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WHY READING COMICS MAKES YOU SMARTER

POSTED BY BEN RIGGS ON FEBRUARY 15, 2016

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COMICS & BOOKS LIFESTYLE

Evidence and research is stacking up to prove that comic books make their readers smarter. Comics
make you want to read, and they use complex language which improves verbal intelligence. Like steroids
for the mind, comics can even take struggling readers and make them stronger!

THE OLD LIE

Society at large has long frowned upon comics.
During the 1950s, they were slandered as base
entertainment for children and immature adults
which would turn readers into
hoodlums and degenerates or communists.

And while that has all changed and comics have

risen to become the string section in the symphony
of our culture, with a select few titles (Sandman,
Watchmen, and Maus) even praised as high art,
there still lurks the suspicion that comics are in some
way an intellectually inferior endeavor. Theyre so
thin, so colorful, and just so enjoyable, the thinking
goes, that they cant be good for you.

Put a copy of Watchmen on a table next to War &

Peace, and one cannot but help be struck by the Why cant you read real books, with less weirdos
look of the two of them. The great Russian novel is in em? asked abuela.
so thick with authority that it could crush Alan
Moores superhero opus with just its footnotes. War & Peace burgeons with abstruse references to early
19th century Russian Freemasonry and long digressions on the events of the year 1812. Only the most
patient and persistent of readers complete it. Watchmen, with its capes, conspiracies, fantastic drawings,
and modern setting seems to ask less of the reader. But Watchmen is such a compelling book that in
2008 alone, it likely sold over one million copies.

Classic novels are generally harder to read, and it is widely thought

that this inherent challenge makes the novel a superior thing. Like

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eating kale salad or working out, the unpleasantness of the task in

some way makes it more noble, and better for you.

Scholastic puts the prejudice against comics this way, Some parents
and educators may feel that graphic novels are not the type of
reading material that will help young people grow as readers. They
may cling to the belief that graphic novels are somehow a bad
influence that undermines real readingor they may dismiss graphic
novels as inferior literature, or as not real books.'

In other words, comic books seem too fun to be good for you.

This is a lie. Or at least untrue.

READ MORE, READ BETTER

Like horse pills, shots, and trips
to the dentist, reading this is Suprisingly, the fun of reading comics which has for so long been
hard and somewhat unpleasant. viewed with suspicion is one of the reasons that comics are good for
So it must be good for you, right? you.

It is the very enjoyment of reading comics that makes comic readers

smarter. Children, for example, read more if they have comics available to them. Scholastic
writes, School librarians and educators have reported outstanding success getting kids to read with
graphic novels, citing particularly their popularity with reluctant readers.

Increasing the amount of reading is important because extensive reading has been proven to have all
sorts of salutary effects, such as improving vocabulary. In 2009, Laura Jimenez of Boston
University observed that school librarians were having trouble keeping graphic novels on the shelves.
She is now conducting research to link the reading of graphic novels to student motivation to read.

COMICS: MORE ELOQUENT THAN A COLLEGE GRADUATE

Like-minded research has already been done by literacy professors at California State University,
Northridge. Anne E. Cunningham and Keith E. Stanovich discovered a number of fascinating benefits of
comics, such as linking the reading of comics to greater literacy skills.

Cunningham and Stanovich solidly dispel the notion that the language
of comics writing is base, low, or gutterspeak. To learn language and
improve vocabulary, readers must be exposed to complicated
language. To measure the utility of different media for this end,
Cunningham and Stanovich analyzed the language used in different
mediums such as television, childrens books, adult books, and yes,
comic books. They also analyze the oral language used by college
graduates. In the analysis, the pair uncovered the gob-smacking fact
that the language used by comics is far more advanced than that the
oral communication of college graduates, and uses almost twice as
many rare or difficult words! Even more remarkably, comic books often
use more challenging language than childrens literature.

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Comics make you smarter, but Cunningham and Stanovich close by stating, [W]e should provide all
no one has yet solved the children, regardless of their achievement levels, with as many reading
puzzle of how to keep warm experiences as possible. Indeed, this becomes doubly imperative for
when cosplaying as Dr. precisely those children whose verbal abilities are most in need of
Manhattan. bolstering, for it is the very act of reading that can build those
capacities Those who read a lot will enhance their verbal intelligence;
that is, reading will make them smarter.

HOW COMIC BOOKS SAVED DAN HURLEY

An example of comics leading to more reading leading to
increased intelligence can be found in the tale of Dan Hurley, a
science writer and journalist who has written for The New York
Times Magazine and The Washington Post. Hes impressive
now, but in 1960s New Jersey, Hurley was labeled a slow
learner and dumb kid. By his own admission, he couldnt so
much as read the word the by the time he was eight.

What took him from the short bus to an office in a skyscraper?

Comics.

In an article for The Guardian, Hurley says a friend got him into
Spider-Man, and soon the pair of them were reading and writing
comics for hours after school. By the time, he was 11, Hurley was
getting straight As, and in college, Hurley scored a 136 on an IQ
test.

Hurley directly credits comics with transforming his life. He became the intellectual he is today because
of the extraordinary impact of Spider-Man by that great literary genius, Stan Lee. Dan Hurleys story
demonstrates what the research proves: reading comics makes you smarter and can transform your life
for the better. So go ahead, pick up the latest Saga or Ms. Marvel. Its fun you can feel good about.

Feature image courtesy DC Comics

Photos courtesy of Beau Elkins, Vintage Classics, Ryan Quick, and Dan Hurley

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