A key component of the County Public Library’s Strategic Plan is to support and cultivate the community’s creativity. We want our patrons to consider the library a place where they can share a creative hobby or interest – like comic books, animation, fantasy and science fiction, all of which have grown immensely popular in recent years. So since 2015, we have hosted “Attack of the Comic Books!” each Spring to great success. Thanks to sponsorship by the Friends of Sorensen Library and The Los Angeles County Library Foundation, the event is open to all ages and free to the public.

Several hundred people attended each “Attack of the Comic Books!” event. Highlights included a drawing workshop for children, a comic book artist panel, “Superhero Science” from Professor Van Priest of Rio Hondo Community College, as well as presentations on engineering, space and comics from Jet Propulsion Laboratory staff. Participants also enjoyed face-painting, video gaming and a costume contest! Staff decorated every nook and cranny of Sorensen Library, including the adorable “Reading Rabbit” landmark outside the building. STEAM activities for youth included making marshmallow towers with toothpicks, building rockets out of straws, constructing newspaper shelters and creating pool noodle pom-pom shooters!

“Attack of the Comic Books!” quickly became our annual signature event at Sorensen Library. It is a joyous occasion – with refreshments supplied by the Friends of Sorensen Library, a DJ providing a festive ambiance, comic book vendors selling their wares to an interested audience and library books on comics, animation, science fiction and fantasy prominently displayed for check-out. This event presents a modern image of the library by demonstrating our ability to adapt quickly to current tastes, like the ComiCon craze, and by being so entertaining – a vivid counter to the outdated stereotype of libraries as book repositories.