Turn 250 Philadelphia kids into comic book writers

This spring, we've been all about taking our comic book initiative "on the road."

It started with a two-month comic book residency in four 5th grade classrooms at Grover Washington Junior Middle School in the Olney section of Northeast Philadelphia. Comic book teaching artist Asher Humm, who got his start leading a workshop in our MIGHTYVISION space, led the classes through April and May. It was a great experience made possible by Philadelphia's "ArtsRising" initiative.

Thanks to some Mighty friends at the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, MW kids were in the house for the Philadelphia premiere of The Avengers in May. And next up was a trip to the Wizard World comic convention in Philadelphia the first weekend in June. A few Mighty kids spent the day poring over old (and new) comics, getting advice from professional writers and artists, spotting celebrities (Stan Lee! Patrick Stewart! Jason Priestley... ?), and posing with superheroes.

Also in June, another school sought out our comic book programs for an in-school residency. This time, it was Camden's Promise Charter School just over the Ben Franklin Bridge. We taught four workshops for the school's Language Arts Day:

• Hot Topics for Teens - Grade 8
• Sportswriting - Grade 7
• Writing My Neighborhood - Grade 6
• Comic Madness - Grade 5

Now, we're gearing up to bring it back home with two comic book classes at our South Philly headquarters this summer: a Tuesday afternoon Comic Book Club for 9-to-11-year old led by Janelle Smith, and Writing Comic Scripts for the older kids (ages 12 and up) with veteran writer Hayden Mitman.

You can check out all of our summer classes here: http://www.mightywriters.org/writing-workshops/.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Links:

• Keep up with Mighty Writers on our website.