How #Marvel comics made a difference in our home and to my brother Shawn #IronMan3Event

Ever since I was about 6 years old I can remember my brother Shawn Morgan reading coming books every single day. Spiderman, Superman, The Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man and so many more.

I would flip through but never really read them like I saw my brothers doing. If it didn’t have Strawberry Shortcake on the cover, it wasn’t something that was really going to entice me. But the more my mother bought the books for my brothers. The more I started taking interest in them. Nobody was going to get more attention from mommy than me! 🙂

And who knew it was part of a greater plan for my mother.

My mom saw the uncanny ability to get her precocious sons Shawn and Robert to sit down and read a book! My brother Dwayne was the oldest and much more calmer than Shawn and Robbie, so my mom had to find a unique way to get those two rascals under control. And Comic books was the cure.

Comic books became a BIG staple in my home growing up. My mother bombarded my brothers with  them because she was bent on ensuring that her kids would learn to read. It was the late 70s, early 80s and we were black kids who lived in an all-white neighborhood in Northeast Philly and besides dodging rocks being thrown at us on our way to school, my mom wasn’t sure we’d learn anything once we got there. So she bought Marvel comics at the local Wa-Wa every day after work and gave them to her sons.

But Shawn took a particularly special liking to the comics. My mom Janice said my brother Shawn jumped at the chance to look at the comics with all his favorite action heroes. First he would just flip through and look at all the pictures. Then he’d ask her to read a specific word that was too hard. Next my mom said Shawn started to read them more and more, but even more interesting the pictures truly intrigued him.

Shawn started doodling. And doodling. And his sketches started to look more and more like the characters. One day my mom asked Shawn who drew the pictures of the Hulk and Spiderman and when Shawn said he did, my mom seriously doubted that her son, who wasn’t even a pre-teen was able to create these illustrations that rivaled the drawings in the comic books! Every chance he got Shawn perfected his craft SO MUCH SO that he truly became a skilled artist. Here are a few of his sketches. He drew this the other day for me.

Reading Marvel comics and illustrating became Shawn’s hobby and his safe haven. My mother said  the comics got her sons interested in reading because of all the action and the language and in turn helped them to do well in school. And I say it also saved my mother’s sons. We moved to West Philly and at a time where lots of boys in the hood were getting shot and killed, selling drugs and robbing people, my brothers survived all that chaos. My mother STILL has her three sons around probably because they were taught to believe in their own powers and abilities to be great. In fact my mother is a Super Hero in her own right, who empowered her boys with just a book.

Over the years Shawn’s comic book collection got bigger and bigger and bigger until there were boxes and boxes and boxes of comic books that he collected. If he still has those books, they probably worth well over thousands of dollars.

I’m excited and proud to have been invited to Los Angeles for the premiere of Iron Man 3 in a few weeks. I called up Shawn to tell him and he is indeed super excited for me and he’s excited of course and can’t wait to see Iron Man 3. It means a lot to me to attend this event because Marvel comics did a lot more than entertain people. It saved lots of kids. Thanks Disney for once again making dreams come true.

Follow the #IronMan3Event hashtag on Twitter and of course @KiaMorganSmith @TheCincomom and @DoodahDisney to follow all the Iron Man action! This is going to be one amazing event that you don’t want to miss!

“Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook:www.facebook.com/ironman

“Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter:@Iron_Man

Visit the website:http://marvel.com/ironman3

BEING SILLY! (From l to r) My brother Shawn, hid daughter Celena, my daughter Kaitin, his wife Simonia, my daughter Kaelani and my daughter Mikaela in front

Iron Man 3 Sneak Peek!