Are comics for children?

Today i read an article from BBC introducing a concept called digital amnesia. The article argues that people are becoming more and more reliant on their smartphones and other means of information searching (googling) for seeking information. For instance, a person would look to his/her phone to remember a phone number of a close friend, instead of trying to remember it by himself/herself. While the article provides a valid point regarding digital devices, it neglects the benefits provided by the advancement of technology. Through the use of smartphones and other popular devices, humans became able to spend their time on creative thinking, rather than spending most of their cognitive energy on trying to remember information.

A similar argument could be made with regards to comic books and how they are viewed by "adults." Ever since their introduction, not that it is certain when they truly began, comic books were popular among children. The images in the comic books were colorful, moving, and friendly to the youngsters who became tired of reading the same words with same fonts on most other books. As the popularity grew, some publishers focused on violent and sexual contents, rather than the typical Superhero comics that ruled the comic book world for a generation of time. The spread of these explicit representation of violence and sex caught the eyes of children and adults alike. As the books became more widespread, the so-called "adults" decided to put a red line on comic books that is not relevant to the story line of the books, something called the Comics Code of Authority.

The CCA brought forward discussions about the purpose of comic books, and that the books should not include explicit representation of provocative images. I believe this idea is generated from the misconception that comic books are for children and do not provide meaningful learning experience to readers, who are mostly children. I do understand that comic books tend to be more visual, and could affect the children more than books with texts. However, I think comic books should be treated with the same respect people give to novels, which do not have restrictions such as CCA. In fact, comic books tend to be more effective in delivering information because they literally show creative works of authors and drawers. Similar to the case of new technology, the CCA was brought about due to a misconception that people have regarding comic books, the views that are one-sided and belong to the so-called "adults."