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Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

The Student News Site of Niles West High School

Niles West News

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Comic Book Club: Cartoons, Conversation, and a ‘Common Interest’

Comic Book Club president Faris Karaman reading a comic book. Photo by Vicky Robles

Nobody would have guessed that a room in the main office could be accessed by students. Nobody would have even thought that a conference room (next to principal and sponsor Kaine Osburn‘s office) would be home to a club.

The room is silent. It comfortably seats 25 people. There is a projector and a projector screen. There are snacks and drinks. At first, there are 10 students keeping to their own group of friends and decide not to branch out for the first half hour of the meeting. Though the conversations are separate, they all have something in common: a love for cartoons and comics.

“The reason I  started this club was because I never knew people who like cartoons or knew a lot about them. I got very curious and I wanted to meet kids with my common interest,”says  junior president Faris Karaman.

It didn’t take long until the club members decided to talk. They reviewed cartoons that were watched in their childhood and talked about which ones were the best and the worst.

“I love to draw comics and cartoons. So, I decided to come here with my friends. I really don’t know what to expect, but I’m very excited,” says sophomore Hannah Pratt.

Before the club even reached their mandatory minimum of 15 members, the 10 of them already made plans of submitting a recording of a chant that could be used for the next “Batman” movie. They watched clips of “Batman” and other superheroes. They discussed making their own graphic novels.

The meeting was very laid back. Students did their homework and watched their video clips from their own laptops. Eight more students come into the room and all the students were huddled up around Karaman’s laptop.  They were very passionate about getting to watch the full pilot episodes of cartoons in just one club meeting.

With the excitement of more than 20 people, the room sounded like the cafeteria, but the conversations toned down when the pizza came.

At this time, Osburn decides to pop in a give a speech about why the club was started.

“I like seeing students come together over a common interest. I support things like that at our school. I can afford to monitor this club once a month. It’s good for students to expand and branch out. It’s even better that it happens in school,” says Osburn.

For the rest of the meeting the energy of the room went down as the projector showed episodes of “Tom and Jerry” and “Ed, Edd, and Eddy.” But still, side chat still occurs. There’s talk about the potential of sidekicks being heroes and how much money it takes to produce a cartoon.

“If students come into the club, they’ll see that the club is very fun. The environment is very friendly, and it’s never quiet and awkward.There’s food and the hardest topics that are discussed involve cartoons. Come to see that you have a lot more in common with the students. Come to make friends. We watch TV and eat, there aren’t a lot of rules and everyone is really nice,” says sophomore Paul Dugo.

The club meets once a month and the dates of the meeting are yet to be determined.

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    HannahDec 20, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    Great job in writing the article, Gabby!~

    Also…I see meee!~ ;D

    Reply