Saturday, May 26, 2012

Marvel Comics for Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith is a four-year-old boy from New Hampshire who was born with a chromosomal disorder that left him mostly deaf. He started wearing a hearing aid, which he calls "blue ear" because it's blue, and it made a huge difference in his life by allowing him to go to school and socialize more easily with people. 
A few weeks ago he suddenly refused to wear it anymore. He told his mom it was because "superheroes don't wear blue ears." 

His mother, desperate to convince him to keep using his "blue ear," sent an email to Marvel comics asking if there were any superheroes who had hearing aids. They wrote her back the next day and sent her a picture of Hawkeye, a superhero who suffered hearing loss in the line of duty and actually does wear a hearing aid. 

But one of their comic book artists did something else: he drew a picture of Anthony with Hawkeye and also one of Blue Ear, a brand new superhero who wears a blue hearing aid. His mother says Anthony immediately latched onto the picture of Blue Ear and wouldn't let it go. He started wearing his blue ear again, and says he's now going "fight bad guys and help people." He brought his new drawings to his preschool, which is for hearing-impaired kids, and spread the inspiration around.

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