I was an early reader of many things, and comics may have contributed to my vocabulary some, but things like Hardy Boys, Three Detectives and We Were there books contributed more, and by second-third grade I was reading books on astronomy, Greek mythology, dinosaurs American history and Native American culture picked up at Scholastic and other book fairs at school and from the library far more than I was reading the handful of comics my parents allowed me to have. I also had encyclopedias I read, and reference books my parents bought by the volume from the grocery store on things like American history and science that I was reading By junior high, my vocabulary took another quantum leap forward when I started reading AD&D material written by Gary Gygax (where I was learning things like the fecundity of orcs) and stuff like Tolkien and the Ace Conan paperbacks.

So more often than not, the stuff I was encountering in comics that should have been challenging to a reader of my age was something I had encountered elsewhere already.

As for values, comics not so much. Being a Catholic school kid for most of middle school and high school had more influence (both positive and negative) on developing my world view and values than comics did, but that's neither here nor there.

-M