Comics for Education & Self-Improvement

In September 1974, Issue 42 of “Conan The Barbarian” announced that Marvel had just teamed up with the Children’s Television Workshop (which produced TV shows “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company”) to publish a new magazine featuring Spider-Man.  The new magazine, “SPIDEY,” was intended to help children improve their reading skills.  In his column, Stan Lee also announced that Bowling Green University had just produced a TV documentary entitled “Comics: Birth of An American Art Form,” which approached comics “as a legitimate intellectual activity.”

In "Conan The Barbarian" Issue 43, reader Jean Daniel Breque from France wrote “I can write this letter because of your comics, ‘Conan’ in particular.  Comics are perfect as educational material, as some American teachers have already proven in your columns.”  The staff thanked Jean for “brightening” their day, and mentioned that, a few years previously, the author of The Godfather, Mario Puzo, had also thanked Marvel Comics for teaching his son to read “when the public schools failed.” 

Not only were Marvel's comic books helping children to read, and helping young adults to learn foreign languages, but these simple stories helped them reflect on their lives, and their own place in the world.  Jean congratulates Roy Thomas for writing atypical, non-formulaic stories, in which he tries “to build a coherent universe, with all its different people, each with their different customs, behaviors, and speech-patterns.  In the background of your stories, a whole new world is revealed to us, and this is why ‘Conan’ is one of the most realistic magazines: it does not reproduce reality, but creates it instead.” 

Another reader, Bill Blyberg of Massachusetts, complemented the writing of Issue 39, which contained the story “The Dragon of the Inland Sea” (see “Rare Conan Coins: Part 2” for a synopsis).  He discussed Conan’s role in the story, as well as which characters faced the most difficult moral decisions.  While “it looks like a battle against a religious cult, with a weak ruler deciding to fight for his city…actually, it is a man trying to decide whether or not to strike back against his brother, who must be mad.”  Again and again, letters reprinted in “Conan The Barbarian” demonstrate readers who evaluate the quandaries of various character’s moral choices, and the merits of the stories they cherish. 

Our favorite stories can help us make our daily decisions, form long-term plans, and structure our reality.  Like any tool, their use is only limited by our imagination.  Jean’s love of comic books helped him learn a second language.  How might you use your favorite stories to improve yourself, and benefit your world?

For more on Stan Lee's career, how he elevated the art of comics, and his view on the importance of his characters' morals, follow the related Internet link to read an interview with the man they call Mr. Marvel.  Excelsior!

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries

Rare Conan Coins: Part 2

Related Internet Links
The National Endowment of the Arts presents "Artworks" with Stan Lee