When I was a kid my favorite comic book characters were Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead. That was decades ago. These days kids are not only the ones reading comic books, but many of them are creating their own series and generating quite a following in the process.
Once comic book series in particular has been making headlines around the world recently, not so much because of its subject matter, but because of who is responsible for crafting the books.
Thirteen-year-old Kamaal Washington battles diabetes every day. In his comic book, “Dr. Diabetes,” a sinister character that is determined to infect anyone in his path with the chronic, debilitating disease, punches the air and taunts, “I will make sure that everyone on the planet feels my pain. The whole world will have diabetes.”
In real life, Washington says he wishes just the opposite. In a recent interview with news reporters, the teen says the adventures that he and his 11-year-old brother, Malcolm, capture in their comic books are “meant to spread awareness about the disease and empower those who have it.”
The comic books have a very simple goal—-to tell the stories of children who learn they have diabetes and find themselves visited by “Dr. Diabetes.” It may sound bad, but Washington tempers his evil character’s wicked intentions with the heroes of the comics, Omega Boy and Mighty Boy. Currently, the books are sold exclusively online but will be available soon at Walgreen and CVS shops in the Kansas City area and comic book shops nationally.
The Washington brothers are already working on their third diabetes-themed comic, which they hope will be released by mid-summer. The new book tells the story of a politician who refuses to work to increase funds to find a cure for diabetes and the heroes’ quest to change that.
Kamaal says he drew on his own experiences to write his latest comic. The teen has served as a Children’s Congress delegate for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, joining hundreds of other young diabetics in testifying before the U.S. Senate about diabetes research support.
When he appeared before the lawmakers he told them the reason he ventured into the comic business is that the diabetes books that doctors gave him had too many big words and medical terminology, and weren’t much help. So Kamaal and his brother, Malcolm decided to come up with a way to make it easier for kids to learn about diabetes and how to control the disease.
“We decided to do a comic book,” Kamaal says. “We wanted it to be fun and educational.”
To date, the Washington’s have sold and donated about 90,000 copies of the comics to various diabetes groups and have given about half of their $135,000 in profits to diabetes causes.
Next up for the young comic book authors–Kamaal and Malcolm say they want to create their own animated series and perhaps produce a movie.
Have you heard of “Dr. Diabetes?”
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