{"id":2729,"date":"2019-09-03T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2729"},"modified":"2024-01-09T16:08:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T00:08:06","slug":"maggies-world-074-school-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-074-school-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 074: School Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 074: School Days<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Back In The Day, September meant summer was over, and it was time to turn from vacation to books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including comic books. Because we could continue to read just for fun, even as we opened textbooks devoted to math, science, and history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

In the 1940s and 1950s, few public schools encouraged students to look at comics as part of their quest for knowledge\u2014though Jim Shooter has noted on his website that he learned many \u201cnew words\u201d from the four-color world. He specified \u201cbouillabaisse,\u201d found in a Donald Duck tale and used to win a gold star in a \u201cgood word\u201d competition in first grade in the 1950s. \u201cI knew what indestructible meant, could spell it, and would have cold-bloodedly used it to win another gold star if I hadn\u2019t been banned from competition after bouillabaisse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the comics themselves, Archie Andrews became involved with challenges at Riverdale High School in the second adventure after his introduction. The first story had been by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana in MLJ\u2019s Pep Comics<\/em> #22 (December 1941). Soon, the teens\u2019 interactions with principal and teachers became a fundamental basis for adventures of Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty, and Veronica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mr. McNabbem gained a name (but didn\u2019t catch Lulu) in\u00a0Little Lulu\u00a0<\/em>#48 (June 1952) \u00a9 2019 Classic Media, Inc. \u201cThe Boy Who Proved the Impossible!\u201d (drawn by Curt Swan and Sy Barry) showed a challenge for schoolboy Superboy.\u00a0Superboy<\/em>\u00a0#28 (Oct 1953) \u00a9 2019 DC Comics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marjorie Henderson Buell\u2019s Little Lulu was introduced in 1935 as a prankster in her first appearance in The Saturday Evening Post<\/em>. In the John Stanley stories offered in Dell\u2019s comics line, she was shown to be a girl who aimed to do her best in school. Nevertheless, story after story featured her in farcical conflict with the school\u2019s truant officer, eventually dubbed Mr. McNabbem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some superheroes had school adventures years before Peter Parker was bitten by that radioactive spider and a bunch of mutant kids ended up at a certain professor\u2019s academy. DC\u2019s Superboy <\/em>#75 (September 1959), for example, was obviously a back-to-school issue. It included the cover-featured \u201cThe Punishment of Superboy!\u201d by Otto Binder and John Sikela in which Jonathan Kent tried spanking the invulnerable kid. It also included \u201cSuperboy\u2019s First Day at School!\u201d by Otto Binder and George Papp. (Uh oh! Don\u2019t reveal those powers, Clark!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But did public schools take such endorsements as a reason to encourage their students to read comics?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s just note that many schools had a policy endorsing teachers\u2019 confiscations of students\u2019 comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hey, did we have to read the entire novel? Or could we have just looked at the 44-page version in\u00a0Classics Illustrated<\/em>\u00a0#55 (January 1949)? \u00a9 2019 Papercutz \u201cBut, Sister\u201d!\u00a0Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact<\/em>\u00a0Vol. 7 #2 (September 27, 1951) \u00a9 2019 Geo. A. Pflaum, Publisher, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Although \u2026<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Mind you, one group of educational institutions did encourage its attendees to read comic books. Many parochial schools offered students the opportunity to order copies of Treasure Chest<\/em> of Fun and Fact<\/em>. It was nearly six years after Sterling North had called comic books \u201ca national disgrace\u201d and \u201ca poisonous mushroom growth\u201d that the 32-page first issue of Treasure Chest of Fun and Facts<\/em> was published. The plural of \u201cfact\u201d was later to become singular; in any case, it was dated March 12, 1946. Some of its contents were religious in nature (\u201cGod\u2019s Gift Is Lent,\u201d a history of Shrove Tuesday, etc.<\/em>); some consisted of other entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other early education-associated comics were what became titled Classics Illustrated <\/em>releases, which had begun (as Classic Comics<\/em>) about five years before Treasure Chest<\/em>. Circulated at newsstands, their guilty attraction for some consisted of their possible use as a substitute for school reading assignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much of that series\u2019 circulation came from such education-dodging? For example, many junior-high students before, during, and after the 1950s found George Eliot\u2019s Silas Marner <\/em>on their required-reading list. In 1949, Classics Illustrated<\/em> #55 offered the option of a four-color simplification, with script adaptation by Harry Glickman and art by Arnold Lorne Hicks. Some kids figured out that a book report might be cobbled together by the trick of referring to many of the descriptions in the captions. How did Eppie come into Marner\u2019s life? \u201cAttracted by the blazing hearth, she falls asleep on Marner\u2019s sack, drying on the bricks.\u201d Sales justified sending the title back more than 10 times for new editions. (Mind you, savvy teachers became aware of how to look for some of the shortcuts. For example, citing lack of room, the version of Crime and Punishment<\/em> in #89 omitted both the heroine and the point of Dostoyevsky\u2019s novel.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The opening of a contribution by Raina Telgemeier takes a comics approach to an educational topic; it appears in the first volume of the\u00a0Reading with Pictures<\/em>\u00a0anthology. \u00a9 2019 Raina Telgemeier. As in other books in his series, Dav Pilkey\u2019s\u00a0Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls<\/em>\u00a0sets up what amounts to an instruction on how to provide background information to new readers. \u00a9 2019 Dav Pilkey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Why Comics?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Slowly over the years, graphic stories began to find a more secure place in education. The combination of picture and text to convey information can draw many new readers to fiction and fact. And public and school libraries often contain a variety of entertainment- and information-packed comics as part of their collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s content for older readers, too. I recently bought one of Larry Gonick\u2019s Cartoon Guide <\/em>series for one of my grandsons and me. I love the clarifying picture Rick Geary provides in his dark histories. (You liked Erik Larson\u2019s Devil in the White City<\/em>? Try Geary\u2019s The Beast of Chicago<\/em> for an illuminating view.) And there\u2019s much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve selfishly recommended Scott Robins\u2019 and Snow Wildsmith\u2019s A Parent\u2019s Guide to the Best Kids\u2019 Comics <\/em>in the past. I say, \u201cSelfishly,\u201d because I helped put it together in 2012; yes, it now cries out for an update. Because, wow, the hits keep on coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bookstore chain Barnes & Noble devotes many feet of shelving to comics, many of them comics aimed at young readers\u2014including stories of school adventures. Some are even designed to inspire kids to make their own. Her webcomic Smile<\/em> quickly took award-winning Raina Telgemeier into the world of graphic novels. Jeff Kinney\u2019s \u201cWimpy Kid\u201d books combine pictures and text to deal with kids\u2019 challenges today\u2014and encourage them to keep their own picture-packed diaries. Heck, nearly a decade ago, the Reading with Pictures<\/em> anthology cover-featured the summation \u201cWe get comics into schools and get schools into comics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These Days<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Among other points to consider, when it comes to school-connected comics, consider that early 20th century adage \u201cA picture is worth 1,000 words.\u201d In comics, we get both, with pictures elaborating text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, today\u2019s comics world might even challenge one of the long-time basics for advocating comics for kids. We used to say that comic books make it clear to a young audience that reading is for entertainment, as well as for information. \u201cTeachers,\u201d we used to say, \u201cdon\u2019t assign comic books to their students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days? Many teachers do exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the first Tuesday of every month here on<\/em> Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n