Every little boy loves superheroes, but not many have one created just for them. That's what happened to Anthony Smith, a 4-year-old boy with a genetic condition that impairs his hearing, who used to hate wearing his hearing aid or "blue ear." Why? Because he said superheroes don't wear them!
Looking for help, his mother, Christina D'Allesandro, emailed Marvel Comics asking if there were any existing superheroes that could appeal to her son's condition. Luckily for her, there was–editors at the company sent her an image of a 1984 comic book cover featuring Hawkeye, a superhero wears a device in his ear after his hearing was temporarily destroyed. And that's not all!
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After seeing D'Allesandro's letter, at least two of Marvel's artists were inspired to create new superheroes based on Anthony. The results? The Blue Ear, a character that artist Manny Mederos sketched out as a young boy so that he could grow up alongside Hawkeye and his fellow, older superheroes. Mederos sent the family his artwork…and needless to say, Anthony has been wearing his hearing aid pretty much without complaint since then.
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Aww! How sweet is that? It's so nice to hear stories like this every now and then. It's a good reminder that there are still people in this world who are willing to go out of their way just to make a little kid smile. I am now an even bigger fan of Marvel than I was before (yes, I like superheroes too!) and hope that the world only gets to see more happy instances like this.
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Images via Marvel, WCVB
