Many of you have watched a Superman cartoon or movie. But did you know he first appeared in comics（连环漫画）? Do you want to learn more about popular comic books around the world? Take a look!

    Do you find reading boring? Have a read of some comic books. You will learn to love their colorful pictures and simple language.

    Comic books usually tell stories through cartoons. The US and Japan have some great comic books. But they are not the same.

    Their names are different. People say "comic books" in the US but "manga" in Japan.

    American comics are often about superheroes—characters like Superman and Spider Man. So action is a major part of American comics. But Japanese manga like to tell stories of ordinary people. Luffy in One Piece（《海贼王》）is such an example.

    American comics make people excited with super powers, while Japanese manga comfort（安慰）people with moving stories. Natsume's Book of Friends is about a teenage boy. He can see spirits（精灵）. He is confused （困惑的）at first but later he makes friends with spirits.

    you are not interested in these two kinds, why not try some from China? Xia Da, 32, is a great comic book artist from China. Some of her comics are about school life. Others show the beauty of Chinese culture.

    It was Sunday yesterday. Michael sat on the sofa and watched TV. He was very relaxed. His mother was doing the dishes. Suddenly, she felt terrible. She had to stop. Michael came to his mother and asked, "Are you all right, Mom?" "Yes. I'm OK, but I need to take a rest," said his mother.

    Michael felt sorry for his mother. He thought he should help his mother do the dishes. She felt terrible because she was too tired. So he did the dishes and cleaned the room when his mother was lying in bed. Michael felt happy because the room looked clean.

    When Michael's mother felt better, she went to do the dishes. But she was surprised to see the clean room. "You are really a great boy," she said happily. Michael was happy, too.

Chen Zhe is a 36-year-old who was born in Anji county in Zhejiang Province. He never imagined that one day he would return to his hometown to start a business that makes use of classic cartoon characters from the films produced by the Shanghai Animation (动画) Film Studio (电影制片厂).

Chen's coffee shop Mei@Yucun opened in March in Anji's Yucun village. A number of 1. 7-meter-high models of cartoon characters from cartoons like The Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven and the Calabash Brothers, stand in front of the store. Models of cartoon characters also fill the coffee shop, which sells around 100 cultural and creative products based on the cartoons. "The characters are from classic cartoons made by the studio. It may be their debut in a countryside coffee shop." he said. +-

In 2022, Yucun village started the international partners program to encourage young people to take part in village life. Around 1, 100 young people have taken part in the program, introducing new forms of business. In 2022, Yucun village made 13 million yuan in total. 

 "As more people began to visit Yucun village, I decided to open a coffee shop here at first," said Chen. " ★ I wanted to bring coffee and cartoon characters to the village, to add color and energy to the countryside. Because of their love of Chinese animations, people's attention is caught easily. They are reminded of their childhood, when they could enjoy cartoons and be happy."

Chen plans to encourage teams of young animation artists to live in Yucun village and create more products. He also plans to cover the outside walls of buildings with cartoon characters, to make the countryside more beautiful and creative.