Not very long ago I was out with some friends having dinner at a cozy little café in the mountains. It was a beautiful Colorado evening and we sat out on the deck as the sun was setting among the aspens and pines as hummingbirds and finches and jays nestled in the branches and ate from feeders placed in various places around a garden area. It was lovely.

Our conversation drifted from one subject to another without direction as they do on lazy evenings when up in one of the trees an owl hooted. We spent a few moments trying to figure out what kind of owl it was when one of my companions asked in a nonchalant way, “What do you call a group of owls?”

“You know,” she went on, “there is a colony of penguins or a murder of crows. But what do you call owls?”

There were several suggestions bandied about when I finally chimed in, “A parliament.” I said, “It’s called a parliament of owls.”

My friend looked at me, “How do you know that?” she asked.

“Because,” I said, “I read Batman.”

Now the only reason I relate this little story is not to imply that I am smarter than anyone else but simply to let you know that reading comic books will make you smarter.

This is an undeniable fact.

For instance, do you know the correct way to pronounce the name of Thor’s hammer? I do because I read Thor (not to mention I know the names of most of the pantheon in Norse mythology for the same reason).

Do you know the speed of Light? It’s 186,000 miles per second, I know that because I read the Flash.

Did you know the inventor of the lie detector was also the creator of Wonder Woman? (He also had a very interesting personal life, look it up.)

Also, a fun fact: the font Comic Sans is based on the lettering in the comic Watchmen (so there’s a reason to hate that comic if you need one).

And finally, you can turn back time by flying around the earth backward really, really fast. (Okay that one I’m not really sure about.)

And there is so much more to learn.

So I implore you – to read comic books. And tell everyone you know to read comic books. It is in your and their best interest to do so, you know, for educational purposes.

Oh, and they actually tell really good stories too.