Never too old for this

Light Moment

Ask voracious readers about their favourite books that they would like to read over and over again and they will surely name some comic book or the other.

Comics have always captured the imagination of book lovers. And psychologists even say that comics have a positive effect on readers, be it old or young.  Every person’s growing up years are influenced by comics – ‘Archies’, Ramayana, Mahabharata and tales from the Panchatantra have been instrumental in shaping one’s thought and igniting the imagination.

Metrolife interacted with a few people across the City who spoke about how comics have been an important part of their life. Comics, with myth­ology as base, build a strong sense of history and strengthen knowledge of mythology among young people. Pankaj, a professional says, “I used to collect the Amar Chitra Katha series and I can say that most of my knowledge of history has been gathered from them.”

Like Pankaj, many adults agree that the graphic in these books make mythology easy to understand and remember. In fact, parents too like to introduce their children to comics at an early age, “When I just started reading, some of my first books were comics and I found them to be interesting. Today, I want to introduce my child to comics because I feel it’s a great way to encourage reading and it also fuels the learning process,” says Madhuri, a parent.

Apart from the Indian comics, the international ones have also found a place among many comic lovers. Kids are enamoured by super heroes like ‘Superman’, ‘Batman’ and ‘Spiderman’. Prateek, a student, says that super heroes took him into a whole new imaginary world altogether. “Many of these heroic stories came with a moral in the end which was very inspiring to me as a child,” he adds.

Although Mukunda, a student, used to love his share of ‘Asterix’ and ‘Tintin’, he observes that comics for him were nothing more than a pastime. “Once I passed out of school, I hardly had any time for comics. But when I get really stressed out, I flip through some of my old comic books and feel a great sense of relief,” he says. Agrees Shamanth, another student, “As much as they are entertaining, comics have a positive effect as one can recall some of the characters one reads as a child.”

Says Anuraddha, a psychologist, that not only does an occasional reading of comics refresh one’s mind, the moral narrated, with the help of pictures, have a lasting impact on children.