Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 24, 1995 TAG: 9508240081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DELBERT O'BARRY ELLERTON DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: HAMPTON (AP) LENGTH: Medium
A comic book is a comic book is a comic book, right?
Not really.
Take a peek at a scene by Tony Nguyen, 17, inside the pages of ``Stories of Society,'' a forthcoming book by a group of Hampton teen-agers.
In the scene, a young man and his girlfriend are sitting on a living room couch when a car pulls in front of the house and sprays a storm of bullets through the windows, leaving the boy dead and the girl paralyzed.
The image, unfortunately, said Nguyen, is not exaggerated.
``You see it a lot,'' Nguyen said of the violence he depicts. ``It's not hard to come up with.''
Nguyen's purpose, like the other six members of Peninsula Artists Corps, is to present true-to-life images in hopes that those images force teen-agers to think seriously about the world they live in.
``This is basically a slice of life,'' said Brian Polite, 18, one of the artists in the group. ``It shows that the medium of comic books can be used to show more than just people in Spandex with bulging muscles and superhuman powers.''
The group - which also consists of Devon Lawrence, 18, Shaun Kaufman, 15, Jason Ward, 19, Joseph Bowens, 20, and Chris Daily, 18 - will distribute 5,000 free copies in Hampton after the book is printed within the next few weeks, Lawrence said. The book was funded by a $5,000 Developmental Dollars grant from the Hampton Coalition for Youth, created by the city in 1990 to encourage community involvement by teen-agers and to bring important issues affecting teen-agers to the attention of city officials.
The grant, which required the group to submit a proposal last summer, encourages teen-agers to create projects that are aimed at preventing substance abuse, teen pregnancy and violence, said Loretta Milam, coalition spokeswoman.
Jay Johnson, the coalition's grant director, said the group's grant application stood out because the group explicitly stated what it wanted to do and how it was going to do it.
Many teens, Johnson said, have ideas that can make a difference in the lives of others. Their biggest obstacle, she said, is finding the money to make their dreams a reality. That's where the coalition lends a helping hand, she said.
Johnson said ``Stories of Society'' was relevant as well as timely.
``Stories of Society'' addresses a range of real issues, including violence, AIDS, racism, education and environmental concerns.
Lawrence, for example, illustrated the tale of a young man who wanted to drop out of school, lured by empty promises of quick cash and drug dealing.
The teen-ager told his girlfriend he was turning to the streets because he wanted a better life for them in the future. She did not buy it and told him he would not have a future without a high school diploma.
``You've got to compete for everything,'' Lawrence said. ``If you don't have a diploma, you're one step behind a person who does have a diploma.''
Lawrence, a quiet-spoken teen-ager, whose mother's home on Powhatan Parkway served as the unofficial office for the group, said the most important thing about ``Stories of Society'' is it is a community service comic book.
Lawrence said the artists created ``Stories of Society'' because there is a need for a medium to address Hampton teen-agers' concerns. They also want the book to grab kids' attention, keep them interested and display the artists' talents, he said. Lawrence said community service comic books, published by major comic book companies, do exist. In their attempt to reach kids, however, the books have minimal, if any, impact because their images aren't entertaining. In some cases, they are just plain boring, Lawrence said.
To illustrate , Lawrence reached into a folder and pulled out a book by DC Comics that used simple drawings of teen-agers interacting and sharing advice. Its illustrations use pale orange and brown colors.
By comparison, ``Stories of Society'' uses sharply contrasting hues, with bright yellows, purples, reds and blues. The images are similar to those found in most commercial, action-oriented books.
by CNB