How Do You Foster The Next Generation Of Comics Readers?

Last night I was going through my emails, cleaning out my inbox like everyone needs to do every so often when I stumbled upon something from Lulu.com. If you're not familiar with Lulu, it's a print-on-demand company that allows independent writers to get physical copies of their books to readers without having to purchase 500 paperbacks from a printer. Anyway, I breezed through the email without really reading it when it caught my attention that it was promoting a contest for kids. The prize of the contest?

To have a Marvel Comics artist draw the character created by one lucky child.

The impetus behind the contest is My Comic Book, a kit that allows kids to create their own comic book. The kit, designed by Creations By You, comes with pages, pens, markers, pencils and erasers, and an instruction booklet to help them through the comic creation process. However, that's not all. The kit also comes with a pre-paid envelope which can be used to send the comic book out to have it professional printed and assembled and sent back to the child, crediting them as the creator in an "About the Author" feature.

I cannot express how excited I am that something like this exists. The fact that I fall outside their demographic age-wise notwithstanding, I love the idea of fostering an appreciation of the arts in children, giving them an outlet for their creativity. And in the form of comic books to boot.

Comic book properties are particularly hot lately...in many other media such as movies, television and toys. But all of that attention doesn't necessarily translate into new comic sales, meaning the characters are getting so much attention but the comic book industry is missing out. However if a child can get the joy of seeing their name in print on something they created, it may draw them into the wonderful world of comic books, creating a new generation of readers and enhancing the depths of comics in general. It may even entice kids to look at becoming artists or writers in the industry as their future profession.

Bat Family by Ryan Benjamin, from his DeviantArt page

But let's go back to the prize of the contest, getting the chance to have their characters drawn by Ryan Benjamin. Benjamin has an amazing body of work, including Batman Beyond and Teen Titans for DC Comics and Iron Man for Marvel and well as a number of other projects. So to have an artist of that caliber interpret a kid's creation would be an exciting prospect.

If you have or know a child that loves to make art, the My Comic Book kit would be a great gift for them, especially with Christmas right around the corner. If you want to check out the official rules for the contest, head over to My Kid's Comic. You have until January 15th to create something for the chance to have it drawn by Ryan Benjamin so if you want your kid to be in the running, they better get started!