Denver Comic Con’s secret identity: educators

Comic Books grew up on the rough side of town.  The children of immigrants, Comic Books tried to lash on to the fables of yesteryear and the myths of the ages to get some credibility.  But nobody gave them that kind of respect.  They were considered eye-candy, the equivalent of the boob tube – mindless entertainment and gratuitous violence.  Then Comic Books met Hollywood, and sparks flew.  The romance was fast and furious.  The baby: pop culture.

The founders of Denver Comic Con knew all this, but kept it to themselves like a family secret, until the time was right.  Now it’s time.  Illya Kowalchuk, Denver ComicCon’s Director of Education, revealed their true identity on KUVO’s morning show, “First Take with Lando and Chavis.”

“We saw the Convention Center was growing.  The city was becoming metropolitan enough.  We knew that the audience was there,” said Kowalchuk.  ”The real transformation came when we said, ‘we don’t just want to throw a three-day party for Denver. We want to give back to the community that we’ve come to love and that has supported us.  Why don’t we use the proceeds of this (event) to teach the educational benefits of comics and pop culture.'”

Pop Culture Classroom‘s logo is a mask that obscures the pages of a book, the secret-agent educators run a year-round educational outreach for students, teachers and adults.  The image above won the high school comic arts and literacy competition.

“We also teach personal transformation, so we ask the kids to not only learn how a comic book is made but they tackle a problem that they see in their world. We’ve had kids write about the drug dealer on the corner and childhood obesity, and they created metaphorical superheroes to address these things.”

The audio post below includes information on PCC’s ”LEAD with Comics” program (Literacy Education and Adult Detention) in jails and prisons.  The program created a comic book made entirely of inmate art and stories to be sold at this year’s Comic Con, June 17-19, Colorado Convention Center. 

“We need people in the world to be able to understand their value and be able to express themselves.  There’s a lot of bad stuff going on right now, and a lot of it comes from people who are feeling like they don’t have a voice.”

Major comic book and science fiction / fantasy film stars are scheduled to be at this year’s ComicCon in Denver, including Carrie Fisher (Star Wars) and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee.

interview with Illya Kowalchuk