Comic book heroes as far as the eye could see

On Saturday 10 May, the University, State and Public Library (HLSB) in Fulda celebrated Free Comic Book Day. Over 100 children, young people and adults found their way to the Children and Young Adults Department of the HLSB at the Heinrich-von-Bibra-Platz location in no time at all.

Fans young and old were able to choose three books from 22 different comics. Many children came in creative costumes, as they were given a fourth comic as a gift. There were no limits to the imagination and so warriors, ninjas and princesses romped around alongside Pokemon trainers, penguins and cats. The library team was also delighted to see special costumes such as the cosplay of Nezuko from the manga "Demon Slayer", a Beagle Boy from Duckburg or a Gryffindor student from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the "Harry Potter" series.

Many also took the opportunity to browse through the HLSB's comics, mangas and graphic novels and borrow a new read for home free of charge. The library has already ordered most of the participating titles from the Free Comic Book Day for its additional stock. So if you were unable to get hold of a comic due to the high demand on Saturday or missed the day, you can find it here.

Comics are an established form of storytelling these days. They can help with learning a language as well as understanding complex contexts. "Their unique style, which is often characterised by the illustrators, gives them a special appeal," explains Sarah Kuhnt from the HLSB, "Comics reflect our zeitgeist. They pick up on current concepts and topics and are constantly evolving."

The HLSB also organised a comic workshop in which children aged eight to twelve learnt through play what makes a comic and how different types of speech bubbles are used. The children were then allowed to create their own comics using an app in theChildren and Young Adults Department of the library and proudly present them to users at the end to much applause. Workshop organisers Paolo Criscuolo and Janine Braun were very satisfied: "The children were very enthusiastic and were able to contribute and implement their ideas creatively." Due to the great interest, the free of charge workshop will be repeated on 27 May and 3 June at 4:15 pm. Registration ispossible via the online platform Eveeno(https://eveeno.com/314355788).