My Relationship to Comics

I think that my overall relationship to comics while growing up was that I underappreciated them. Coming from a family that encouraged the reading of hefty novels, I always saw comics and graphic novels as "filler" media. They were what I could read if I was bored and didn't "have time" to pick up a novel.

That being said, I do enjoy reading comics and I always have. I just haven't ever really thought of them as important (I guess) when it came to what was on my bookshelf. I love the Tintin books by Hergé, and I would spend hours reading as many as I could. But because I could read them quickly, I never thought of them as doing anything for my brain, which I think comes from the education system's idea that if it's difficult to read, then it must be teaching you something.

That being said, I'm hoping that this semester will help me to appreciate comics a little more than I used to. I'd like to appreciate them more than just pre-teen me's afternoon hobby, but as actual forms of media that take time and effort to create. They aren't just for kids, after all.