T H E T U S C A R O R A R E V I E W 2 0 2 2 1 The Power of Comic Books B Y M I C H E A L H U N T Most adults have memories of parents reading classic books to them at bedtime such as The Gingerbread Man or The Hungry Caterpillar. However, that was not my introduction to reading. I was more interested in the web slinging superhero swinging his way through New York’s crowded streets. I saw Spiderman and knew that comic books were more my reading style than boring traditional children’s books. The vibrant illustrations and heroic characters were enough to hook me from the early age of four and have not lost their appeal twenty something years later. I was engrossed in the heroes’ and villains’ rivalries and was always cheering on my favorite protagonists to come out on top and teach the bad guys a valuable lesson. At four-years-old, I could not read books on my own and my mother was working fulltime to provide a life for myself and my sister, so she did not have the time to read to us. I did not have a huge interest in reading until that Spiderman comic ended up in my little hands, opening a love for reading I would not soon forget. It was so easy to understand even without being able to read it word for word. I knew the action that was being portrayed on the pages in front of me. The way he leaped between buildings and slung his web at the villains, trapping them to the nearest structure, made me want to get my hands on more and more comics. The thought and time put into creating a comic was not lost on me. I even tried my hand at writing my own comic, Reign. I was only eleven or twelve when I decided to create Reign, so it was obviously not Stan Lee quality, but I put a lot of thought and energy into this character. He was pushed into a vat of water by the school bully, was resuscitated, and unknowingly acquired the superpower to control water. With a wave of his hand he could wipe out an entire block with a sudden flash flood, taking out his nemesis in the process. I was not one to write without it being for a grade, so I was surprised to catch myself reading and writing all because of a comic book years prior to this attempt to author my own
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