Central Library celebrates Free Comic Book Day

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Children participated in Free Comic Book Day activities at Oakville's Central Library

The Oakville Central Library took part in the annual Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, engaging the youth to get involved with activities regarding comic books.

“We did workshops for students instructed by comic book artists, helping them develop their own work,” said Elise Cole, the Teen Services Librarian at Central Library. “We want the students participating to have a larger opportunity to be exposed to the arts.”

The first workshop surrounded students from grades five to eight at 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and the second for students from grades nine to twelve at 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The Comic Connection, a comic book store in Oakville, partnered up with the Central Public Library and helped bring the event to life.

“The Comic Connection has been really supportive, they’ve been the ones providing us with the free comic books for the kids,” said Cole.

Comic book writer and illustrator Evan Munday conducted the first workshop for the younger crowd.

“Over the span of two hours, the kids got to design their own characters and we did tons of short activities which helped them understand comic books,” said Munday. “We tried to cram as much as possible – teaching the kids how to design characters, draw comics and understand the language of comics, creating action between the panels.”

Munday said he noticed a lot of talent in the participated youth and hopes for them to continue and pursue it through art culture and learning.

“It’s very much a tie in with literacy for us,” said Cole. “If there is a way we can connect to our customers with reading and the creative process, than I am all for it.”

Cole hopes to expand the experience more so next year, making it more open to the community

Free Comic Book day started in 2002 by a number of comic book retailers to coincide with the release of the hit movie Spider-man, ultimately gathering a large following and becoming an annual yearly celebration where comic book readers can receive exclusive free comics.

For more information, go to www.freecomicbookday.com