Robot 6
This Saturday, it’s International Read Comics in Public Day
Kids read comics, and eat toffee apples, as the wait outside the Oval cricket ground in London (Aug. 14, 1948)
Saturday marks the first International Read Comics in Public Day, an event established by Brian Heater and Sarah Morean to encourage fans to help promote the medium by, well, reading comics in public. On the bus, in a cafe, on a park bench — anywhere people can see you enjoying a comic. (Aug. 28 is also, appropriately enough, the birthday of comics great Jack Kirby.)
“Take to the streets. Be proud,” Heater explains. “If someone asks what you’re reading, say, ‘a comic book’ (the phrase ‘graphic novel’ is also acceptable, but let’s face it, it sort of defeats the whole purpose). Heck, lend them a book, if you’ve got an extra — what better way to make a new friend and convert a new reader?”
The event received high-profile endorsements this week from NPR’s Glen Weldon, USA Today’s Whitney Matheson and The Detroit News’ Eric Henrickson.
More information is available at the event’s website, which features a downloadable poster. There’s also a Flickr pool, to which people are encouraged to submit photos of themselves participating in International Read Comics in Public Day.
(Photo courtesy of Life.com’s wonderful “In Praise of Comics Classics” gallery.)
- August 26, 2010 @ 08:00 AM by Kevin Melrose
2 Comments
Justin Gonzalez
August 26, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I live in New York, and read comics on the subway ride home every wednesday. During the rest of the week I catch up on some graphic novels. I’ve been celebrating this holiday everyday for quite a while. Hopefully I’ll see a bunch more people reading in public this Saturday.
DC Women Kicking Ass
August 27, 2010 at 9:03 am
There’s also “Women Read Comics in Public”, an initiative to show off the many women who read comics. You can read about it here http://dcwomenkickingass.tumblr.com/post/1008979666/womenreadcomicsinpublic