Be your own hero at Mentor Library's Comics Club

Abby draws her own superhero during Mentor Library's Comics Club.

A bisected page, two large eyes, the beginnings of a mouth—Abby is drawing a superhero she created during the most recent meeting of Mentor Library's Comics Club.

"Her name is Hula," she explains. "She uses her hula hoop to trap bad guys."

The scene is decidedly relaxed during the latter half of the meeting. Some children draw—characters they've created, their Minecraft avatars—while others read graphic novels or issues of Tiny Titans and Adventure Time.

While most people associate comics with superheroes, the Comics Club is eclectic by design. One month they're designing their own sidekicks. The next they're reading independent web comics.

Our Comics Club is for any 8- through 12-year-old who likes to read, talk about or draw sequential art. We love everything from Amelia Rules to Batman to Bone.)

Our Comic Club meets from 7 to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at our Main Branch.

At a typical meeting, the kids talk about a special theme. Then we introduce the kids to graphic novels and comics that can be found in the library’s collection.

We close out each meeting with free time for the kids to draw or read.

“Their favorite part of the night is drawing time,” Schulz said. “We use templates that resemble comic strips and comic-book pages, so the kids can do short 3-panel or longer stories. Some have created their own characters that they revisit every month while others draw something new every time.”

The next Comics Club meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the Mentor Public Library’s Main Branch. The theme for next month will be costumes.

To register a child for the Comics Club, call the library at (440) 255-8811 ext. 221.

Nicholas checks out an issue of Adventure Time during our Comics Club.

Everyone's a Hero at our Comics Club

Ryan draws his ideal sidekick.

Is your kid a Batman fan? Wolverine? A Superman or a Spider-man? A Wonder Woman or a Rogue?

Do they watch reruns of Young Justice? Fill sketchpads with drawings of Finn and Jake? Snatch the comics section from the Sunday newspaper?

If so, we've got the club for them.

Our Comics Club is for any 8- through 12-year-old who likes to read, talk about or draw sequential art. (We're not just talking about superheroes either. We love everything from Amelia Rules to Bone.)

Abby draws a comic with characters she created.

Our Comic Club meets from 7 to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at our Main Branch.

“We often have children who visit our department looking for books about their favorite superheroes and cartoon characters. Many enjoy cartoons and comic books so we thought that we would start a club to bring together children who read graphic novels and comic books and enjoy drawing,” said Judy Schulz, who runs our Comics Club with Marilyn Weiss.

At a typical meeting, the kids talk about a special theme. For February, it was sidekicks. Then Weiss and Schulz introduce the kids to graphic novels and comics that can be found in the library’s collection.

They close out each meeting with free time for the kids to draw.

“Their favorite part of the night is drawing time,” Schulz said. “We use templates that resemble comic strips and comic-book pages, so the kids can do short 3-panel or longer stories. Some have created their own characters that they revisit every month while others draw something new every time.”

The next Comics Club meeting will be at 7 p.m. on March 4 at the Mentor Public Library’s Main Branch. The theme will be “the funnies.”

To register a child for the Comics Club, call the library at (440) 255-8811 ext. 221.

For more photos from our Comics Club, visit our Facebook page.