When I was younger, Archie comics served as my constant companions. I was hooked on Betty, Veronica, Archie, Reggie, Jughead, Moose, Ethel, etc. and their drama filled story blocks. I actually still have all of them in boxes under my bed at home. Comics are just easier to understand. Not only do you have the dialogue but like in movies or television, you also have the picture to go along with it.

Comics also help with the visualization of a novel. Due in part to my comic obsession and the blessing of an overactive imagination, I can read a book and completely picture the story and characters in my mind. I can create the movie adaptation of the novel in my mind. It allows me to really delve into the story because I can see the two kids walking down the road.

Sometimes, comics can be used in the academic realm. In 295, we read a novel that was actually in the form of a thick comic book. It was about a boy and the images that he conjured up in his imagination. Think Calvin and Hobbes but smarter. It was one of the easiest novels that we read because you could really see what the boy was thinking. If it had only been in traditional text form, most of what was happening would have been lost.

I think the same idea comes across in novels that have little pictures in them. Not photographs or cartoony pictures, but rather those little pencil drawn, etched things. It also for some basis of visualization for everyone who is reading the novel. It ensures that everyone is on the same page.

Perhaps we give children picture books in order to teach them the art of visualization. A small child goes from books with all pictures to books with text and pictures to books with only text. It allows children to prepare their minds in order to visualize and fully understand what their reading later in life.

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