Posted By Dan Greenfield on Aug 22, 2025 | 1 comment

FRANCO’S FRIDAY FREE-FOR ALL!

By FRANCO

The start of the school season is just about upon us.

Always caused me a bit of anxiety, which I wasn’t even really aware of until I retired from teaching. Teaching is a difficult profession but also a highly rewarding one.

I always liked being in the classroom (most of the time) but hated everything else. Everyone is different. Everyone learns in a different way. I also came to understand over the years that not everyone in authority had the best interest of the class, students or teachers. There were a range of ideas and thoughts on how to do things. Some inspired and some downright lazy. And the kids in my classes… some were inspired and some downright lazy. It was my job to get them to think critically and to get the most out of them. I do occasionally miss the classroom.

Enough to go back? Absolutely NOT!

One the questions I got frequently when kids (or adults) found out about my comics career was, “Why are you here?”

I wanted to tell them that I really don’t need to be, because comics paid well enough to buy me that mansion on the cliffside overlooking the ocean, but we all know that wasn’t true. I got the question enough that I would ask myself “Why am I here?” Lord knows there were days I just wanted to outright quit (either one). Comics was difficult at times. Teaching was difficult at times. I was also told more than once that I was going to have to quit one or the other.

I thought about that as well and believed I would at some point have to decide where my path led. In the time it took me to determine whether my life would be strictly teaching or strictly comics, 24 years had passed. Longer if you count all the years ago that I spent getting my master’s and my teaching degree as I was making comics no one ever read.

Time passed and I found I actually liked both. Some days one more than the other. I found comics gave me a sense of purpose and grounding and an escape. I learned that I was a storyteller. I could tell stories in comics but I could also tell stories of art and artwork in my class. I’m sure that not everyone out there likes my comics (just read some of the reviews) and I’m sure there were plenty of kids in my class who didn’t like being there, or me, or both.

While I struggled with the question early in my career, I figured that if I did my best I would find the audience I was meant to find and fate would decide. And I did. I found it happened with both comics and students. I never quit one or the other until I found it was no longer sustainable. Teaching for me became quite difficult. I had lost some of the passion for it.

But I would like to be clear on the teaching… I didn’t retire because of the kids. It was never the kids. I miss that part sometimes. I missed telling stories of the art and how art worked and the history of it. I love making comics and I’m happy I still get to tell stories that way.

Happy Friday!

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MORE

— IT CAME FROM THE BACK ISSUE BIN: 1976’s Captain Marvel #49. Click here.

— FRANCO’s Groovy Cut-Paper SPIDER-MAN Art Is the Bee’s Knees. 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.