Ask HN: What are some thought-provoking comics I can read with my kids?

cableshaft 2021-08-16 23:54:22 +0000 UTC [ - ]

It's not sci-fi or fantasy, but I'd highly recommend Persepolis. A graphic novel about an Iranian woman growing up during the overthrow of the Shah in Iran, the Islamic Revolution, and the effects of their war with Iraq. It's very readable, has humor, but also talks about quite a few atrocities that happened (without really showing it, a lot of it is her talking to her family about what they've seen or certain people in her life leaving and never coming back, presumably because something terrible happened to them). It was eventually made into an animated movie also, but I liked the comic a lot better.

You might want to give it a read yourself before reading it with your kids, though, to make sure you think it's appropriate. But personally I could see myself introducing it to my kid when they turned like.... 10 or 11 probably, if/when I have one. It should be noted the woman is telling her story from the ages of 6 to 14 in the first book, so she had no choice but to be exposed to these things at a very young age.

lostinenigma 2021-08-17 09:50:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I agree. It is a great novel. Taught me a lot of about the history and lives of people in Iraq.

khadgar25 2021-08-17 13:31:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]

"Logicomix: An epic search for truth" [1] is a graphic novel that chronicles the life of Bertrand Russell (logician and philosopher) and his interactions with legendary thinkers like Gottlob Frege, David Hilbert, and Kurt Gödel. I really enjoyed this. It was fun and highly educational.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Logicomix-search-truth-Apostolos-Doxi...

meristohm 2021-08-16 15:25:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Mouse Guard by David Petersen, because each character has a different answer to “why do I fight?” and because there’s an excellent Mouse Guard ttrpg by Luke Crane. The four conflicts are with weather, other animals, other mice, and the environment in general, and the level is violence isn’t necessarily bloody—-can be tuned to your group.

The comics involve mice from different cultural backgrounds (fishing villages compared to inland towns, same language but different dialects), there are some female characters (Sadie, and Gwendolyn is the leader), and a mix of ages, from young hothead to wise greyfur. Some libraries carry these books in physical and electronic format.

ZeroGravitas 2021-08-16 21:07:55 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Illegal by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin isnt sci-fi or fantasy but it tells the story of a young boy trying to emigrate to Europe

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL19751970W/Illegal

he11ow 2021-08-17 09:05:10 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Look up Zen Pencils: there're two books based off the website. It's illustrated inspirational sayings, really great stuff to talk with kids.

runawaybottle 2021-08-16 19:00:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]

They might be too young, but it’s usually The Watchmen.

ZeroGravitas 2021-08-16 20:56:29 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Destroyer by Victor Lavelle is a modern sequel to Mary Shelly's Frankenstein with some Black Lives Matter related story threads and strong female villains.

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Victor-LaValles-Des...

poxwole 2021-08-16 19:03:25 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Maus

gadders 2021-08-17 09:33:02 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Came here to suggest this as well.

hazza_n_dazza 2021-08-17 08:12:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Tintin. Asterix and Obelix.

mikehodgson 2021-08-16 19:13:30 +0000 UTC [ - ]

We Live by The Miranda Brothers, and Eve by Victor Lavalle might meet your needs.

Dracophoenix 2021-08-17 03:29:34 +0000 UTC [ - ]

There's a manga called Monster by Naoki Urasawa. It's considered one of the best ever written both in and outside of Japan. Guillermo del Toro at one point tried to produce a film for it. It's a post-Cold War psychological thriller set in Germany and Czechoslovakia. It tackles quite a number of questions regarding the nature of evil. I believe it has a full English translation. If not, there's probably a comparable scanlation for it using some Google-fu.

There's a light novel series by the name of Spice and Wolf. It's fully translated in English. It's about a trader, a wolf goddess, and their adventures in capitalism-related escapades as they make their way across medieval Europe.

Both of them also have anime adaptations that are close to its source material in case your kids get bored (although Spice and Wolf's is incomplete).

And, while it's not a comic book, Anthem is a novella by Ayn Rand that depicts a world set in the future without the word "I" and how , in spite of this, one man rediscovers individuality.

The subject matter for all three of these works is thought-provoking enough and appropriately challenging for 13 year-olds

2021-08-17 01:37:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]