... I was a snobby AP English junior when I first went in Miss Campbell's AP class. There were wire racks just like at the drugstore (Comics were a dime/12 cents, then) filled with comics, and not just "Golden Classics", but Sgt Fury, Superman, Archie, etc. I asked her if this was for kids who refused to read, and she told me that reading was reading regardless of what was being read. That there was a brain work out just reading, and nobody hardly ever stopped reading at the comic book level.
It's true. I got to read a huge trove of 50s classic EC stuff from uncles. I remember reading at 10 yrs old a story about a nihilistic anarchist in France in the 1890 and a murder. Ask a twenty-year-old what nihilism is. Or anarchy. Or even where on the planet France is. Not only that, but this happened on my grandparent's farm home in Nanty Glo. What incredible art. How easy it was to move on to Mad Magazine after the Congressional investigations.
Good times. Thank you for giving me a chance to remember a long time ago.