Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: california, dc comics, year of the villain

Schools Hand Out DC's Year of the Villain Comics Inside Lunches

Published Thu, 21 May 2020 10:30:10 -0500

Comic Hero University of Fullerton, California has been giving away free comic books where one may not expect it, inside students school lunches. Even though schools have been shut down, school districts have been handing out lunches to those students who need them. And with a little extra reading time on their hands right now, that includes a comic book.

Fullerton School District received hundreds of copies from local store Comic Hero University. Owner Enrique Muñoz launched a pay-it-forward program, with donations used to buy comics for elementary schools, public libraries and hospitals. So far, Muñoz has delivered 2,600 comics to local elementary schools, with thousands more to come, with an initial focus of the DC superhero event Year of the Villain.

But at a time when schools are closed, and his store is closed, he needed a different plan, one that came from his mother. He told the Fullerton Observer "She was the one who pointed it out to me and was like, 'Hey, the schools are still giving out lunches. What if you were to also hand out comic books?" He told the paper "When I was younger, I couldn't comprehend the English language. I was a Spanish speaker first. I had trouble speaking the language, and I had trouble reading the language. It wasn't until I bought my very first Spider-Man comic book. There was something about the picture with the word that really kind of set it off for me. If it worked for me, I think it could work for somebody else."

"Comic books are making those kids smile really big," Dr. Ginger Frady, principal of Orangethorpe Elementary School, told the Fullerton Observer. Pam Chow, project liaison said "This is just such a great, generous donation. It's so cute; a car just drove by and you can hear the little kids saying, 'Yay, yay, yay!' so that's heartwarming. "It's actions like these where the kids are able to get something that they're so excited about when there's so much that they don't have access to right now. For their happiness—that just hits the right spot."