[Ashatshur]

Hello! I work for a publisher of K-8 English textbooks, and I'm looking for a short comic to possibly include in our next edition. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, there are lots of requirements/limitations on what we can use. It should be short (like 4 pages--maybe a very short entry in an anthology or something?) and accessible to young (5th or 6th grade) audiences. In addition, it would need to be "acceptable" by modern school standards--like, no gore, no death, no swear words, etc. Most of all, it would have to be absolutely public domain in the US and copyright-free, without question.

I know that's probably a tall order, but after hours of Googling to no avail, I found this site--and it seems like you folks know your Golden Age comics! Maybe there are a few obvious best "first reads" in the GA genre, or maybe some of you have favorites that might fit the bill? Any advice, any suggestions, would be most helpful!

Ash

[JonTheScanner]

I think you need to be a lot more specific.  What kind of text book is it?  Math, reading, science? And K-8 is a huge age range. Do you want something a kindergarten kid might be able to read but won't bore an 8th grader?

[narfstar]

I am a teacher and love the idea. True Comics, Stamp Comics, Real Fact and True Heroic would all fit the bill. If looking for adventure stories there are a lot of old anthology possibilities.

[Ashatshur]

I think you need to be a lot more specific.  What kind of text book is it?  Math, reading, science? And K-8 is a huge age range. Do you want something a kindergarten kid might be able to read but won't bore an 8th grader?

It's an English Language Arts textbook (grammar, spelling, writing, reading). The comic will be for a reading component in the 5th grade edition. We'll probably have a little one-page instruction on how to read a comic, interpret the visuals, and connect the visual aspect to the overall story. Then we'll have a few (ideally, 3-4) pages of comic, and some study/discussion questions. Ideally, the comic would be as typical of the genre as possible, so that we could point out some genre conventions (though this isn't really a necessity).

In all honesty, Golden Age comics would not be my first choice, simply because I'm not familiar with them. I grew up on the X-Men and the like from the 80s and 90s, so I have at least some familiarity with those books. But we're a very small company, and licensing copyrighted material is simply not an option for us. We've considered producing a really short comic in-house, and we may still, but our art department already has a lot on its plate and there are very strict time constraints to consider. Our best bet is the public domain--which is why it burns me up every time Disney gets Congress to extend the copyright term, but that's a rant for another time and place.

I am a teacher and love the idea. True Comics, Stamp Comics, Real Fact and True Heroic would all fit the bill. If looking for adventure stories there are a lot of old anthology possibilities.

Great! I will look into those titles. Adventure stories would be just fine--as long as they're not too violent or depressing. (I read one last week that would've been perfect--right length and everything--but it was about a traffic cop who goes into a burning building to rescue a woman who is already dead, and then he dies too!)

[josemas]

Also check out Heroic Comics under the Eastern Color Printing listing.  Lots of short stories that would probably fit your bill to chose from in that title.

Best

Joe