Tomorrow isn’t just Saturday, and it isn’t just the birthday of Jack Kirby, creator of nearly everything about Silver Age Marvel and DC comics that was off its rocker. It’s also the the first annual International Read Comics In Public Day.
IRCIPD is the brainchild of Brian Heater and Sarah Morean, editors of The Daily Crosshatch. Heater explains:
Like so many great things in this world, Read Comics in Public Day has its roots in a joke. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something off-handed about reading novels on the train, because I was too embarrassed to read comics in public. Like many good jokes, that one had its root in the truth.
Heater, like many professionals (and aspiring professionals) in the comics world, suffers from a little embarrassment out of the very real fear that should his connection to the artform become known to a person, they will take it less than seriously. What to do? Change the stigma, of course. But how?
The concept is fairly simple: we’re asking that everyone take an hour or two out of their day on August 28th… to read a comic book in a public setting—a park bench, a beach, a bus, the front steps of your local library (we do ask, however, that you be mindful of local loitering laws). Let strangers see you reading a piece of sequential art.
Take to the streets. Be proud. 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?
I plan on doing my part tomorrow, although I haven’t got a setting picked out yet… or a book. I’m rereading V for Vendetta right now, but that’s so… stereotypical. The tiny hipster in me wants to read something that nobody‘s heard of. But I also owe The Winter Men a reread, after struggling through it while half asleep and not understanding anything, so that might work. As for a place, well… we’ll see what the weather is like.
I might have to break out the sunscreen.
If you are also plagued by a lack of locational and textual inspiration, Flavorwire has you covered with this handy list of suggested reading, organized by location. Whether in a park, a train, or even a bar, there is something appropriate and eye catching.
I’ll see you all tomorrow!
