Guelph artist Barbara Salsberg Mathews has released a comic book with the hopes of helping kids and a local non-profit organization during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Kid COVID Fights Back” shows off the superhero’s tactics that include super-speed cleaning and 20-second hand-washing moves.
The kid has a special “Hockey Stick” suit, designed to keep others safe distance away and always carries extra toilet paper to give to those in need.
Kid COVID has super staying-at-home powers, enjoying everything from baking bread to making masks and socks.
Mathews got the idea for the book during a video chat with a 4-year-old friend who asked Mathews to visit him, but “when the virus is gone.”
She says that got her imagining how the pandemic might be scary and difficult for children. So she created a comic book to “entertain kids and their families with hope optimism and fun.”
The comic book can be found online and any donations will go directly to the Guelph Arts Council, where Mathews is a volunteer board member.
“Artists need support more than ever in these challenging times,” said Patti Broughton, Guelph Arts Council executive director. “We’re grateful to Barbara for supporting our work through her amazing storytelling and illustration skills, and her volunteer service on GAC’s board.”
Matthews has been creating art since she was a child. She wrote and illustrated two children’s books while in her teens.
She also studied mime in Paris and attended the Ontario College of Art, the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto. She earned her masters from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
She has taught art in high schools for more than 25 years.