When Carl Reed was a child, he didn’t see many characters who looked like him in comic books and cartoons, so he convinced himself that some of his favorites were Black. He decided that Destro from G.I. Joe was the Black character. Same with Panthro from ThunderCats. Now, years later, Reed, who is the executive producer and co-founder at Lion Forge Animation, has teamed up with Nine PBS to bring more diverse characters to the screen with Drawn In, a multimedia series that includes episodes on PBS, web shorts, comics, and interactive games to teach kids literacy skills. It’s set in a city modeled after St. Louis, and in making Drawn In, Lion Forge and Nine PBS consulted with the St. Louis community. One of the coolest parts? Analytics show that one of kids’ favorite characters is Tyler, a little boy who probably would have resonated with Reed as a child. Whether your own child is a reluctant or a voracious reader, they can visit drawnin.org to read the comics. If you have a budding artist, let them try their hand at this step-by-step illustration of Drawn In character Halftone the Parrot, created by Lion Forge artists. As for future Drawn In plans, “We’d love to extend it into more episodes, more seasons, more games, more comics—grow into something that sees a real impact in the region,” Reed says. “This is only the start.”
For more on Drawn In, see our earlier story here.
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