Well, well, well…vindication at long last! It appears that some recent studies by Professor Carol L. Tilley (pictured below) at the University of Illinois found that children reading comic books is just as beneficial as reading traditional forms of literature. Huh, shocking…I could have told you that when I was 12 and I managed to navigate my way through endless hours of reading my Dad’s uber collection of classic comics. And despite my dork musings at an early age (i.e., being more concerned with details of superhero stories vs. US history or those bothersome family/friends’ birthdays), my reading and comprehension skills were well developed…or so the results of my CTBS tests told me (remember that shit??).
Anyway, no need to blabber on about this fine bit of research, you can follow the links in the blog and read details on the study findings, Grad School, and the author. But one favor the Universal Dork asks of its loyal readers, the next time you hear someone discredit or discount youths and comics…please intelligently inform them of and pass the results of this study, in hopes to ground their arse in reality!
Score one for the superhero’s and real life super-heroines like Dr. Tilley!
Link to Phyorg.com article on Comics and Kids
Link to University of Illinois Graduate School for Library and Informational Science
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