By the time he was in the fourth grade my older brother had amassed quite a collection of comic books. I was in the second grade then and early in the mornings while my brother was still asleep I would sneak a few comics out of his stash and huddle up next to the heat vent and read them until it was time for breakfast and then our walk to school. I truly enjoyed those moments and it was always a bit crushing when my father, who was my hero, would notice me there, absorbed in my reading, and he would often make scornful comments like; "you'll never find a job reading comic books."
Well, my Pop left the planet many years ago but if he was still around I am sure he would be astonished to discover that these days there are actually scholars who study comic books. Comics scholarship is a growing field. I was delighted to have an opportunity to have the comics scholar Kate Polak appear on the program. In her book "Ethics in the Gutter-Empathy and Historical Fiction in Comics" the author analyzes a number of graphic narratives-we had a lively conversation about empathy and comics.
Sorry, Dad.
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