Tonight our Library is hosting a talk by comic book artist Don Kramer, current penciler on DC's Detective Comics. Don's visit set me thinking about libraries' and that venerable art form, the comic book. It's true, lately; comics have crept their way into public libraries, but only under their high minded secret identities, "The Graphic Novel." I personally don't know any libraries that subscribe to a monthly comics title. The attitude still remains that comics are for the simple minded and that they don't constitute real productive reading. Let's consider for a moment the impact comics creator Stan Lee has had on our culture. For starters, he co-created Spider-Man, The Hulk, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Daredevil and legions more. I'd like to know what other writer has had more of his characters featured in their own movies. If movies are not high minded enough, a Spider-Man quote written by Lee is on a plaque outside the Rhode Island Attorney General's office, "With great power, also comes great responsibility." I sure want my Attorney General to keep that in mind! I'll admit, I loved and still love comics. I think their impact on me was all positive. By the time I was twelve years old I knew what "doppelganger" and "verisimilitude" meant. Do you? I learned those words in "simple minded" comics. In primary school I was in the advanced reading class because of comics, though my teacher wouldn't acknowledge it. Reading and vocabulary isn't the only positive impact comics have had on me. Because, of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, and John Byrne, I taught myself how to do this:


I'm not sure who I'd be without comics; though I am sure I don't want to know.

Steve Bertrand
Assistant Director