When my daughter asked me “what should I read?” I told her to get a comic to which she repiled she didn’t like comics! 😳 Was I a dumbstruck mama or what? I literally went “whaaa?!”.
I remember a time when there were Archie and Amar Chitra Katha comics in every nook and cranny of my childhood home. It boggles the mind why my daugther said she did not like comics! Maybe I should get her barbie ones *shudder*!
Comics were a staple in our house where I was known to borrow ‘Archies’ and never return them. (You can imagine how that turned out!) The gentleness of Charlie Brown, the sarcastic wit of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, the smugness of Garfield- comics trigger happy memories. I’d have a stupid smile on my face everytime I got new or old ones! This was my favourite kind of entertainment. They were read and re-read and re-re-read.
When we used to come to Kerala for our summer breaks (we lived in Dubai for around 10years, way back in1986), I would get bundles of Amar Chitra Katha comics to take back. This was the embodiment of my knowledge about Indian folklore and that impossibly brainy/cheeky guy called Birbal for a long time.
Asterix and Obelisk, and Tintin were horribly expensive, but my brother’s friend used to loan them to him (guess who read it first). But Archie, Betty and Veronica, and Jughead(my kinda guy) were more easily purchased. I felt as if they were my friends too, hanging out with me and being obnoxious in general. (Warning: This kind of thinking bears no resemblance to the Russell Crowe character in the movie A Beautiful Mind). These comics had a charm of their own. I’m not sure why we didn’t have more of DC or Marvel publications though.
Why doesn’t my daughter like comics? I am trying to understand (I give up , I can’t find a reason). It’s a whole new world of quirky behaviour, awe-inspiring illustrations with little nuggets of wisdom tucked in spunky, relatable dialogue.
Peter Parker/Spiderman in All-New Captain America Special #1: “We’re not just our failures. As much as they hurt, we learn from them. Then we go out there and do our best….”.
My favourite character has to be Charlie Brown or maybe Calvin, who’s yours?
With Words 