Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words?

    "SNAP (1976) #spiderman #comics" by Q9F is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

    Growing up, I was always told “Stop reading comics, they are like candy for the brain.” To be fair to the people telling me this, that's all I was reading. I came to America as an immigrant not knowing much to any English. I was like 3 grades behind my entire class when it came to English and literature. I couldn't read the same books my class were reading because it would take me much much longer to finish a page. And I couldn't stand reading the pre K/Kindergarten books because it made me feel like an imbecile. So I just read comics all day. Sure you can make a very strong argument to say novels are superior, I mean they are 3 dimensional. With novels the author makes you imagine the atmosphere, the scene and the characters you are journeying with whereas in comics you are put in said scene. However one strong parallel trait with novels and comics is your put in these characters positions so you are able to connect with them more. There is a reason Spiderman is the one of the most known icon in American culture and it's because the kids who read the comic are able to connect with him much more than other characters due to the fact that he's a kid himself. The kids who read these comics are put in these characters' positions and try to picture what they would do and see how relatable the protagonist is. Not to say novels don't have that same effect, just that comics give this connection between the reader and protagonist. I don't read comics like I used to anymore, but I still see my passion for them every now and then. On Instagram there is The New Yorker Cartoons, which are like these cartoons that have rhetoric meaning behind them and every time I see one I would still get this feeling from when I was a kid.