GREENFIELD — To satisfy their love of comic books, children and adults gathered in the Greenfield Public Library Saturday in celebration of Free Comic Book Day.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., attendees could draw their own comics with help from professional comic book artist Andrew DelValle, join a manga fan club, enter to win graphic novels and choose from a selection of free comic books.
According to Steve Murphy, who organized the event with help from fellow Library Assistant Francesca Passiglia, the event was intended to appeal to the interests of children, teenagers and adults.
“We have a lot of younger kids come in, but we lose a lot of them as teenagers,” Murphy said.
Free Comic Book Day, he explained, is regularly celebrated on the first Saturday in May.
“Publishers will put out specific comics to be given away for free,” he said. “That happens all over the country.”
Saturday was the first time the Greenfield Public Library held an event in celebration of Free Comic Book Day, however, an event which Murphy plans to hold annually.
Mandi Koscinski of Greenfield brought her two children Rylin, 10, and Ashlyn, 7, who she said inherited their father’s interest in comic books.
“He’s just starting to get into it,” Koscinski said of Rylin as he worked to draw his own comic. “You enter a whole new world when you get into comics.”
James Lowe of Greenfield and his daughter Astra Stathis-Lowe, 7, worked alongside Rylin and Ashlyn to draw comics, combining two of Astra’s interests: comic books and drawing. Astra said her favorite comic book series is “Lumberjanes.”
“They go on cool adventures,” she said of the series’ characters.
Though creating their own comics helped to bring out the attendees’ creativity, Murphy said getting children interested in comic books can also serve a fundamental purpose.
“I think comics are a great entry point with kids, to reading,” he said.
You can reach Shelby Ashline at: sashline@recorder.com
413-772-0261 ext. 257