiie & Krashen
from developing as a true medium and (1996) found that children who read comics
hence contributed to the enduring image of also read other books.
comics as poor children's entertainment.
It is worth pointing out that some Comics and Reading
countries and cultures have embraced Arlin and Roth (1978) found that comics
comics much more strongly than in the did not help poor readers. They did
United States or Great Britain. In mainland acknowledge that children were interested
Europe, comics are seen as a valuable in comics but they felt that the time spent
medium appealing to children and adults looking at the pictures in comics was
alike. Even more dramatic is the comics distracting. However, it may be that these
(manga) industry in Japan. There, comics authors assumed that the only value of
the size of telephone directories sell to 'reading' comics is about reading just the
adults in millions every week. words rather than becoming involved in the
It wasn't until the 1980s that mainstream story.
comics began to be taken more seriously More recent work on comics and reading
both in terms of content and style. It is has been more positive. Millard and Marsh
notable that the concept of the 'graphic (2001) evaluated a scheme whereby primary
novel' gained popularity at this time. aged children were given a class library of
Along with this, comics have begun to be comics that they were allowed to take home.
investigated academically. There have been They found that children liked taking
attempts to study the role of comics as tools comics home; their teachers felt comics
for teaching different subjects including encouraged reading; and felt that reading
sociology and descriptive writing (e.g see comics would help children to interpret
Burns, 1999; Snyder, 1997). Additionally, the books with pictures and text and finally that
role of comics and general comprehension fathers and older brothers became more
and memory (Brooks, 1977); and perceptual involved in reading with their children.
skills (Singh, 1981) has been investigated as In a theoretical paper, Hallenbeck (1976)
well as research into comics as a suggested that comics could be used to help
'pictographic' language (e.g. Fischer, 1984; children with learning difficulties. He
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72 Education and Health Vol.25 No.4, 2007

suggested a number of conventions in children. For example, there are 'tie ins' to
comics that may be of benefit to those with films and cartoons that children already
dyslexia and similar educational needs. He watch. Furthermore, we would argue that
pointed particularly to the left-to-right comics should form part of the broader
organisation of comics' panels, the use of selection of reading material available to
simple upper case letters and the use of children and they have the advantage that
symbols and context to help with they deal with stories and are thus more
comprehension. allied to books rather than periodicals.
The violence argument can be avoided by
Can comics help reading? careful examination of the available comics.
Clearly, more research is needed to We would urge those responsible for
examine the effects of comics on reading choosing children's reading materials to
ability in children. However, currently examine the comics first.
some conclusions are possible: Finally, there is the fact that one of the
· Firstly, children choose to read comics. criticisms of comics is unfounded. The idea
· Secondly, those that read comics also that comics are more immature reading
tend to read other materials. materials because they employ images
· Thirdly, there is little evidence of shows a misunderstanding of the comics
detrimental effects of reading comics. medium and also denies the lack of a
It seems apparent, therefore, that theoretical or empirical support for this idea
children should be encouraged to read in the first place.
comics. The bottom line is that the enjoyment of
In addition, comics are now available for reading can be fostered by the use of comics
a range of different ages and in more regardless of whether children graduate to
durable an accessible formats. The subject text only reading or not. They will be, after
matter of comics is increasingly more wide all, enjoying their reading experiences.
ranging and goes beyond the familiar
juvenile humour and super-heroes. Reading Suggestions
Additionally, comics publishers are For those unfamiliar with modern comics
producing better quality material, both in we would first suggest looking at
terms of content and format. 'Understanding Comics' by Scott McCloud,
Having said this, there is still a great deal published by Harper Collins. This is an in-
of 'room for improvement', especially in the depth investigation of comics written in
need for comics that appeal to girls and for comics format. It is not recommended for
comics that are produced in the UK. children but may give you an idea of the
The other reason that we believe comics possibilities in comics.
should be offered to children as reading The suggestions below are not an
materials is the impact that they are likely to exhaustive list but rather a sampler of
have on the development of visual literacy possibilities.
which is increasingly a greater part of our
lives in the 21st century. Comics for Primary Aged Children
However, even if after examining the 'Little Lit' books edited by Art
variety of comics available you don't believe Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly and
that the material can help reading and you published by Harper Collins. These are
don't accept the visual literacy argument, we three large hard backed books containing
still believe that children should have access short stories for younger readers in comic
to comics for reading. format. The first volume called 'Modern
Firstly, we know that comics interest Fairy Tales' is especially worth a look.
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Vol.25 No.4, 2007 Education and Health 73

'Go Girl' by Trina Robbins and Anne Davies, J., & Brember, I. (1993). Comics or stories?
Timmons, published by Dark Horse. There Differences in reading attitudes and habits of girls and
are several volumes of these written by boys in years 2, 5, and 6.
Gender and Education, 5, 305-319.
women for younger girls (aged about 8-12).
Marvel Comics have published several Fischer, H. (1984). Ecriture phonetique et pictogrammes
volumes of 'Mary Jane' and 'Spider-Man dans les bandes dessinees.
loves Mary Jane' that appeal mostly to girls Communications, 9, 191-200.
between 8 and 12. These have been Hall, C., & Coles, M. (1999). Children's Reading Choices.
described as 'Teen Romance' comics. London: Routledge.
'Abadazad - the Road to inconceivable'
Hallenbeck, P. (1976). Remediating with comic strips.
and 'Abadazad - the Dream Thief' by J.M.
Journal of Learning Disabilities, 9, 11-5.
DeMatteis and Mike Ploog, published by
Harper Collins. These are fantasy adventure McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding Comics: The invisible
books in a mixture of comics and prose. art. Northampton, MA: Tundra.
DC Comics also publishes comics that are McKenna, M., Kear, D., & Ellsworth, R. (1991).
related to cartoon series. Comics such as the Developmental trends in children's use of print media: A
'Justice League Adventures', 'Superman national survey.
Adventures', and 'Teen Titans Go!'. These National Reading Conference Yearbook, 40, 319-324.
are based on television cartoons and are
Millard, E. (1997). Differently Literate: the schooling of
likely to appeal to readers of around the age
boys and girls. London: Falmer Press.
of 8.
Marvel Comics also publishes what they Millard, E., & Marsh, J. (2001). Sending Minnie the Minx
describe as 'All Ages' comics that appeal to home: Comics and reading choices. Cambridge Journal
readers aged 10 and younger. These are of Education, 31, 25-38.
known as 'Marvel Adventures' books. Oshiro, Y. (1982). A factor analysis of the affective
There are obviously many other comics meaning of comic books: Multidimensional Scaling of
that we urge you to investigate (most public perceiving comic strips.
libraries now have a comics or graphic novel The Science of Reading, 26, 1-9.
section).
Singh, A. (1981). Impact of comics reading on perceptual
References skills. Psychological Studies, 26, 86-87.

Arlin, M., & Roth, G. (1978). Pupil's use of time while Snyder E. (1997). Teaching the sociology of sport: using
reading comic books. American Educational Research a comic strip in the classroom.
Journal, 15, 201-216. Teaching Sociology, 25, 239-243.
Barker, M. (1989). Comics: Ideology, Power and the
Ujiie, J., & Krashen, S.(1996). Comic book reading,
Critics. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
reading enjoyment andpleasure among middle class and
Bender, H. (1999). The Sandman Companion. New York: chapter 1 middle school students.
Vertigo. Reading Improvements, 33, 51-54.

Brooks, P. (1977). The role of action lines in children's Wertham, F. (1954). Seduction of the Innocent. New York:
memory for pictures. Journal of Experimental Child Rinehart and Co.
Psychology, 23, 98-107.
Worthy, J., Moorman, M., & Turner, M. (1999). What
Burns, R. (1999). Comics in the classroom. Johnny likes to read is hard to find in school. Reading
Exercise Exchange, 45, p31-32. Research Quarterly, 34, 12-27.

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