For many children, current affairs can feel distant or difficult to understand. The Comic Scoop, founded by NUS students Samuel Lee Cong (Biomedical Engineering ’26) and Neo Yi Xin (Business Administration ’26), takes a different approach by presenting news topics through comics designed for young readers.
The platform produces current affairs comics for primary school children. Its aim is to introduce children to local and global issues in a format that is easier to follow, while encouraging reading, vocabulary development and critical thinking. The Comic Scoop currently has almost 300 active, paid subscribers, including educators who use the comics in their classrooms. As subscriptions can be shared by families or classrooms, the founders have yet to establish the number of individual children, schools and classrooms reached.
The idea emerged during the founders’ year on the NUS Overseas Colleges Silicon Valley programme, where they attended events and met people from different backgrounds.
“After going to events and meeting people from all over the world, we realised how much current affairs matter when you’re trying to connect with someone from a different background,” said Samuel. “But back home, many Singaporeans don’t have the habit of keeping up with the news. We felt this starts young — there simply isn’t enough news content that is engaging and accessible for children.”
Selecting stories for young readers
The Comic Scoop chooses stories based on their relevance to children, age suitability and links to topics young readers may recognise, with more complex issues simplified to explain what happened and why it matters. Its scripts and content are reviewed by two educators for accuracy, framing and suitability. Beyond online comics, it has also conducted a parent-and-child workshop on current affairs and digital literacy, where children learned about distinguishing real news from AI-generated content.
One of the first challenges the founders faced was identifying what parents and children would find useful and engaging. The founders reached out to parents in their network, tested content with children for about a month, gathered feedback and revised the comics based on the responses.
“The other challenge is doing this while we are both still students,” said Samuel. “Juggling classes with running the startup means we are constantly deciding where to put our time and energy.”
Samuel said the level of support from parents was unexpected.
“Many parents have been very enthusiastic and helpful,” he said. “They give feedback willingly, and some have reached out to support us whenever we’ve asked. That was not something we expected.”
The founders have also seen examples of children applying what they have read to everyday situations. One parent shared how, while packing for a trip, their daughter told the family that they could bring a maximum of two power banks onto the plane. When asked how she knew, the child said she had read it in The Comic Scoop.
Expanding through classrooms and partnerships
Samuel and Yi Xin hope to reach more children through parents, classrooms and partnerships. Their vision is to establish The Comic Scoop as a trusted children’s current-affairs brand in Singapore, while expanding the app into a broader learning tool that helps children understand issues, think critically and communicate their views.
The founders also hope to partner with schools and community organisations to develop classroom-ready resources and widen access. In the longer term, they plan to explore bringing the model beyond Singapore by adapting it for young readers in other countries.
“We want to raise a generation of global citizens — children who think critically, stay aware of the world, and care about what is happening in Singapore and beyond,” said Samuel.
