Free Comic Book Saturday

Just One More Book

Today marks the annual Free Comic Book Day celebrated at comic book stores everywhere. As a comic book geek I love this day. Now I have come to love this day because it afforded me the opportunity to introduce the greatness of comics to my nephew and niece. Some of my fondest memories with my son Kevin are those of taking him to the comic book store or the book store. He knew how to play me. What father is going to tell their son they can't have "just one more book?"

Parents Who Read
One other reason I like this day is because I know that comics played a large role in me becoming a life long reader. My mother fostered that early by giving me comics and later by sharing her books. Stacey and I have passed that on to our children. Now Kevin is grown and married, but one of his prized possessions is his library of books. Without knowing it, Stacey and I were arming our children with some of the most important tools in developing early reading skills - children seeing their parents read and reading with their parents.

Early Childhood Literacy
A recent early childhood literacy study conducted by Harvard University concluded "young children exposed to lots of early reading began talking more and showing an interest in books that provoked further shared reading with the parent and, in turn, the momentum for additional cognitive and vocabulary growth" (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Science Briefs: The Effects of Early Reading with Parents on Developing Literacy Skills, 2007). The flip side of this is that "the absence of early literary stimulation is the harbinger of sustained educational difficulties" (Jumpstart, 2009).

Vatican II & Parental Obligations
The Second Vatican Council teaches parents "that marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and education of children."  Furthermore, the Council instructed parents that they “should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those [to] whom it has been transmitted” (Gaudium et Spes, 50).

A Canonist's View
According to Benedict Nguyen, who is a Canon lawyer and my Canon Law professor at Ave Maria University:

In its Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis (GE) 3, the Vatican Council also forcefully reminds parents of this natural-law right and obligation to educate their children, teaching: “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators.” Vatican II’s decree on the apostolate of the laity, Apostolicam Actuositatem (13), places a duty on Christian married partners “strenuously to affirm the right and duty of parents and guardians to educate children in a Christian manner.” Likewise, Pope John Paul II affirms the right and duty of parents to provide for the education of their children by calling the right not only “essential” but also “irreplaceable and inalienable and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others.” (Familiaris Consortio, 36)

Marching Orders
Parents, go out and get some free comics for your children. Help them develop a love for reading and love for learning. Helping them love reading will equip them to be life long learners. If you are worried that comics have become too "adult," the comic book publishers and stores have made kid friendly issues available for free too.

Avengers Assemble:Our Need for Heroes

Image from Marvel

By the time you read this post, The Avengers, the new Marvel movie based on the comic book by the same name, will have premiered throughout the U.S. It has already been released to large crowds in Europe. Our daughter Tiffany, who is in Budapest working for Campus Crusade, bragged last week on Facebook how she had gotten to see the movie before us. My lame response was that at least we could get good Mexican food any day we wanted.

Growing up I was a big fan of The Avengers because Captain America was the leader of the team. I don't know if it was the red, white and blue uniform or the shield, but I wanted to be him. I still own several of his comic books and a few t-shirts too. Most of us grew up dreaming of being heroes, idolizing them in cartoons, comic books and movies. We are wired to seek out heroes. The ancient Greeks had the stories of Odysseus and Jason and the Argonauts. We see heroes portrayed throughout the literature crossing over cultures and time. In fact, Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, described this recurring theme as the monomyth. He summarized the monomtyth in his best known work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces as "A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

As I was doing the research for this post, I couldn't help think that these are all types reflecting the thirst for THE hero, the God-Man - Jesus Christ. All year, as I have struggled through my studies in the Ave Maria University IPT program, I have kept coming back to St. Augustine's famous line from his Confessions: "Lord, our hearts are restless until they rest in You." I think this may also point to one of the reasons that we have the Communion of Saints. They are our spiritual heroes. Unlike the super-heroes of comic books, we can be like them by aligning our lives with the will of God.

I can't go see The Avengers this weekend because I have my final classes for the IPT. Stacey and I are going to try and see it next week and hopefully I can write a review then. Steven Greydanus who writes for the National Catholic Register and Decentfilms has written a great review of the movie already.

If you liked this, you might be interested in reading these:

Catholic Views on Harry Potter
The Hunger Games: Advice for Catholic Parents