Image from Simpson Crazy
I know that many people do not like reading comic books, or manga (in Japanese), but why is it not good? Actually, I support all kinds of learning methods, as long as it works well for you. Some people like learning from movies, others like songs, I like learning from researches, why can't you learn from reading comic books?
In fact, many kids in the English speaking countries read comic books to learn vocabulary and expressions, as well as higher level communications such as sarcasm and jokes, they learn to read between the lines and not just from the "word surface".
But if you are learning English from comic books, suppose that you are a teenager or a kidult, make sure you inform your parents what the story is about and let them scan through to check if there is any dirty contents. If everything is clean, I don't see why they won't let you. But as parents, you still need to constantly monitor them.
I have always advocated that the best way to learn is to start from something you like, and then develop from there. In the past, I have suggested a website for those who are interested in comics, but that was just a single comic, this time, I have found another website which provides a lot of free online comics and here it is:
8 Manga.com.
Please do not think that comics are purely sold in Japan or in Hong Kong. Many of the famous ones are translated into English, Italian and Spanish and sold worldwide, Dragonball is one very good example that has gone from comics to games, to anime and then to Hollywood movie.
Image from my.opera.com
Guess you will get bored if I keep talking about older comics. Here are two newer and very successful examples:
Fullmetal Alchemist
Image from Bokutachi No Blog
Fullmetal Alchemist is sold in Australia and New Zealand.
Detective Conan
Image from In.com
Detective Conan / Case Closed is sold in Canada, US and UK
I remember that I have a few younger students (one of which is Dicky) who loves spending time on comics. I hope you will like this website I recommended.
Vocabulary:
sarcasm -- (n) [U] the use of remarks which clearly mean the opposite of what they say, and which are made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in a humorous way
kidult -- (n) [C] an adult who likes doing or buying things that are intended for children
Resources:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/03/comics-online-english-manga-free.html
http://www.8manga.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonball
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/03/technology-google-earth-50.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detective_Conan
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sarcasm
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/kidult
