FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS!
By FRANCO
Things happen in a Flash sometimes.
That’s how fast it can happen. When a kid gets it. When that light in their eye just clicks on.
Did you know that information in your brain can travel up to 350 miles per hour? When a neuron is stimulated, it generates an electrical impulse that travels from cell to cell.
That’s probably how fast the Flash could run from Central City to Metropolis.
Also, speaking of cities, didn’t it bother anyone else that Metropolis and Gotham were directly across the bay from each other AND IN DIRECT VISIBLE SIGHT OF EACH OTHER in the Superman vs Batman movie??? Right? Ridiculous!
Anyway, back to those traveling neurons… I’ve seen that light go on. When a kid who has been struggling with something and then it suddenly clicks for them. I’ve seen it in my classroom. I’ve seen it in kids who come up at a convention when they tell me that they have learned to read because of comics.
Why do I bring this up? I learned to read because of comics. They were the first thing to send some of those neurons upstairs to my brain and turn that light on. All from a book. The words, that is. For some reason, the pictures always made sense to me. But with the combination of words and pictures I was able to make the connections. I could infer the words. And then eventually… they made sense to me.
I like to try and make that connection in others. I’ve given plenty of comics away to kids. I’ve used them in my classroom (sometimes in spite of the judgmental stares or the vociferous opinions of others condemning it). In all honesty, sometimes students just didn’t care either, but there were those few where you could see the light go on.
In some ways I know I’m preaching to the choir if you’re reading this, but I just wanted to say, Comics are pretty darn cool. The one thing I have learned as an educator, it’s never too late to learn.
Make some new connections today. Make those neurons in your brain a new pathway. Get that Flash running those neurons up to your brain. Read something new today just for the fun of it. Make some artwork even if you never draw anything. Reach out to an old friend today, just because.
It will probably put you in a better mood faster than the Flash could run from Central City to Metropolis.
Happy Friday!
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Want more of FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!
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MORE
— The GEORGE PEREZ Comic That Inspired Me to Become a Pro. Click here.
— Introducing… FRANCO’s FREE FOR ALL FRIDAYS. Click here.
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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.
February 21, 2025
My mother “taught” me to read at age two. (Me, not her) it was 1956 and the Silver Age was just emerging from the Golden Age and FORCED me to figure out what was going on.
Fast forward 21 years and my oldest daughter learned to read at Age 3, using Mom’s method: put comics within Number One Baby Girl’s reach and tell her to not touch. She quickly (frightenly quickly!) decided her favorite comics were Mickey Mouse and Tomb of Dracula.
Comics work!
February 21, 2025
“Also, speaking of cities, didn’t it bother anyone else that Metropolis and Gotham were directly across the bay from each other AND IN DIRECT VISIBLE SIGHT OF EACH OTHER in the Superman vs Batman movie??? Right? Ridiculous!”
Why would anyone be bothered by this? If the point of these characters in the modern era is that they’re two sides of the same coin (dark vs light), then it adds a narrative symmetry for their cities to be two halves of a whole divided by a bay.
February 21, 2025
My desire to read more was definitely shaped by having comics around. There was a time it was all I read or wanted to read but at least I was reading. Eventually books enter the picture (Looking at you “Miracle Monday”) and I never looked back.
Comics for me as a whole taught me how to have an imagination. This was fostered by my parents and especially my grandparents. Providing that same path for my grandsons is what keeps my love of the sequential art alive still.
As for, “ Also, speaking of cities, didn’t it bother anyone else that Metropolis and Gotham were directly across the bay from each other…”, it’s a thing with movie makers I fear. This idea a movie’s story has to be all tied up into each part. First noticed it with the Keaton’s BATMAN and how the Joker took the place of Joe Chill. Drives me nuts. So, I’m there with you.
Loving the new Friday feature. I hope they continue.
February 21, 2025
My own girl is surrounded by comics and trades, and I try to read them with her around, so HOPEFULLY she picks up the reading “bug”. Funny enough, you send this when I’m starting to get an itch to revisit some Flash! And I might be able to justify a trip to a comic shop in the next few weeks to see if I can scrounge up some Minnie Mouse comics for my daughter!
February 21, 2025
My Dad was a headmaster and he didn’t care what I read, just so long as I did. Once he’d noted my appetite for comics – British classics like Wizard, Hotspur and Victor as well as UK b&w reprints of early Marvel comics – he had kids at his school fetch in their old comics and he’d bring them home for me to read.
Unfortunately, my own children preferred Dandy and Beano to Marvel and DC, but I’m trying again, this time with my grandsons. I have a pile of old comics that come out each time they visit and they are always encouraged to take home one a piece. They are fascinated by the big Omnibus editions in my Den and I have solemnly promised them that they’ll be able to read them themselves IF they keep practising.
February 23, 2025
I actually learned how to read off the newspaper comics page! Yes, my parents encouraged me! I remember reading specific Blondie and Peanuts comics from about 1962 when I was about years old! In my teens I graduated from Gold Key Comics to DC and Marvel and I loved the Flash! It was a great time to be reading that particular comic!
February 24, 2025
As much as I am not a fan of the Snyder adaptations of DC, having Metropolis and Gotham across the bay from each other has comic history behind it. It was first introduced that they were across from each other on the Delaware Bay in the late 70: Metropolis is in Delaware and Gotham is in southern New Jersey. There is even a map showing this in The New Adventures of Superboy #22. While in the real world I can stand in Lewes, DE and not see Cape May, NJ, I would imagine that given the skyscrapers of both cities, they would be somewhat visible from the other in the DCU (depending on weather, of course.